Prince Hal's Conflict, Adolescent Idealism, and Buffoonery

The reformation of Prince Hal, a seemingly debauched youth who later, as King, became the incarnation of royal dignity and knightly valor, is a major theme of Shakespeare's Henry IV plays. What has intrigued many critics is the element of comedy infused into the plays by the masterful presentation of the great buffoon, Falstaff, and by the constant pattern of alternating the serious historical scenes with scenes that are highly comic. Shakespeare used humor to present many issues which are involved in the formation of the contents of the young Prince's ego ideal by probing the issues from their "undersurface." Falstaff's antics, his dishonesty, his cowardice, clothed as they are in laughter, teach "how-not-to-be-king" by implication. The buffoonery serves additionally as a kind of transparent screen for the audience. It permits images to filter through which can reactivate the viewer's adolescent highly personal pursuit of his ideals, while simultaneously the humor spares him the full reactivation of that rapidly changing mixture of exultation and pain, of self-centered life-and-death involvement, which would be painful and embarrassing to him now as an adult.

In his paper, "Prince Hal's Conflict," Ernst Kris noted that the core of the play lies in the conflict between young Prince Hal and his father. Kris noted that Hal's main protection against his hostile wishes toward his father comes from the Prince's own high ideals of kingship, royal duty, and chivalry. These ideals could only develop out of the experiences and daydreams of the adolescent period. From his experiences with a widening range of good and bad company alike, the adolescent adds content to his ego ideal, and in evaluating himself against these ego ideal constructs comes to the central issues of identity formation. In the play,