Unlike its supposed sources, Henry IV does not uphold “the Tudor myth,” the providential view of historical causation. Instead, it advocates the Machiavellian view of interpreting history in terms of practical politics. Shakespeare agrees with Machiavelli that to gain power and keep it the prince needs to be both a lion and a fox. Within the two parts of Henry IV, Shakespeare has shown a pervasive deconstructionist vision based on this view. He has deconstructed the logocentrisms connected with such ideas as kingship, honor, justice, truth, order, and name. And he has torn down a good number of “violent hierarchies”: serious/comic, Work/play, Rule/Misrule, order/disorder, Court/tavern, statesmen/highwaymen, father/son, sovereign/subjects, friends/foe, name/substance, truth/falsehood, patriot/traitor, sword/word, strength/skill, martial/rhetorical, genuine/counterfeit, etc. but all his deconstructive ideas can be summed up in the vision of a political jungle, where the most foxy lion reigns, believing kinship is no other than counterfeit.