Matt Ball, Patrick Harvey, Samantha Blinn, Chasen Schneider and Ariana Karp discuss Act IV of King Henry IV, Part I. Topics include:

Mainly expository nature of Act IV
Themes of sickness and disease through the language of the rebellion
Vernon’s rhapsodic reverie about Prince Hal
The dark and cynical observations about the foots soldiers as “food for powder” aka cannon fodder
Hotspur ultimately is the one person who makes the decision about exactly when the battle will be fought
Hotspur’s explanation of the rebel’s grievances is the clearest in the play when he is explaining to the Earl of Blunt
Last scene of Act IV as an oddity-the only time that we see anyone from the ecclesiastical orders in the play
The repercussions of the battle of Shrewsbury as the beginning of Hal’s military education - looking at the parallels in the two battles in Henry V (Harfleur and Agincourt)
Falstaff as a ‘wild child’