Is Falstaff Falstaff? Is Prince Hal Henry V?: Topic Modeling Shakespeare’s Plays

This essay demonstrates how topic modeling can be fruitfully applied to TEI-encoded plays, which allows scholars to analyze speeches by individual characters. Our analysis centers on Shakespeare’s corpus and characters who reappear in multiple plays. Specifically, we use topic models to show that young Prince Hal (in 1 and 2 Henry IV) does not speak the same language as his later self, Henry V (in his titular play): his linguistic shift mirrors his shift in status. Hal himself announces, “I h...