Part 1 of Essay
Henry IV, Part One, has always been one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays, maybe because of Falstaff. Much of the early criticism I found concentrated on Falstaff and so will I. This may begin in the eighteenth century with Samuel Johnson. For Johnson, the Prince is a "young man of great abilities and violent pas ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... his reading of the play: 1. That Falstaff is the kind of character who invites a moral judgment mainly that he can answer to the charge of being a coward. 2. That you (the reader) can detach Falstaff's frivolity from the play and it can exist for its own sake apart from the major theme of the drama. 3. That the play is really about the fate of the kingdom, and that you (the reader) do not connect Falstaff's scenes with the main action. This means that the play has no real unity. Starting with ....