Dictionary.com defines honour as honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions.

Encarta.com describes it as strong moral character or strength. Honour is a much debated topic and
has been for centuries. The meaning of honour is clear to most and is always associated with the
worthiness of high respect. In William Shakespeare's play Henri IV- Part One, honour was never given
a reliable definition. Instead, honour meant different things to the various individuals in the play.
Shakespeare brilliantly associated the views of honour of his main characters: Hotspur, King Henry IV,
Price Harry and Falstaff, with their personal goals and values. Because of their different outlooks of
honor, these characters were unable to understand the actions of the other characters that were
related to their desire for, and pursuit of, honor.
To Hotspur, honor is connected to achieving glory on the battlefield and defending one's reputation
at all cost. His view of honor is medieval as he interprets it as something tangible rather than
abstract. The first time the term honor is used in the play, it is related to Hotspur's courage on the
battlefield after he has captured the prisoners, or the "honourable spoil" (I.i.74). Later, he is referred
to by Douglas as "the king of honour" (IV.i.10). Early in the novel, Hotspur is convinced that the king
disgraced honor and is set on redeeming it by rebelling against the king. He thought "it were an easy
leap to pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon, or dive into the bottom of the deep, where
fathom-line could never touch the group, and pluck up drowned honour by the locks" (I.iii.199-203).
Though Hotspur was correct in his assumption that the king was not fulfilling his duties as he should,
he was overstepping his boundaries in decided that it was his responsibility to right the wrong.
Hotspur's flaw becomes his commitment to honor and he develops into a symbol of irrational honor.
So obsessed he is with it that he is unable to sleep. His wife commented that he only spoke "of
sallies, and retires, of trenches, tents, of palisades, frontiers, parapets, of basilisks, of cannon,
culverin, of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers' slain, and all the currents of a heady fight" (II.iii.53-57).
He is unable to love his wife as much as he loves his pursuit of honor and exclaims that to her.
Hotspur is self-righteous and more interested in gaining fame for himself rather than for his nation.
His pursuit of honor eventually leads to his downfall.
King Henry IV believed that honor dealt with the well-being of the nation and the legitimacy of its
ruler. Because of the way he came to be king, by illegally usurping the crown from Richard II, Henry
fears that his rule is illegitimate, and as a result, his power is ineffective. He thinks that God may be
punishing him and feels the necessity to explain his decision in usurping the crown. In a private
conversation with his son, he said that "the skipping King, he ambled up and down, with shallow
jesters, and rash bavin wits" which made it inevitable for him to steal the crown from him (III.ii.60-
61). Though he bashed the previous king for his lack of kinglike behavior, he was no better. He never
evolved as a great king because he believed his honor to have been compromised. Because of his
practical view of honor, Henry IV is knowledgably that his reign as king would not be valuable. He is
disappointed in his son who he believes embodies the opposite of what constitutes honor and
wishes that Hotspur was his heir instead. He was envious of Lord Northumberland who he claimed
was blessed with "a son who is the theme of honour's tongue" (I.i.80) while "dishonour strained the
brow of [his] young Harry" (I.i.84-85). He later learns that it is Harry, not Hotspur, who truly
symbolizes what honour should be.
Prince Harry's view of honour is extremely different from Hotspur's and almost similar to that of his
father's in that he associates honour with noble behaviour. He believes that honour can be regained
at will and begins the play by pretending to be a wastrel. He spends his time at the Boar's Head
Tavern, drinking with criminals and other ghastly characters. His actions earned his the displeasure
of his father as well as the whole of England. His purpose was to lower the expectations that
surrounded him in order to surprise everyone when he emerges as a hero. He desires honor in
moderation and went about achieving it in a respectable and responsible way. When he did fight, it
was not for the glorification of himself but out of necessity. Even his enemy, Vernon, acknowledged
that he "never in [his] life did hear a challenge urged more modestly" (V.ii.51-52). He was successful
in his goal, shedding his questionable lifestyle in time to fight and save the life of his father, and was
able to regain the admiration of his father as well as the love of his people.
Harry also believes that by killing someone who possesses honor, their honor would be transformed
to his. He acknowledges that Hotspur has achieved honor in battle, honor that his father respects.
He claims that "for every honour sitting on his head would they were multitudes" while all he
himself has accumulated was shame (III.ii.142-143). He cultivates plans of taking from Hotspur the
honor he has achieved in order to regain his good name. He said to his father that he would redeem
himself on Hotspur's head and on that day "this same child of honour and reknown, this gallant
Hotspur, this all praised-knight" and himself would chance to meet (III.ii.139-141). Harry successfully
defeats Hotspur in a single combat and, like he predicted, reclaims his good name. So unconcerned
was he with receiving glory that he allowed Falstaff to take credit for the killing of Hotspur. Of all the
characters, Harry possessed the most modern view of honor. His relation of honor to behavior
rather than actions makes his prospect standard of our time. He shows a balance between the
obsession with honor that Hotspur possess and the rejection of honor that Falstaff demonstrates.
His realistic approach allows him to receive honor both in the tavern and on the battlefield.
Falstaff was not impressed with the idea of honor and believed it to be nothing more than wasted
effort which would ultimately do no good to anyone. He was dishonest and corrupt and could not
comprehend the ideas of courtly chivalry which was associated with knighthood. To Falstaff, honor
was useless. He questioned if honor could set to a leg or take away the grief of a wound and
answered that it could not. He said that "honour is a mere scutcheon" (V.i.138) and because of this
he would have none of it. In this play, Falstaff represented the rejection of honor. His approach to
honor was cynical as he strived to understand how anyone would put honor before their own wants
and desires. To Prince Harry he said that "I like not such grinning honour as Sir Walter hath. Give me
life, which if I can save, so. If not, honour comes unlooked for, and there's an end (V.iv.58-61).
Though he had no concern with honor, he desired to appear honorable in the eyes of others. He
intends to take credit for the killing of Hotspur, saying that "I will swear I killed him" (V.iv.123-124).
The different views of honor in Henry IV- Part One gave a clear glance into the personalities of the
characters and how they compared to each other. Hotspur believed that honor was related to
success on the battle field while King Henry IV and the price believed it to be relating to noble and
respectable behavior. Falstaff rejects the notion of honor, seeing it as a waste of effort. Of all the
different outlooks, Harry's was the most realistic as he pursued honor only when it was necessary
and did not crave the glory associated with it. Shakespeare did an amazing job of capturing the
essence of a historical tragedy and formulating a lesson on a principle that many are concerned with.
For his brilliance, the honor entirely belongs to him.