Billy Goats Gruff

Friday, September 05, 2008

Epilogue to Previous Post: What I'm afraid of

King Henry IV, Part 2.
Act V, Scene V

Enter the King and his train

Falstaff: God save thy grace, King Hal! my royal Hal!

Pistol: The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

Falstaff: God save thee, my sweet boy!

King: My lord chief-justice, speak to that vain man.

Chief Justice: Have you your wits? Know what tis you speak?

Falstaff: My King! My Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!

King: I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers; How ill white hairs become a fool and jester! I have long dream'd of such a kind of man, so surfeit-swell'd, so old and so profane; But, being awaked, I do despise my dream. Make less they body hence, and more thy grace; Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape for thee thrice wider than for other men. Reply not to me with a fool-born jest: Presume not that I am the thing I was; For God doth know, so shall the world perceive, that I have turn'd away from my former self; So will I those that kept me company.

1 Comments:

At 1:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The saddest part is the next couple of lines. Falstaff can't accept that he's been rejected. He thinks that Hal is joking, and that later he'll be back in his good graces. Ironic that the smartest of Shakespeare's characters could be so blind.

 

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