humor. Falstaff explains that he was dispraising Hal and Poins “before the wicked, that the wicked might not fall in love with thee” (II, iv: 327-28). The wicked, in this case, refers to Hostess Quickly, Doll Tearsheet, Bardolph, and the page. Prince Hal questions Falstaff further about their wickedness, and Falstaff’s answers seem more appropriate to that of a Puritan minister than to that of a comic character. Of course, Falstaff’s response is also ironic. He is one of the wicked as well. Toward the end of the play, Falstaff soliloquizes that one should be careful of the company he keeps:
It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of another. Therefore let men take heed of their company. (V, i: 77-80)
And the company that Falstaff keeps in this play consists primarily of Quickly, Doll, and Bardolph. Thus, Falstaff condemns himself. As another indication that all is not as before, Shakespeare ends the scene in 2 Henry IV rather abruptly. A messenger arrives and informs the prince that trouble and rebellion is brewing to the north of England. Prince Hal decries his wasted energies:
By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame, So idly to profane the precious time.
(II, iv: 370-71)
The dialogue spoken by Falstaff has not the same
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