Henry IV Part 1

If there is one quality that distinguishes Shakespeare from all other playwrights it is his uncanny ability to breathe life into his characters. Most playwrights write plots before they write characters. The characters are then selected based on whether or not they suit the framework of the plot. They are confined by their narrow functions within the play. Shakespeare writes differently. He creates characters with a life of their own. Consequently, the plots of Shakespeare’…

…his pockets after he has fallen asleep hiding behind the arras. He finds an I.O.U that states that Falstaff has spent a huge amount on capon and sack and only half a penny’sworth on bread. This warrants suspicion that perhaps the note was “put there by himself as a trick to humour the jest upon his favourite propensities, and as a conscious caricature of himself” (From William Hazlitt). Falstaff truly is alive.