Trickery, Again!

After reading the beginning few pages of King Henry the Fourth, Part 1 several times to get a good idea of who was who, I was happy to find in the following pages of the play a little humor. I have to admit, this Shakespeare play frightened me a little. I was expecting complete boredom, as I read it, and I had a hard time understanding who all of the characters were, at first. As I read on, King Henry's son, Harry, proved to be my link to "appreciation." Although Falstaff seemed to me to be a cumbersome clown at times, it was Harry who instigated and carried out numerous tricks on the poor fellow, which I enjoyed, immensely. Harry's and his sidekicks' stealing money from Falstaff as Falstaff himself had just stolen it was fun reading. My first impression of Harry was a little "off" as well, thinking him somewhat a cruel young man, but realizing later he was a kid at heart and had quite a fondness, in fact, for Falstaff. And, Shakespeare tricked me on this one, which was perhaps his intention for all of his readers. His combination of many human elements-love, hate, betrayal, trickery, and especially humor-in most of his plays make his genius exude and his humanity evident. .....Linda