In this short monologue extracted from Henry IV, Part II, King Henry grieves over his inability to sleep properly during the night. By incorporating highly descriptive imagery, together with diction and syntax, Shakespeare manages to convey exactly King Henry's state of mind.
King Henry starts his soliloquy by saying that he has a very bad case of insomnia and, because of that, he cannot sleep at all during the night. Due to this, King Henry's mood is one of misery and gloomy. Then, he compares the "gentle sleep" to the "nature"s soft nurse". Here, Shakespeare personifies the sleep and this creates a more distinct image of its power and significance to the king. Next, the king complains that the sleep " . . . no more wilt weigh his eyelids down and steep his senses in forgetfulness" . In other words, the king cannot sleep because "nature's nurse" has not yet charmed him into sleeping.
Unable to sleep, the king, instead, bitterly contemplates that even the poorest of his subjects can sleep at night under the most appalling conditions while he living in a beautiful palace "with all appliances" cannot even close his eyes. He goes on to imagine that sleep has settled tonight in "smoky cribs upon uneasy pallets", and even the boy at sea, who sitting in the highest mast of the ship to keep a close eye of the waves and the blowing wind, still accomplishes to doze off. King Henry next asks rhetorically, "Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose, / To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude, / And in the calmest and most stillest night. / Deny it to a King?" Shakespeare uses an extended apostrophe to address the sleep since he does not understand why he, such a powerful man, cannot sleep or rest properly during the night while his most poorest subjects can. He even argues with the sleep, saying that if it came to his "perfum"d chambers of the great" it would be "lull"d with sound of sweetest melody", but instead it choose the most filthiest homes ever imagined.
