ABSTRACT
Jonas A. Barish have labelled the remarks 'The Turning Away of Prince Hal' to underscore the element of self-rejection involved in the new king's action. The rejection of Sir John Falstaff in Shakespeare has turned a searchlight to reveal either a moralist or a sentimentalist. Shakespeare preserves such a delicate balance, throughout the two parts of Henry IV, between authority and rebellion, business and pleasure, sobriety and negligence, that the final episode almost invites to view them in the light of own deep preferences. Transfer from the domain of comedy to the grimmer realm of history helps to see what differentiates comic drama from history play. Hermia will be the more loved by Lysander for his having momentarily strayed to Helena. The just-crowned Henry V declares with no slight emphasis that he is not the thing he was, that he has turned away his former self, and expects to do as much with those who kept him company.
