Special Post - Identity

Critical Concepts Special Blog Post Focusing on Identity

by Rosalind Seidel

Marks Sicherman, Carol. "King Hal: The Integrity of Shakespeare's Portrait." Texas

            Studies in Literature and Language 21.4 (1979): 503-21. JSTOR. Web.             <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40754588>.

            In her article “King Hal: The Integrity of Shakespeare’s Portrait,” Carol Marks Sicherman introduces a lot of interesting and insightful discussion points on one of William Shakespeare’s characters, Prince Hal from the history plays Henry IV and Henry V. Sicherman begins her exposition of Prince Hal by stating that ultimately, by the time he reaches and assumes the role of king, Hal faces a reconciliation of his multiple selves. Hal, explains Sicherman, took up these selves in an effort to penetrate the role of royalty foisted upon him with elements of other realities he creates. Hal carries out a variety of parts that make him seem more so like “a series of figures in a kaleidoscope” than one individual. However, Sicherman argues that despite all the different forms of identity Hal adopts, the array of personalities he assumes are indeed assisting him in his development towards becoming one individual person.

            I found Sicherman’s ideas on the character of Hal and the identities he personates particularly interesting because for me, I saw all of Hal’s different identifies as just that – different. They were not something that I believed to be encompassing or characteristic of one individual person. To my understanding the way that Hal functioned in terms of identity was with extreme plasticity. Instead of considering Hal’s identities as part of him, I distanced them and regarded them as something outside of Hal himself that he simply assumed to serve as a means to an end in which he himself could benefit from disguising the truth of the station to which he was born. In Sicherman’s article she brings up a point that I had not even considered important to identity, which is the manner in which Hal talks depending on his identities. Also, the manner in which people refer to Hal and address him shifts accordingly. The manner in address and language alike signifies who Hal appears to be.

            Not only does language serve to reveal who Hal is, Sicherman argues, but it also unmasks who it is he is becoming because of his multifaceted identities. Going back to Sicherman’s concept of Hal’s many identities fostering the development of a singular person, she discusses Hal’s taking on of identities in a manner of evolution. Hal is first seen shaping identity for imitation, then later persuasion. After some time is Hal at a point at which the extensions of his identity become idealized characters and his portrayals of them. They are not who Hal is per se, but at the same time are because they are because they are what has allowed for the shaping and growth of his character. Through his use of disguise, Hal has established values that are rooted in his own personal integrity which are present even through they may seem submerged beneath artifice. I find Sicherman’s ideas particularly fascinating because I had not considered the depths to the identities Hal adopts beyond their surface value and how they served to his benefit in someway. I considered his assumed identities to be something ephemeral rather than substantial.

            All in all, I consider Sicherman’s article incredibly helpful as a student trying to grasp the critical concept of identity. I found Sicherman’s arguments well founded and her evidence and explanations extremely constructive in terms in assisting the comprehension of her reader. As a student of Shakespeare, Sicherman’s article introduced me to new ideas that perhaps were possible for me to see in my periphery while reading the text, but weren’t truly brought to the forefront or concepts I would have been able to completely grasp before Sicherman presented them. I thoroughly enjoyed Sicherman’s work because it exposed me to a broader spectrum of thought when regarding identity and the ways in which it can function.