In Henry IV, patterned language is repeatedly used throughout both parts of this play. Whether it is in the monologues or conversations including multiple people, speech patterns, conflicts, echoes, pattern changes, and more are still evident in the spoken words of the actors throughout the play. In 4.1 of Henry IV, Hotspur, Worcester, and the Messenger have a conversation about how Hotspur’s father, Northumberland, is too sick to join them in the coming battle (4.1.18-45). This conversation displays a lot of echoing in regards to the Messenger’s message and how Hotspur receives it.
For instance, when this passage begins, the readers might think that Hotspur will lead the conversation, but it is the Messenger who leads with the message he has to bring. His message is echoed in the dialogue that Hotspur and Worcester add. Hotspur says “Zounds, how has he the leisure to be sick/In such a justling time,” which echoes and refers to when the Messenger said that “He cannot come, my lord. He is grievous sick” (4.1.18-20).
The mention of Northumberland being sick does not stop at these lines nor is the Messenger dismissed. However, the pattern does change as Worcester speaks. Instead of echoing the Messenger, he changes the pattern structure to allow him to lead the conversation to operate in favor of solving the conflict. He says, “I would the state of time had first been whole/Ere he by sickness had been visited./His health was never better worth than now,” basically stating that Northumberland has always had poor health, so it is no surprise that he is sick (4.1.27-29).
However, Hotspur echoes and follows what Worcester is saying, but still combats his reasoning, furthering the conflict, “Sick now? Droop now? This sickness doth infect/The very lifeblood of our enterprise” (4.1.30-31). While Worcester is working against the conflict in a logical way, so that it can be solved, Hotspur is spurring on the conflict, unreasonably so. All of this is occurring as the Messenger becomes a follower rather than a leader, echoing each side as each man raises a new point.
At the end of this passage, it is interesting to see how the conflict is dismissed. There is no resolution or continuation, but it seems that Hotspur’s bout of dramatic irony pushes the conflict away because he believes that his father’s strife and sickness will seriously harm them and their allies in the battle that awaits. Here, Hotspur finally takes the lead with the conversation, pushing Worcester to follow once more, which can especially be seen as Worcester finally agrees that Northumberland’s sickness is “a maim to us” (4.1.45).
Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. Henry IV, Part I. Folger Digital Texts. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine with Michael Poston and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library. Created on Apr 23, 2016, from FDT version 0.9.0.1. https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/henry-iv-part-1/act-4-scene-1/. Accessed March 17, 2022.