He is not interested in anything that risks his personal comfort, and as for honour, he only cares about what it can do for him. According to Falstaff, not a great deal. He eventually establishes, in his characteristically simple fashion, that honour is but "a word", and in that word is contained nothing but "air". Falstaff is truly exemplary of the tavern world. He wants things that he can see and touch, tangible things, and has no interest in concepts such as honour. As he reasons, why would you want honour if it only leads to death? Those who have honour are dead! His resolution that "honour is a mere scutcheon" hints at his cynical view. It is straight from the tavern world - survival is more important to him, unlike those of the court world who live by honour, and care not if it leads to their death, but only that they one day may come to be "honourable", whether dead or alive. He closes with the comment that what he has told us is his "catechism". This suggests an idea that his religion is to avoid honour, and ever to question its value. .
Falstaff's blatantly honest soliloquy has provided the audience with a direct insight into his mind, and contrasts well with Hal and Hotspur's speeches, in which their moral order and regard for honour is evident. Falstaff helps to show the change in Hal to the audience. Falstaff himself is no different to the Falstaff of Act 1, unlike Hal who has obviously undergone a great deal of change. Falstaff's speech is highly typical of the tavern world's way of thinking: straightforward, sometimes humorous, spoken in prose, and only the values of the tavern world taken into consideration, with no regard for such insubstantial, un-physical concepts as honour. In this way, and spoken directly to the audience, Falstaff effectively expresses his unashamed resolution not to submit to moral order.
