The curtain opens on Act 4 when Hotspur receives a message that his father will not be able to join him in battle. Hotspur is outraged! What nerve his father has for falling sick at such a time! As Worcester says, “[Northumberland’s] sickness is a maim to us.” Vernon soon tells Hotspur that Hal is leading the armies, and Hotspur is greatly excited by the news. However, Glendower will not be able to assemble his troops fast enough to meet the other rebels at Shrewsbury.
We join Falstaff where he has gathered a group of the most despicable soldiers. They are the men who could not reach the fee Falstaff was offering to those able to pay to get out of fighting in the army. Falstaff says these men are simply “good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder.” Food for powder is originally known as men treated superfluously when facing enemy fire. Falstaff admits he’s embarrassed of his troops. As he says, “If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused gurnet.” He even admits to the audience of being told by a man that it looked like he had taken the hung men who served as warning to criminals off the gallows and created a troop of them. But in Falstaff’s eyes, the money he got from the men wishing to pay their way out of fighting in the battle is worth any humiliation his troop might cause him.
Finally, we see Hotspur, Douglas, Vernon, and Worcester arguing. Though Hotspur wants to attack that very night, Vernon convinces him to wait. Blunt soon arrives with a message from the king, asking Hotspur what their complaints are. Hotspur rattles off a list of grievances, including the fact that Henry overthrew and killed Richard II, that he will not ransom Mortimer, and that he demanded Hotspur give his prisoners to him. These answers are not exactly what the king is looking for, and when Blunt points this out, Hotspur sheepishly replies that, no, this isn’t his final answer. He says that the king will receive his reply the next day, while Blunt points out that his decision will affect thousands of lives, and so it shall.