“I know thee not, old man”: An Esoteric View of Prince Hal’s Rejection of Falstaff, and the Monarchy of Individual Evolution

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the rejection of Falstaff by Prince Hal in William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part II in part through an esoteric lens, and to offer the view that this external action, political as it is on one level, can also be seen as pointing out a path toward the internal; if you will, the spiritual evolution and transformation of a man.