Disguise, Disguise, and More Disguise

Cymbeline is obviously rich in identity crises and false identities. The “good” queen is evil; the stolen princes are alive, well, and returned; Iachimo is a liar and a creep; Innogen is a girl, then a boy, then a girl; Cloten is Posthumus…the list goes on indefinitely. This seemingly never ending montage of trickery and disguise certainly colored my perspective on reading King Henry IV part 1. While reading Act I, I kept looking for the catch. Who was pretending to be someone they weren't? Who is lying and putting on a front? The answer: Prince Hal.

With all the supplemental knowledge of English history, the audience would've know that Prince Hal would eventually become King Henry the V and lead England to victory over France and a plethora of other noble deeds. In Act I of King Henry IV part 1 however, Prince Hal is quite the rebel. Hal is drinking in a bar surrounded by various miscreants, not exactly the type of friends a prince should have. To make matters even more astounding, he is discussing a robbery he will soon commit! Hal is a disappointment to his father the king, who remarks “O, that it could be proved that some night-tripping fairy had exchanged in cradle clothes our children where they lay”. (1.1.85-86)

However, the aspect of Prince Hal’s rebellious attitude that is reminiscent of Cymbeline, is his motives for committing these actions. Hal isn't truly a horrible kid. It’s all an act, a disguise. In the Prince’s soliloquy he reveals to the audience that he just wants the kingdom to think the worst of him before he assumes his rightful place on the throne, in which time he will shock the world with his noble, honorable character. “So when this loose behavior I throw off and pay the debt I never promised, by how much better than my word I am, by so much shall I falsify men’s hopes.” (1.2.198-201)