William Shakespeare's "Henry IV"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the character of Falstaff, in William Shakespeare's "Henry IV" is a completely independent organism; he is both a child, who needs nursing, and a mother, who gives nursing, which renders him emotionally self-sufficient. The author points out that Falstaff has no sense of history; he is devoid of the peripheral vision of past or future that tends to de-emphasize the present; thus, Falstaff lives like nature because he is not fiscally bound to dependence, conscious of himself or a partaker in history. The paper relates that Falstaff never fully believes in honor, but he does see practical value in wearing its mask, having a title, to the point that he will lie about killing Hotspur to have it.

From the Paper:

"Nature is self-sufficient; it is a perfect organism that harbors everything it needs to prevail within itself. By contrast, civilization is dependent on the dismembering and itemization of nature, the trade of which is its foundation; civilization persists on supply and necessitates demand -- "nature falls into revolt / when gold becomes her object" (2.IV.v.65-6). Nature, in its undivided essence, cannot be self-conscious; it is boundless, and as such, has no foreign counter-point with which to ascertain itself. Nature is not conscious of itself because conscious auto-determinacy necessitates spatiotemporal terminus. Civilization, on the other hand, sanctions self-consciousness by forcing a divide within its subjects; paying heed to their individual limits, what they lack, humans are able to procure demand and develop supply."

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