Ancient Pistol
Henriad character
Ancient Pistol meets Henry V disguised, while looking for Fluellen, illustration toHenry V byHenry Courtney Selous
Created by	William Shakespeare
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Ensign
Religion	Christian
Nationality	English

Ancient Pistol is a swaggering soldier who appears in three plays byWilliam Shakespeare. Although full of grandiose boasts about his prowess, he is essentially a coward. The character is introduced inHenry IV, Part 2, and reappears inThe Merry Wives of Windsor andHenry V.

The character's first name is never given. He is referred to asFalstaff's "ancient", meaning "ensign", or standard bearer.

Pistol is introduced as a "swaggerer" who suddenly turns up at the Boar's Head Tavern, contrary to the wishes of the hostess,Mistress Quickly. Falstaff tells her that Pistol is his "ancient" (ensign). He gets into a fight with Falstaff after an exchange of insults with the prostituteDoll Tearsheet, who calls him "the foul-mouth'dst rogue in England".

Later, when Falstaff stops off atJustice Shallow's house after the defeat of Scrope, Pistol appears bringing news of the death of Henry IV, asserting that Falstaff is "now one of the greatest men in this realm". In another scene it is revealed that the police are after him because a man he assaulted in tandem with Doll Tearsheet and Mistress Quickly has died. He shares Falstaff's punishment of banishment from the king at the end of the play.

Pistol reappears as Falstaff's crony inThe Merry Wives of Windsor and is roped into Falstaff's scheme to seduce the wives. He and his colleagueCorporal Nym believe such a scheme beneath their dignity as soldiers, and refuse to participate. Falstaff dismisses them from his service and in revenge they inform the wives' husbands of Falstaff's plan, leading to Falstaff's humiliations at their hands. He also decides to pursueMistress Quickly. Dressed as a fairy, he participates in the final scene at Herne's Oak.

The phrase "the world's my oyster" derives from one of Pistol's lines in the play, "Why then the world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open."

Pistol plays a major role inHenry V. He marries Mistress Quickly after the death of Falstaff, though it is also implied that he is still involved with Doll Tearsheet. In the war in France, he gets into a feud with the Welsh officerFluellen, when Fluellen refuses to pardon Pistol's friendBardolph who has been caught looting. In the end Fluellen beats him and forces him to eat a raw leek. At Agincourt he becomes involved in comic antics with a French soldier. After the battle he gets a letter from which he learns that "my Doll is dead" from "malady of France", i.e. from syphilis. (It is unclear whether this refers to Doll Tearsheet, or to Mistress Quickly.)^[1] He says he intends to desert, return to England and become a pimp and a thief.

Pistol's character may have been derived from the boastful soldier figureIl Capitano, a stock figure incommedia del arte, which also has precedents in Roman comedies, in theMiles Gloriosus figure, such as Thraso inTerence'sEunuchus. Pistol is the "Elizabethan version of themiles gloriosus, the braggart soldier from Roman-comedy".^[2] Another possible source is the character Piston inThomas Kyd's playSoliman and Perseda.^[3] There are numerous puns on his name in the plays, with comic reference to his explosive temperament, tendency to misfire, and his unrestrained phallic sexuality ("discharge upon mine hostess").^[4]

His bombastic speeches may also be parodies of the self-dramatising heroes ofChristopher Marlowe's plays.^[3] In his first scene, he misquotes one of Tamburlaine's lines from Marlowe'sTamburlaine the Great. He has an "irresistible impulse to form horrendous speeches out of half-remembered tags from old plays written in 'Cambyses vein.'"^[5] Pistol's florid bombast is often contrasted with the gnomic pronouncements of his colleague Corporal Nym.^[3]

InHenry V, he essentially replicates Falstaff's role in theHenry IV plays, being the butt of jokes for his empty bluster while also parodying the rhetoric of the "noble" characters. However, he totally lacks his superior officer's wit and charm. His role may have been expanded because Falstaff had been killed off.^[5] His antics with the French soldier are derived from those of the equivalent character (Derick) in Shakespeare's source,The Famous Victories of Henry V.^[6]

Pistol appears inWilliam Kenrick's playFalstaff's Wedding (1766 version), in which he escapes arrest by disguising himself as a Spanish swordsman called Antico del Pistolo, and impressesJustice Shallow. He competes with Falstaff for the hand of Mistress Ursula, but gets tricked by Shallow into marrying Mistress Quickly.^[7]

James White's bookFalstaff's Letters (1796) purports to be a collection of letters written by Falstaff and his cronies, provided by a descendant of Mistress Quickly's sister. Several letters purport to have been written by Pistol in his characteristic florid style.^[8]

• On film, in the acclaimed 1944Laurence Olivierversion ofHenry V, Pistol was played byRobert Newton.
• In the 1964 filmFalstaff, akaChimes at Midnight,Orson Welles's take onHenry IV with parts fromHenry V andThe Merry Wives of Windsor, Pistol was played byMichael Aldridge.
• in the 1989Kenneth Branaghversion ofHenry V, he was played byRobert Stephens.
• Three soldier characters in the filmCold Mountain are namedBardolph, Nym, and Pistol.
• In the acclaimed television seriesAn Age of Kings, presenting Shakespeare's history-plays fromRichard II toRichard III, in theHenry IV, Part 2 andHenry V episodes, Pistol is played byGeorge A. Cooper.
• In the 1979 BBC production ofHenry IV, Part 2 andHenry V that was part of their series of presentations of Shakespeare's plays, Pistol was played byBryan Pringle, and inThe Merry Wives of Windsor that was part of the 1982 season, byNigel Terry.
• In the 1989 presentation of theHenriad, filmed live on stage, that was part ofMichael Bogdanov/Michael Pennington'sEnglish Shakespeare Company'sWar of the Roses series, Pistol was played byPaul Brennan.
• In the 2012 television seriesThe Hollow Crown, Pistol was played inHenry IV, Part 2 andHenry V byPaul Ritter.

• Male Shakespearean characters
• Comedy theatre characters
• Fictional ensigns
• Fictional impostors
• Characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Characters in the Henriad

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