In Henry IV Part 1 King Henry had managed to defeat a rebellion against his kingdom in the battle of Shrewsbury. In Part 2, however, the rebels reorganize and continue to fight the king. King Henry in the meanwhile is aging very quickly and getting sick. He also has to deal with an irresponsible son, Prince Henry, who wastes his days in taverns with questionable characters such as Falstaff. The Prince, however, starts spending less time with his friends since wants to change his ways in order to become the future leader of England. Falstaff is now an army captain and goes to the countryside to raise forces for the upcoming battles.

Thanks to Prince John, Prince Henry's younger brother, the rebels are defeated, tricked by his deceiving political machinations. He orders the rebels to be executed.

In this scene, in ACT IV, Scene 5, King Henry is in deathbed and appears to die. The prince, thinking that he is dead, grabs the crown and leaves. The king, however, wakes up and seeing that his crown is gone, gets angry at his son and accuses him of being irresponsible and of only caring about becoming king. In this monologue Prince Henry asks for forgiveness, he genuinely thought his father was dead but wasn't overjoyed about it. Thinking that he was dead he decided to take his crown but wasn't looking forward to become the next king.