Maynard Mack credits Hal with having simply "met the claims of Hotspur's world, of Falstaff's, and of Henry's, without narrowing himself to any one" and of having "brought into practical balance court, field and tavern." Indeed, Hal, as heir to the throne and as a nobleman, has been trained in the arts of diplomacy, chivalry and military skills. However, he proves to be more than simply a well-trained prince with a natural knack for shifting through entirely dissimilar worlds with ease and dexterity. Claire McEachern asserts that Hal has done much more than just meet the claims of the three different worlds of the court, tavern and field; she argues that Hal is a "consummately theatrical ruler", a character "in control of his legend from the start." Hal's shrewdness, practicality, theatrical skill, rhetorical facility and diplomatic expertise allow him to be more in control of himself than any other character in the play. His every action is deliberate and carefully thought-out, and is part of his master plan. He is both the playwright and the protagonist of his own story, the author of his very own legend.
             Hal reveals himself to be a shrewd and calculating character. Though he spends much of the play frolicking around in a tavern, he is actually carefully planning out his political career. Hal fritters away much of his free time in the rowdy, boisterous and disreputable tavern life of Eastcheap; he appears to be shirking his duties as prince, spending his time drinking, wenching and playing practical jokes instead of helping out his father, King Henry. However, Hal has valid reasons for this seemingly degenerate behavior. His true intentions for assorting with the common people of the tavern are two-fold: Firstly, he goes to the tavern to learn about the people that he will one day rule over and to make himself popular among these people. His second, more im...