On his deathbed, King Henry IV reconciles himself to his son after a bitter misunderstanding between them, and he foreshadows later historical events adapted by Shakespeare in his play Henry V, which serves as a sequel to this play. Reflecting upon his own reign as King, Henry states:
It seemed in me
But as an honor snatched with boist’rous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances,
Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposèd peace. All these bold fears
Thou seest with peril I have answerèd,
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument. And now my death
Changes the mood, for what in me was purchased
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort.
So thou the garland wear’st successively.
Here, the King acknowledges the violence that has accompanied his reign, and he attributes this civil turmoil to the bloody circumstances of his own accession to the throne: a civil war and the overthrow of King Richard II. Though he suggests that his entire reign was marked by “quarrel and bloodshed,” he predicts that his death will bring about a change in “mood” throughout the Kingdom. Further, he suggests that Harry’s own reign will be “a more fairer sort” and that he will wear the “garland” of kingship effectively. The King’s statements, then, foreshadow later events in history, as well as Shakespeare’s later play, King Henry V, which depicts Harry’s later successes in restoring national peace as well as his victories against external enemies, such as the Kingdom of France.
At the closing lines of the play, the figure of Epilogue foreshadows later events in the Henriad, which Shakespeare will portray in the following play, Henry V. Pleading with the audience to accept the quick conclusion to this play and explaining that the conclusion to Henry’s story will come later, Epilogue states:
One word more, I beseech you: if you be not too
much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katherine of France, where, for anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night.
First, Epilogue addresses the topic of Falstaff, whose ending in the play is ambiguous. When he is last seen onstage, he is under arrest and banished from Harry’s court, though Falstaff himself believes his banishment to be a mere ploy by his former companion. Here, Epilogue states that the next play will “continue the story” of Sir John, who “for anything I know” will “die of sweat.” Here, Epilogue’s casual tone conceals some serious foreshadowing: Falstaff will in fact fall ill and die in the next play. However, Epilogue’s assurances are not completely reliable: though he is correct about Falstaff’s death, Falstaff does not in fact appear in the following play, and his death occurs offstage.
