In Shakespeare, what is 'Falstaff's' first name?
"in 1597, after which controversy over the original naming of Falstaff (he was originally the historic Sir John Oldcastle, which presumably did not please Oldcastle's descendants) forced Shakespeare to rename the character. It appears that the joke in V,v,85–90 is that Oldcastle/Falstaff incriminates himself by calling out the first letter of his name, ""O, O, O!,"" when his fingertips are singed with candles—which of course works for ""Oldcastle"" but not ""Falstaff."" There is also the ""castle"" reference in IV,v,6. 18 January 1602 was the date the play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company. The first quarto was"
"although there is no evidence that he acted with cowardice, he was temporarily stripped of his knighthood. Fastolf appears in ""Henry VI, Part 1"" in which he is portrayed as an abject coward. In the"" First Folio ""his name is spelled ""Falstaffe"", so Shakespeare may have directly appropriated the spelling of the name he used in the earlier play. In a further comic double meaning, the name implies impotence. It has been suggested that the dissolute writer Robert Greene may also have been an inspiration for the character of Falstaff. This theory was first proposed in 1930 and has recently"
"of the death of Socrates after drinking hemlock. By comparison, in ""The Merry Wives of Windsor"", Falstaff is presented by Shakespeare as the buffoonish suitor of two married women. Though primarily a comic figure, Falstaff still embodies a kind of depth common to Shakespeare's major characters. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, he spends most of his time drinking at the Boar's Head Inn with petty criminals, living on stolen or borrowed money. Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king. Falstaff has since appeared in other media, notably in"
"principal fictional character is Sir John Falstaff, though he was originally given the name of the historical Sir John Oldcastle. His followers Bardolph, Nym and Pistol also recur, along with Mistress Quickly, the hostess of the Boar's Head Inn, where they meet. Hal's friend Ned Poins appears in both ""Henry IV"" plays. Minor characters such as petty-criminal Peto and bartender Francis also recur. Henriad Henriad is a common title used by scholars for Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy, comprising ""Richard II""; ""Henry IV, Part 1""; ""Henry IV, Part 2""; and ""Henry V"". The plays depict the destabilising effects of the violation"
"rebel Sir John Oldcastle, for ""Oldcastle died martyr, and this is not the man."" Falstaff had originally been named Oldcastle, following Shakespeare's main model, an earlier play ""The Famous Victories of Henry V"". Shakespeare was forced to change the name after complaints from Oldcastle's descendants. While it is accepted by modern critics that the name was originally Oldcastle in Part 1, it is disputed whether or not Part 2 initially retained the name, or whether it was always ""Falstaff"". According to René Weis, metrical analyses of the verse passages containing Falstaff's name have been inconclusive. Shakespeare's primary source for ""Henry"
"O, O!,"" when his fingertips are singed with candles — which of course works for ""Oldcastle"" but not ""Falstaff."" There is also the ""castle"" reference in IV,v,6 of the same play. The name Falstaff was derived from Sir John Fastolf, who was also a historical person—allegedly a greedy and grasping individual, who had a (probably undeserved) reputation for cowardice at the Battle of Patay in 1429. Fastolf, however, died without descendants, making him safe for a playwright's use. He had already appeared as a cowardly knight in Henry VI, part 1. The name change and the Epilogue disclaimer were required,"
"character is called Falstaff in all surviving texts of the play, there is abundant external and internal evidence that he was originally called Oldcastle. The change of names is mentioned in seventeenth-century works by Richard James (""Epistle to Sir Harry Bourchier"", c. 1625) and Thomas Fuller (""Worthies of England,"" 1662). It is also indicated in details in the early texts of Shakespeare's plays. In the quarto text of ""Henry IV, Part 2"" (1600), one of Falstaff's speech prefixes in Act I, Scene ii is mistakenly left uncorrected, ""Old."" instead of ""Falst."" In III, ii, 25-6 of the same play, Falstaff"
"alive. His heretical opinions and early friendship with Henry V created a traditional scandal which long continued. In the old play ""The Famous Victories of Henry V"", written before 1588, Oldcastle figures as the Prince's boon companion. When Shakespeare adapted that play in ""Henry IV, Part 1"", Oldcastle still appeared, but when the play was printed in 1598, the name was changed to Falstaff (modelled after John Fastolf), in deference to one of Oldcastle's descendants, Lord Cobham. Though the fat knight still remains ""my old lad of the Castle"", the stage character has nothing to do with the Lollard leader."
"complained, so the name was changed to Sir John Falstaff, under which name he is identified in three later plays. The tradition of Fastolf's braggart cowardice may have suggested the use of his name. Some writers have also suggested that Fastolf favoured Lollardy, which was also associated with Oldcastle, so this circumstance may have aided the adoption of the name. Stephen Cooper considers that there is in fact no evidence that Fastolf was a Lollard, and substantial indications that he was in fact Catholic like his one-time master Henry V. Other points of resemblance between the historic Fastolf and the"
"narrator says ""there never was a nose that came near to the nose of my man Bardolph. Not for brilliance, refulgor or resplendence...It was not a nose, it was phosphorous."" Bardolph appears along with Falstaff's other cronies in ""Falstaff's Wedding"" (1766), a play by William Kenrick, which is set after the events of ""Henry IV, Part 2"". In Robert Brough's novel ""The Life of Sir John Falstaff"" (1858), a fictional autobiography of the knight, it is revealed that Bardolph's real name is Peter, and that Bardolph is a nickname derived from ""a fancied resemblance to a nobleman at the court"""
"family. The bulk of Sir John's fortune passed to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he is remembered as a benefactor, and where there is a Fastolf Society. Fastolf appears in Shakespeare's early play Henry VI, part 1 as a cowardly knight who abandons the heroic Lord Talbot. In the first two folios the name of the character is given as 'Falstaffe' not Fastolf. When Shakespeare came to write Henry IV, part 1, set in the early years of Fastolf's career, he created a disreputable boon companion for the young Prince Hal called Sir John Oldcastle. The descendants of the real Oldcastle"
"political enmity. Henry's record of involvement in war and politics, even in his youth, disproves this tradition. The most famous incident, his quarrel with the chief justice, has no contemporary authority and was first related by Sir Thomas Elyot in 1531. The story of Falstaff originated in Henry's early friendship with Sir John Oldcastle, a supporter of the Lollards. Shakespeare's Falstaff was originally named ""Oldcastle"", following his main source, ""The Famous Victories of Henry V"". His descendants objected and the name was changed (the character became a composite of several real persons, including Sir John Fastolf). That friendship, and the"
"The ""Dictionary of British Place-names"" indicates that the name Hellesdon comes from Hægelisdun (the spelling of the location c.985), meaning 'hill of a man named Hægel', with the spelling having changed to Hailesduna by 1086. Hægelisdun is recorded in tradition as the location where King Edmund was killed by Viking invaders in 869, although there is no consensus on the location of this event. Hellesdon was one of several manors owned in the fifteenth century by Sir John Fastolf, the original of Shakespeare's Falstaff, and as with other of his properties, his death in 1459 led to something close to"
"of Patay, and whom Shakespeare had previously represented in ""Henry VI, Part 1"". Fastolf had died without descendants, making him safe for a playwright's use. Shortly afterward, a team of playwrights wrote a two-part play entitled ""Sir John Oldcastle"", which presents a heroic dramatisation of Oldcastle's life and was published in 1600. In 1986, the Oxford Shakespeare edition of Shakespeare's works rendered the character's name as Oldcastle, rather than Falstaff, in ""Henry IV, Part 1"" (although not, confusingly, in ""Part 2""), as a consequence of the editors' aim to present the plays as they would have appeared during their original"
"Falstaff from the beginning, even though in the Henriad plays he only realises his mistake in trusting him after Henry V is crowned. These oddities may have arisen because the play was written rapidly for a specific occasion. There are some signs of attempts to make the events fit the action of the Henriad plays, for example the brief scene in which Pistol expresses his attraction to her and says ""she is my prize"". This fits with his marriage to her in ""Henry V"". There is no further reference to his pursuit of her in the play, but he plays"
"(i.e. Lord Bardolph). Peter ""took kindly to the name"" to such an extent that he eventually believed that he was a member of the aristocratic family. Bardolph's supposed coat of arms is ""a bottle gules, on an oak table proper, with a corkscrew trenchant, supported by thirst rampant"". In A. M. F Randolph's fantasy ""The Trial of Sir John Falstaff"" (1893), Falstaff is brought to trial, with Justice Shallow presiding. Bardolph is called as a witness, but refuses to say anything. The light from the window strikes his nose, creating such an intense reflection that the whole court is temporarily"
"and Bristol indicate that at least some of the company toured that summer. The character of Falstaff, though immensely popular from the start, aroused the ire of Lord Cobham, who objected to the use of the character's original name (Oldcastle), which derived from a member of Cobham's family. In the last years of the century, the company continued to stage Shakespeare's new plays, including ""Julius Caesar"" and ""Henry V"", which may have opened the Globe, and ""Hamlet"", which may well have appeared first at the Curtain. Among non-Shakespearean drama, ""A Warning for Fair Women"" was certainly performed, as was the"
"some of these elements appear in many of his works, such as ""Twelfth Night"" or ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"", and had a deep impact on Shakespeare's writing. Later playwrights also borrowed Plautus's stock characters. One of the most important echoes of Plautus is the stock character of the parasite. Certainly the best example of this is Falstaff, Shakespeare's portly and cowardly knight. As J. W. Draper notes, the gluttonous Falstaff shares many characteristics with a parasite such as Artotrogus from ""Miles Gloriosus."" Both characters seem fixated on food and where their next meal is coming from. But they also rely"
"pentameter verse lines in both parts are irregular when using the name ""Falstaff,"" but correct with ""Oldcastle."" Finally, there is the blatant disclaimer at the close of ""Henry IV, Part 2"" that disassociates the two figures: ""for Oldcastle died [a] martyr, and this is not the man"" (Epilogue, 29-32). There is even a hint that Falstaff was originally Oldcastle in ""The Merry Wives of Windsor"" too. When the First Folio and quarto texts of that play are compared, it appears that the joke in V,v,85-90 is that Oldcastle/Falstaff incriminates himself by calling out the first letter of his name, ""O,"
"of Martyrs"". Oldcastle was also a minor character in the early Elizabethan history play the ""Famous Victories of Henry V"" (c. 1586?), which is generally thought to have been one of Shakespeare's sources for his plays on Henry IV and Henry V. The genesis of ""Sir John Oldcastle"" is crucially linked to the fact that when Shakespeare's ""Henry IV"" plays premiered on stage in 1597–98, the character Sir John Falstaff was called Sir John Oldcastle. This is indicated by abundant external and internal evidence. The change of names, from ""Oldcastle"" to ""Falstaff,"" is mentioned in seventeenth-century works by Richard James"
"Ancient Pistol Ancient Pistol is a swaggering soldier who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. Though full of grandiose boasts about his prowess, he is essentially a coward. The character is introduced in ""Henry IV, Part 2"" and reappears in ""The Merry Wives of Windsor"" and ""Henry V"". The character's first name is never given. He is referred to as Falstaff's ""ancient"", meaning ""ensign"", or standard bearer. Pistol is introduced as a ""swaggerer"" who suddenly turns up at the Boar's Head Tavern, contrary to the wishes of the hostess, Mistress Quickly. Falstaff tells her that Pistol is his ""ancient"""
"original composition; Prince Hal refers to Falstaff as ""my old lad of the castle"" in the first act of the play; the epilogue to ""Henry IV, Part 2"", moreover, explicitly disavows any connection between Falstaff and Oldcastle: ""Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man."" The historical Oldcastle was a Lollard who was executed for heresy and rebellion, and he was respected by many Protestants as a martyr. In addition to the anonymous ""The Famous Victories of Henry V"", in which Oldcastle is Henry V's companion, Oldcastle's history is described in Raphael Holinshed's ""Chronicles"", Shakespeare's usual source for"
"themes help to give the play something closer to a modern-day view than is often found in Shakespeare's plays. The play is centred on the class prejudices of middle-class England. The lower class is represented by characters such as Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol (Falstaff's followers), and the upper class is represented by Sir John Falstaff and Master Fenton. Shakespeare uses both Latin and misused English to represent the attitudes and differences of the people of this era. For example, much humor is derived from the exaggerated accents of Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh Evans. For example, Caius speaks in an"
"court cronyism, to John Poins. Poins' reference to being a younger brother (and therefore not the inheritor of the family estate) implies that he comes from an established family. In the earliest version of ""Henry IV, Part 1"" all of Falstaff's cronies had names derived from established families of the era, but most were later changed. Melchiori considers it significant that Poins was the only one whose name was not changed. The character appears to have been popular with audiences at the time. According to Leonard Digges, writing shortly after Shakespeare's death, many plays could not get good audiences, ""but"
"He is the subject of a novel by Robert Nye entitled ""Falstaff"" (Publisher: Allison & Busby; New Ed edition (1 Oct 2001)) Fastolf is also an opponent in Ensemble Studios , in the game's Joan of Arc campaign. Fastolf fights on England's side and his unit is a lance-wielding knight. <br> John Fastolf Sir John Fastolf (1380 – 5 November 1459) was an English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War. He has enjoyed a more lasting reputation as the prototype, in some part, of Shakespeare's character Sir John Falstaff. Many historians consider, however, that he deserves to be"
"Falstaff (opera) Falstaff () is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's ""The Merry Wives of Windsor"" and scenes from ""Henry IV"", parts 1 and 2. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan. Verdi wrote ""Falstaff"", which was the last of his 28 operas, as he was approaching the age of 80. It was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following ""Macbeth"" and ""Otello"". The plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat"
"though it has since been converted into offices. Nicholas Pevsner described it as ""one of the maddest displays in London of gabled Gothic brick."" Ian Nairn called it ""the scream you wake on at the end of a nightmare."" There was another Boar's Head Inn, at Whitechapel, the courtyard of which was used from 1557 onwards as an inn-yard theatre to stage plays, known as the Boar's Head Theatre. It was refurbished in 1598–1599. There was yet another Boar's Head Inn, at Southwark, owned by Sir John Fastolf, who is the source for the character-name of Falstaff. While the Eastcheap"
"on flattery in order to gain these gifts, and both characters are willing to bury their patrons in empty praise. Of course, Draper notes that Falstaff is also something of a boastful military man, but notes, ""Falstaff is so complex a character that he may well be, in effect, a combination of interlocking types."" As well as appearing in Shakespearean comedy, the Plautine parasite appears in one of the first English comedies. In ""Ralph Roister Doister,"" the character of Matthew Merrygreeke follows in the tradition of both Plautine Parasite and Plautine slave, as he both searches and grovels for food"
"John Falstaff"" was published in 1777. It belonged to a genre of criticism, well-established at the time, that defended a Shakespeare character against charges of immorality. In this character study, Morgann contradicted Dr Johnson's view of Falstaff as a drunken coward unworthy of admiration. Morgann argued that it was Shakespeare's intention to gain sympathy from the audience for Falstaff at the expense of Prince Hal. Falstaff was in reality a good-natured man of true courage and a coward only in appearance. When he is robbed at Gads Hill, for example, Falstaff does not flee ""until he had been deserted by"
"character in the original versions of William Shakespeare's plays ""Henry IV, Part 1"" and ""Henry IV, Part 2"". Objections from descendants of the historical John Oldcastle, a Protestant martyr, appears to have been responsible both for the writing of the corrective ""Oldcastle"" play and the alteration of Oldcastle to Sir John Falstaff in later versions of the ""Henry IV"" plays. Also, Wilson has been proposed as a possible author of several anonymous Elizabethan plays, including ""Fair Em"", ""The Pedlar's Prophecy"", ""A Larum for London"", ""Look About You"", ""Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes"", and ""A Knack to Know a Knave"". As"
"further been suggested that his comic catchphrase was deliberately intended to invoke Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare's best known characters, for the audience. In Shakespeare's ""Henry IV, Part 2"", Justice Shallow refers to Falstaff as having once been a page to ""Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk"", Mowbray's grandfather. Falstaff is commonly considered to be a fictional representation of either Sir John Oldcastle or Sir John Fastolf—or possibly an amalgamation of the two—both of whom are variously associated with Mowbray. John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal (12 September 1415 – 6"
"of a religious tone, ""The Mirror of Martyrs"" and ""An Agnus Dei"". ""The Mirror of Martyrs or The Life and Death of ... Sir John Oldcastle"" may have been part of a backlash. In his preface Weever calls it the ""first trew Oldcastle"", perhaps on account of the fact that Shakespeare's character Falstaff first appeared as ""Sir John Oldcastle"". Weever's work is influenced by John Bale's 1544 biography of Oldcastle, which presents him as a proto-Protestant martyr. In the fourth stanza of this long poem, in which Sir John is his own panegyrist, occurs a reminiscence of Shakespeare's ""Julius Caesar"""
"The ""miles gloriosus"" was a soldier who, although a coward, bragged excessively about past experiences. The most famous ""miles gloriosus"" in theatre is probably Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff. Falstaff is a fat old knight in the service of the English king who brags about his battle experiences, despite being cowardly and averse to battle. In one scene, Falstaff says I would to God my name were not so terrible to the enemy as it is. I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion (""Henry IV, Part 2"" 1.2.218-221)."