Masculine Initiation in the Henriad

Abstract

This essay studies masculine initiation in the Henriad, in the light of James Hillman's conception of the archetypes of puer and senex. The plays presents basically two modes o initiation in the persons of Hal, the senex and Falstaff, the trickster, the shadow of puer. While the former develops his masculinity in the usual heroic mode, the latter develops in a way that suits the puer's development. And the essay argues that Falstaff's initiation through betrayal is a serious parody of Christ's initiation on the cross. The senex-puer polarity as dramatizedin these characters is shown to have significant ethical and political implications as well. The contexts of the plays raise the issue of puer senilis, but here the puer senilis remains only as an ideal, bringing up the question of inevitable loss of soul in an exclusively senex-driven initiatory senex structure, a disturbing culturalproblem we continue to face today.