ABSTRACT
The Archbishop's speech suggests that Rumour's delegation of authority over truth to the multitude enables the spreader of a rumour to voice it without taking responsibility for its content. A reconstruction of psychological explanations of rumour teaches that because individuals transmit and respond to rumour, rumour must in some way serve individual needs. The rebels are associated with trumpets and drums, the new king with ceremonial music and 'merry bells'. While under orderly circumstances the tunes would contribute to the harmony in the realm, the play presents a host of voices out of tune, a state of cacophony. The association of Falstaff with rumour enables Shakespeare to dramatize a further dimension of rumour that is of high structural relevance to the play: its double nature with regard to reputation. The conspicuous indeterminacy of Rumour's gender in the Induction prefigures the dialectic of rumour and fame that structures the second part of Henry IV.
