King Henry IV, Part 1 -- Final Reflection
Please consider the following questions and post your final thoughts about the King Henry IV, Part 1 unit. Complete your comment by Thursday, October 12, 2006.
What person in the play do you know best?
With whom do you identify?
What did you learn about yourself in doing Henry IV, Part 1?
What do you think of this play in comparison with other Shakespeare plays you have read?
What did you think of the way we studied this play?
What did you think of doing the reading journal on the blog? (Keep in mind that you still would have done a reading journal if we hadn’t used the blog – you just would have done it on paper.)
What suggestions would you make for this unit?
What person in the play do you know best?
With whom do you identify?
What did you learn about yourself in doing Henry IV, Part 1?
What do you think of this play in comparison with other Shakespeare plays you have read?
What did you think of the way we studied this play?
What did you think of doing the reading journal on the blog? (Keep in mind that you still would have done a reading journal if we hadn’t used the blog – you just would have done it on paper.)
What suggestions would you make for this unit?
posted by T Sale at 10:30 AM
7 Comments:
Wow, I can't believe it's over!
Looking back on King Henry IV, Part I, I think I identified and got to know Hal the best out of all the characters. He was such a complex character that endured numerous changes not only in his personality and demeanor, but his ideals and virtues as well. His journey throughout the play is very interesting to me. He begins on such a low level and so far away from royalty, and he ends with a great big bang and high note, redeeming himself and gaining honor and valor beyond compare. This procession he makes from low to high is how I got to know him so well, and why I definitely relate to him on many different levels. I think everyone has expectations they should fulfill to please someone, or themselves, just like Hal has to live up to the king's expectations. I also believe that wordly and experienced people (such as Hal, living amongst pub crawlers and nobility; and the kind of person I try to be)that have known many different surroundings and people always have an easier time finding their path to success as Hal does through his journey.
I have read a few other Shakespeare plays (Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Midsummer, Othello, Tempest, Taming of the Shrew... quite a few...), and I always avoided the historical plays like they were the plague. I thought they would be boring; basically a live version of a history book. After reading this play, I now know that is not the case. I actually found it very interesting, thoughtful, and funny. And, seeing as I don't know English history off the back of my hand, I did find myself guessing and predicting what would happen to Hal and King Henry in the future.
The blog was ok. I did easily forget about it until the day it was due and Mr. Sale reminded us. It's easy to forget, I guess, because it's not pen and paper, right in front of you. But other than that, it was a nice haven for my thoughts that I find I can not express in class. I always find writing my thoughts down easier, for some reason.
Throughout King Henry IV, Part 1, I felt that I knew Hal the best, but I identified with both Hal and his enemy, Hotspur. Hal really struggled with the fact that his life was a series of expectations, laid out clearly for him, and that many of them were somewhat unrealistic. Hotspur, on the other hand, worked hard for most of his life to challenge the King, and I think I probably respected him more for that, because he wasn't born into the same stature of power as Hal was. There was probably more in the text, though, about Falstaff. Although he talks constantly, I feel like I still don't fully understand Falstaff, and furthermore, I really dislike him, even though he does provide a good contrast to Prince Hal. I thought it was really good that we discussed the meaning of the final battle, Hal's final comments to his "dead" friend and Hotspur, and the significance of Falstaff carrying Hotspur's body away. I like the idea of blogging, but after a while, started to get bored with the concept because we did so many of them. I liked that we had to do responses to another person's blog because it made you see how others approached the text, and gave some new insights. I liked the acting troupes, but maybe it would be good to switch the groups periodically, or maybe not perform all of the scenes, because I felt like we spent more time planning the scenes than actually discussing them. Finally, I thought that the charts that we did on the family lines were helpful, and that they helped me to decipher the motives for each side. Overall, Henry isn't my favorite Shakespearean play, but I thought that we did a good job with the text!
I think that every person in our class relates the most to Hal because of our age and situation in our lives. Right now we are in high school, where we have the option of 'goofing off' everyday, or to be a stressed honor student trying to raise their GPA even higher. This is very similar to Hal's point of view because he currently is 'wasting'his life away in the taverns, but he knows that he has the option of becoming something great. The key to Hal's success is that he has his easygoing buddies to help him stay grounded. THis is obviously similar to our lives, because we all know that we have it in us to become something grand, yet we must decide when and how to reach it.
King Henry IV was very different from the other SHakespeare plays I've read. To be honest, it was less exciting and was a disappointment from the last play I read (Hamlet). Mrs. Ferrill drilled into my head, "You read Shakespeare for his incredible use of language and for his understanding of human nature." In King Henry IV, I didn't feel the intense power of those 2 elements, like I did with Hamlet. However, I grew to adore Falstaff! He made the play worth reading. The dynamic between Hal and Falstaff and their quick-witted dialogues were hilarious.
Mr. Sale, I'm not going to lie- I hated the format we studied the play. It would have been fun to perform a few of the acts, but the process we went through each week was very monotonous. By the end, we were bored with performing. It would have at least been nice to break up the performing with watching a clip of a real performance of the play, or even listening to the play on a tape. I would have liked to examine Falstaff a little more in depth.
The character I related to the most in this play is Hotspur because I hold on to my beliefs even if that means being stubborn, like Hotspur did towards the end of the play. I admired him for deciding to fight against the King, when could have easily accepted a deal because he believed the King had transgressed too much to deal with. Most people would take the easy way, but he chose martyrdom. Also, I can relate to his loyalty for friend Mortimer. He was offended for the lack of ransom for Mortimer, and stuck up for him, which is the relationship I have with my best friend. Though Falstaff was a surprising character to see in a Shakespeare play, I enjoyed Hamlet and Macbeth more because they included more soliloquies that reveal inner conscience, like the “To be or not to be” in Hamlet. Compared to a reading journal, I prefer the blog. This is because it allows me to interact with other people’s ideas and see what everybody else learned from a scene. The only critic I have about the blog is that comments should be more concise, like comments in the Socratic circle.
After reading King Henry IV, I know King Henry’s character the best. For some reason, Hal’s character never made much sense to me, for he always seemed to be doing the ironic thing, the action that contradicted the actions that he should have been taking, yet still at a later point returning and completing his necessary actions. However, King Henry’s character made sense to me. I understood that he knew the position that he was in and now that he was there, he had to uphold his actions to the best of his abilities. He understood that he had to protect the country and look out for its future, as seen in his slight hesitance to conduct the battle with the rebels, as well as his urgent attempts to coerce his son, Prince Hal, in returning to become and live as the king that he was always meant to become. There was something about the regal presence exuded by the King that attracted my attention to him, even when I know what he did to gain the crown of England. To me, it seems as if he understands what he did was wrong, and now he is trying to live the perfect life to atone for his sins against the peoples of England. I also identified on a certain level with the King because I was able to understand the feeling of knowing that I have done something wrong, okay it was not that wrong, but still I got the point, that I know I had to make up for with my actions. In my Christian faith, this is a central theme of forgiveness and atonement, so the life of the King made sense in my mind, allowing me to easily identify with that character.
From reading this play, I learned that I have a hard time finding honor and integrity in a person. In this play it seems as if that was not that hard of a standard to achieve, if that standard even existed at all if we are to accept Falstaff’s arguments relating to honor. To gain honor, one must do more that atone for what one does wrong, they must begin to live and advocate a positive lifestyle, which none of these characters really seemed to embrace. Some began to take that road, such as the King and Hal, but none of them actually became pilgrims on that journey. I wanted the characters to reach a fulfilling life conclusion about who they were, yet none of them reached a satisfactory endpoint. Falstaff, still totally dishonorable, Hal, certainly ironic in his relation to honor, and the King, understanding what honor is, but not fulfilling all of honor’s requirements. I let no one off of the hook, showing myself that in my mind for one to achieve honor and integrity, one must truly mean to live, not stumble across is based upon accident or necessity, one must truly want to live in that fashion. I liked this play a lot better than a lot of Shakespeare’s other plays based on the sole fact that there at least was some sharp and funny with incorporated into the historical story produced by Shakespeare. I liked that some history was involved, even though it was not perfectly accurate, but it put a unique twist on the writing that intrigued me. All of the other plot lines of Shakespeare’s always bored me. I always found them pointless, but that is just my analytical and historical mind coming through because I really prefer non-fiction to fiction reading material.
I enjoyed the way that this play was studied because the acting troops allowed me to interact with the scenes that otherwise I probably would have skipped over and not looked at, at a deeper level. I liked the small discussions after the play, yet I thought sometimes they remained to vague and congratulatory, rather than analytical and descript. This could be tweaked a bit to make it a bit more effective in bringing out the meaning of the scenes. I liked doing the reading journals online because it put a unique twist on an otherwise ordinary writing assignment. I thought it was effective in getting the students to put up decent and logical arguments because they knew that others would be reading those posts. I felt like some of the scenes were rushed through and others we went through at a snail’s pace. I think it would be helpful to even out those times, so that it seems of a more in-depth and purposeful reading of the play. That is my main suggestion for this unit next year. Overall, I enjoyed King Henry IV.
Well, I don't think I relate to any of the characters in this play, but the one I am most pleased with is Hal. At the beginning, he was a scum bag that I did not get along with. However, by the end, I was touched by his courage and honor and maturity growth.
I did not enjoy reading this play as much as other Shakespeare plays I have read, because I found it very hard to understand and sometimes very boring. However, I really enjoyed acting out the scenes, that really helped me understand it better.
When I first thought about my reaction to this blog, I was going to say I hated it. However, as I got to thinking, I realized it was actually quite helpful. In some ways it was inconvenient because I could never respond unless I was on the computer and writing reactions on paper is normally easier for me. But, it was very helpful for me to read other people's blog to help me understand the play more. It was also interesting to see other comments and add comments whenever I wanted to. All in all, the blog was very helpful. Thanks blog!
I identified with Hal, especially at the beginning of the play. I definitely understand being overwhelmed by responsibilities and just wanting to forget them all! I liked this play compared with other Shakespeare plays that I've read. I could identify with the characters more, and it seemed much more realistic. I liked the way we studied this play. I think I gained much more from it by having to read and interpret it on my own before we worked on it as a class.
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