"Let order die,
And let this world no longer be a stage
To feed contention in a lingering act;
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms."
At the beginning of the play, which picks up where 1 Henry IV left off, Northumberland discovers that his son, Hotspur, has died at the Battle of Shrewsbury (killed by Prince Hal). In his grief, he calls for the destruction of all "order" in the world and asks that the spirit of Cain – the son of Adam and Eve and murderer of his brother Abel in the Bible – inhabit the population. This invocation suggests, as the plays of the Henriad often do, that political strife is nearly always synonymous with familial strife.
"But I tell thee,
my heart bleeds inwardly that my father is so sick;
and keeping such vile company as thou art hath in
reason taken from me all ostentation of sorrow."
In 1 Henry IV, Hal admits to the audience that the time he spends among commoners is part of his strategic plan to lower expectations until he becomes king, thereby making his "transformation" more impressive. When Henry IV falls ill, Hal realizes that he cannot genuinely express his sadness over his father's state without seeming like a hypocrite, as he rebuked his father early on. This quotation dramatizes Hal's internal conflict over choosing family (and therefore kingship) over his youthful lifestyle.
"Faith, it does me; though it discolors the complexion
of my greatness to acknowledge it. Doth it
not show vilely in me to desire small beer?"
In this quotation, Hal explains how exhausted he is from playing the role of a rebellious youth while still maintaining his pursuit of the crown. Here, he worries that he has leaned too far into his strategy of lowering expectations, as he puzzles over the fact that he has developed a taste for light beer (the drink of the common man).
"God knows, I had no such intent,
But that necessity so bowed the state
That I and greatness were compelled to kiss—"
In this quotation, King Henry rewrites history to some degree in claiming that it was never his intention to depose Richard II, from whom he took the crown. Instead, Henry portrays himself as a passive beneficiary, someone who was "compelled" by stronger forces to assume the role of king rather than someone who actively sought to dethrone Richard. In this moment, audiences will likely be skeptical of Henry's perception of the past and his own legacy as king.
"O God, that one might read the book of fate
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent,
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
Into the sea, and other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the ocean
Too wide for Neptune's hips."
As Henry IV approaches his death, he delivers one of the most bleak and pessimistic speeches in the play. Here, he essentially envisions the destruction of the earth – the razing of mountains, the disintegration of land, and the seas overpowering the globe. This passage emphasizes Henry's deep despair as his life comes to an end, and even suggests that Henry's perception of the dying earth is a reflection of his own death.
"My lord, I found the prince in the next room,
Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks,
With such a deep demeanor in great sorrow
That tyranny, which never quaffed but blood,
Would, by beholding him, have washed his knife
With gentle eyedrops."
When Hal encounters King Henry asleep, he thinks he has died. Hal takes the crown, assuming that he has already taken over the throne. When Henry wakes up, he accuses Hal of wanting him dead all along to fulfill his own pursuits of power. Here, Warwick tells Henry that Hal is in tears after the incident, and that his grief seems powerful enough to wash a bloody knife. While Hal appears genuinely saddened by his father's accusations, this metaphor of the bloody knife (usually a sign of guilt in early modern plays) leaves the question of Hal's intentions ambiguous.
"Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds,
And he, the noble image of my youth,
Is overspread with them; therefore my grief
Stretches itself beyond the hour of death."
In this quotation, Henry recycles some of the horticultural imagery that abounds in 1 Henry IV by describing Hal as a garden that has become overrun with weeds. These "weeds," of course, are his companions like Falstaff, who have led Hal into a debauched lifestyle of which Henry disapproves. Henry suggests that this reality of his son's antics is more devastating to him than his own swiftly-approaching death.
"Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels, that action, hence borne
out,
May waste the memory of the former days."
Just before King Henry dies, he confides in Hal, telling him that the best course of action for ruling is to stir up conflict in foreign lands in order to distract from potential rebellions at home. Henry himself spent most of his reign enacting crusades in the Middle East, and this passage encourages audiences to question whether those efforts were anything more than a strategic distraction. This passage also hints at the play's negative portrayal of war, as it suggests that those in power will sacrifice lives in order to maintain their position.
"I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers.
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester.
I have long dreamt of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane;
But being awaked, I do despise my dream."
In one of the most devastating moments of the play, Hal (now King Henry V) publicly rejects Falstaff by insulting his age, his physical appearance (Falstaff is famously quite fat), and his ethics (or lack thereof). He compares Falstaff to a "fool" and "jester" to emphasize his own rejection of the youthful antics in which he used to engage, like disguises, pranks, and role-play. While audiences likely expect this moment to come throughout most of the play, it is nonetheless one of the more emotionally charged moments in 2 Henry IV. It is also the last time audiences get to see Falstaff alive, as he dies shortly after in Henry V.
"I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,
We bear our civil swords and native fire
As far as France."
At the end of the play, Lancaster provides a hint of the next chapter of the Henriad, Henry V, suggesting that England will be at war with foreign countries within the year. He mentions "as far as France," which turns out to be accurate – in the early scenes of Henry V, King Henry decides to wage war with the Dauphin (prince of France) and invade his country. This passage also suggests that Hal (now king) might take his father's advice in waging foreign wars as a means of keeping Britain stable and his own reign solidified.
