A Comparative Study of Henry IV and the Machiavellian Prince

Abstract

Henry IV is an important figure in Shakespeare’s history plays. Many of his personalities and ways of governing the state echo the Italian politician Machiavelli’s ideas of a good prince, who should be a fierce lion as well as an astute fox. But Henry IV is not a completely Machiavellian prince. His melancholy reflects Shakespeare’s concerns about the legal inheritance of the throne, which is essentially different from Machiavelli’s practical morality