Henry IV Part I contains all aspects of a play that people enjoy. It has humor, drama, war, family, and the power we all think we have.
Wait...what? Power? Actual power over life, rather than just an illusion?
And that's the beauty of it. There is actual power, instead of the illusion thereof, in this play. Hal exerts this power by keeping his friends and family in the dark of his true nature. The other characters embody the appearance of power, due to their being kept in the dark by Hal. And the brilliance is that Hal is the future king, the one who makes Britain a place of power and paradise. Hal has the power, one of the few which we have seen throughout literature, and uses that power for good, to make his world a better place.
Although Hal is searching for a father figure, or a power source to look up to, the true power is within himself, which he realizes in the final scene, when his father accepts him and shows Hal respect, throwing Hal out of his search and fulfilling his true potential.
