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Claim analyzed
History“William Shakespeare's play "Henry V" contains the line "I know thee not, old man."”
Submitted by Quiet Robin 1857
The conclusion
Open in workbench →The line is Shakespeare's, but it is not in the play Henry V. Reliable editions place "I know thee not, old man" in Henry IV, Part 2, Act 5, Scene 5, spoken by the newly crowned King Henry V. The claim confuses the character's title with the title of a different play.
Caveats
- The speaker is King Henry V, but the scene appears in Henry IV, Part 2, not in the separate play Henry V.
- User-generated videos and quote pages can mislabel Shakespeare lines by conflating character names with play titles.
- The fuller line often appears as "I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers," which is still attributed to Henry IV, Part 2.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
The Folger text places the line in Act 5, scene 5 of *Henry IV, Part 2*. It shows King Henry saying: “I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers. How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester.”
The Royal Shakespeare Company attributes the quote to King Henry V in *Henry IV, Part II*: “I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers. How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!”
A Lancaster University stylistics teaching page introduces an extract from Shakespeare: "The extract below is taken from Shakespeare's [*Henry IV, Part 2*]" and discusses the scene in which "the new King Henry V" addresses Falstaff. The quoted speech begins: "I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers. How ill white hairs become a fool and jester." The discussion frames this as from *Henry IV, Part 2*, where Hal has just become Henry V.
The MIT Shakespeare text for "The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth" lists the scene heading "SCENE V. Westminster. Another chamber of the Palace" and shows Falstaff's line "My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!" followed by "KING HENRY V. I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers; / How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!" This confirms the line appears in *Henry IV, Part 2* rather than in the later play *Henry V*.
The Open Source Shakespeare text for *Henry IV, Part 2*, Act 5 Scene 5, shows Falstaff greeting the king: "FALSTAFF. My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!" followed immediately by the king's response: "KING HENRY V. I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers; / How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!" The play and act/scene headings indicate this dialogue occurs in *Henry IV, Part 2*, not in *Henry V*.
LitCharts places the line in *Henry IV, Part 2*, Act 5, Scene 5, and gives the modern-language translation beginning with “I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers.”
This blog essay, discussing Shakespeare's history plays, describes the coronation scene: "When we next greet Falstaff, he is standing in the street near Westminster Abbey waiting for the King to ride by." It notes that when Falstaff hails him, "‘God save thy grace, King Hal! my royal Hal!…God save thee, my sweet boy!’ ‘I know thee not, old man,’ the King replies, and amplifies those dozen words into twenty-five lines." The author explains this as "the Rejection of Falstaff" and connects it to Hal's transformation into Henry V in *Henry IV, Part 2*.
The line “I know thee not, old man” is commonly associated with Henry’s rejection of Falstaff in *Henry IV, Part 2*, Act 5, Scene 5; *Henry V* is a different play in the Shakespeare canon. This is background knowledge provided for context only.
A YouTube video titled "I know thee not, old man" features Geoffrey Hill's Oxford lecture: 'I know thee not, old man, fall to thy prayers'. The lecture title quotes the line in full, referencing it as a well-known phrase from Shakespeare's history plays associated with the rejection of Falstaff. While not a textual edition, the academic lecture treats the line as a recognizable quotation from the Henriad sequence, particularly *Henry IV, Part 2*, and not as a line from the distinct play *Henry V*.
The video title itself identifies the passage as belonging to “Henry IV Part 2 (Henry V)” and the transcript includes the line “I know thee not, old man.” This is user-uploaded media rather than an editorial source.
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The arguments
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
The line 'I know thee not, old man' is unambiguously spoken by the character King Henry V within Shakespeare's dramatic canon — and as Sources 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (Folger Shakespeare Library, Royal Shakespeare Company, Lancaster University, MIT Global Shakespeares, and Open Source Shakespeare) all confirm, the speaker is explicitly labeled 'KING HENRY V' in the text, meaning the line is delivered by Henry V as a character. While the scene appears in the play titled Henry IV, Part 2 rather than the play titled Henry V, the claim that the line is associated with Henry V — the character whose story and transformation are central to the entire Henriad sequence — is well-supported by every authoritative source in the research brief.
The Proponent commits a fallacy of equivocation by conflating the character King Henry V with the distinct play "Henry V" to salvage a false claim. As explicitly demonstrated by the Folger Shakespeare Library (Source 1) and MIT Global Shakespeares (Source 4), the line resides exclusively in the play "Henry IV, Part 2," making its attribution to the play "Henry V" factually incorrect regardless of which character speaks it.
Argument against
The claim that the line "I know thee not, old man" is in the play "Henry V" is entirely false, as authoritative texts from the Folger Shakespeare Library (Source 1) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (Source 2) prove it actually occurs in Act 5, Scene 5 of Henry IV, Part 2. This textual placement is further verified by the MIT Global Shakespeares (Source 4) and Open Source Shakespeare (Source 5), which confirm the dialogue is spoken by the newly crowned King Henry V within the distinct play Henry IV, Part 2.
The Opponent's argument commits a category error by conflating the title of a play with the identity of its speaking character — the claim under examination concerns whether Henry V, the character, speaks this line, and Sources 1, 2, 4, and 5 unanimously confirm the speaker is explicitly labeled 'KING HENRY V.' The Opponent's own cited sources thus support rather than undermine the claim, as the line is unambiguously delivered by the character Henry V regardless of which play title appears on the cover.
Expert review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Expert 1 — The Logic Examiner
All nine substantive sources (Folger, RSC, Lancaster, MIT, Open Source Shakespeare, LitCharts, and the blog/YouTube entries) unanimously and directly confirm that the line 'I know thee not, old man' appears in Act 5, Scene 5 of Henry IV, Part 2, not in the play titled Henry V. The atomic claim specifically attributes the line to Shakespeare's play Henry V, which is a distinct work in the canon; the evidence chain is unambiguous and direct — the line does not appear in Henry V but in Henry IV, Part 2. The Proponent's rebuttal commits a clear equivocation fallacy by sliding between 'Henry V the character' and 'Henry V the play,' but the claim as stated refers to the play, making the Opponent's reasoning logically sound and the claim false.
Expert 2 — The Context Analyst
The claim omits the crucial context that the line is spoken by the newly crowned King Henry V as a character, but it appears in the play Henry IV, Part 2 (Act 5, Scene 5) rather than in the separate play titled Henry V, as shown by Folger, RSC, MIT, and Open Source Shakespeare (Sources 1, 2, 4, 5). With that context restored, the statement that Henry V (the play) contains the line gives a wrong overall impression and is therefore false.
Expert 3 — The Source Auditor
Highly authoritative sources, including the Folger Shakespeare Library (Source 1) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (Source 2), confirm that the line 'I know thee not, old man' is from the play Henry IV, Part 2, not the play Henry V. While spoken by the character King Henry V, the claim incorrectly attributes the line to the play of that name.