ABSTRACT
The tale of the prodigal son, quoted here from the Geneva Bible with which Shakespeare would have been familiar, was among the parables most popular with Renaissance schoolmasters, and most frequently performed on the Tudor stage. Histories and Moralities appear on the English stage throughout the Tudor period, while English actors performed Prodigal Son plays on the continent well into the seventeenth century. In taking up the story of Prince Hal in 1 Henry IV Shakespeare was thus operating against the background of a long-familiar dramatic tradition, generating specific audience expectations and governed by an established set of conventions. The opening scenes of 1 Henry IV, encourage the spectator to suppose that the action of the play will correspond to that of the traditional story. The action of 1 Henry IV is firmly located by the dramatist within the context of a familiar story, and that story's ethical and spiritual ramifications are pointedly evoked in the course of the play.
