ABSTRACT
Richard attempts to take refuge in the notion of the king's magical and ritual power whereas Henry IV will do repeatedly, usually with an eye for contingencies, and very much alive to the possibility that no one will believe him. In so doing he becomes embroiled in enormous difficulty, for he attempts to solve a real problem by imaginary means. Yet something does distinguish Shakespeare's histories, particularly the mature work of the second tetralogy here to be considered. John Falstaff's, trading lines with Prince Hal, admits quite frankly that he is a thief. The emperor, for all his achievement of an authentic poetic idiom, turns his back on history. Encounter the emperor in the slender person of King Richard II, the child in the more robust person of Henry Bullingbrook, and the tailor in the huge bulk of Jack Falstaff. Under other circumstances we would not allow this outrageous extension of the word's reference.
