Hal and Hamlet: the Loneliness of Integrity

Abstract

My starting point was suggested to me by essays by Norman Sanders, George Hibbard and Daniel Seltzer, all of which appeared in Shakespeare Survey, vol. 30,[1] and the last two of which I was fortunate enough to hear as papers at Stratford in 1976. These papers concerned themselves chiefly with the Henry IV plays, but all three, and particularly that of Sanders, suggest comparisons between Hal and Hamlet that are worth taking further, so that we may re-examine, and perhaps reassess, some of the evidence that has led to considerable critical hostility, particularly in our own time, being directed against the moral natures of these two characters. Some recent critics have been reluctant to allow to either of these princes much of the heroic or the admirable, and in my opinion, which will no doubt become obvious, this is a mistake.