Bloody Noses & Crack'd Crowns

Chapter 4

I DO NOT OWN THIS STORY. All credit goes to TheWeaverofWorlds on ao3.

"Shakespeare wrote a lot about fathers and sons. Perhaps his greatest example being Hamlet. But I didn't ask you to read Hamlet this summer. I asked you to read Henry IV pt. 1. Now why do you think that is?" Jake Epping looked around his class to find not a single person ready to answer. He thought that whoever it was in admin who had created the schedule had played a rather nasty trick on these children, placing honors English first thing on a Monday morning. But that wouldn't stop him from teaching, and by no means should it stop his students from learning. He would wait patiently all class until someone organized their thoughts enough to formulate an answer. Students were beginning to shift uncomfortably in their seats as the silence drew out. Luckily for them the new kid raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Denbrough?"

"B-b-because it is a play of a-action. Hamlet as a c-c-character is all about inaction. He d-d-doesn't know what to d-d-do so he hesitates until the v-v-very end. There are m-many t-t-times where H-Hamlet could have acted b-b-but didn't. He was in his own head, but H-Hal and Hotspur/P-Percy are characters of a-a-action. They're d-d-doers."

"Very good, Bill."

"Showoff." A voice came from the back of the classroom.

Bill felt the blood rush to his neck. He hadn't meant to talk so much. He hated talking in class, but he had felt bad for Mr. Epping. No one was answering him and he had looked so excited.

"That's enough, Miss Keene." Mr. Epping said. "As Bill said, Hal and Percy are characters of action. They are both acting honorably – even though they are on opposing sides. And while they are adults it is clear that their actions are strongly driven by their fathers and quasi-fathers. Would anyone care to discuss?"

Stan raised his hand. Mr. Epping nodded at him.

"At the start King Henry the Fourth is disappointed by Hal's lack of drive. He actually states that he wishes Percy were his son. Percy is much more honorable than Hal, and he obeys his father's wishes. However, the Percys are at odds with the crown because they feel that Henry IV has betrayed them. So Percy starts an uprising with Glendower, King of Wales; his father; his brother-in-law, and his uncle.

This forces Hal to return to his father. He had been spending time with Falstaff, who became a quasi-father to Hal and had been a poor influence. But Hal knows this and only spends time with him so that his return can be all the more glorious. He promises his father that he will restore his name by killing Percy. He then saves his father during the battle, and kills Percy thus keeping his promise."

"That's a good summary, Mr. Uris. But I challenge you to go deeper."

"Sir?"

"Take for example Percy and Hal. They are both rebelling against authority, but why do we see one as honorable and the other as a layabout?"

"Percy is fighting for his family while Hal is rejecting them."

"Very good." Epping turned to the class. "Mr. Uris has uncovered one of the hearts of this narrative. Children naturally reject the beliefs of authority figures, often parents, in favor of their own. Hotspur rejects the King's authority, placing his family before the law. Hal places a life of pleasure before responsibility. It is only when his father orders him to come home that returns to his duties and becomes the man his country needs. He rejects Falstaff as a false father – interestingly seen in the scene where Falstaff pretends to be the king – and rejoins society. Yes, Miss Fadden?"

"This play is sexist."

"How so?"

"There are only three women in it."