Henry V is presented as a strong and capable King. Is this an accurate description of Shakespeare's Henry V?

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Becca Moss   Henry V is presented as a strong and capable King. Is this an accurate description of Shakespeare’s Henry V? Henry V, the son of Henry IV, received the crown after his father’s death in 1413. Before Henry received the crown he had a very wild youth, he was outgoing and naturally strong, he liked drinking and parties and got himself quite a bad reputation. People began to criticise Henry when he became Prince of Wales in 1399, because of his gambling ways and the way he took advantage of being Prince and also people said he would never make a good king. But their opinions changed and so did Henry when he became King of England.                 In the play, Henry V shows himself to be a king who is both fool hardy and domineering. He ignores problems within his own country in order to expand his empire and thus his wealth in France. He was a man who took extreme risks and was fortunate that these risks did not bring his downfall and disaster to England. He may be seen as a common man. Fool hardy and impetuous as a youth, he appears to have been unable to cast-off these dubious personality traits. It is more appropriate to describe Henry V as more suited to be a soldier than to be a king. In battle he is valiant, his motivational skills to rallying his men to fight the French, against remarkable odds, are an inspiration to any military man. Henry must also be faulted for his lack of foresight; although the victory at Agincourt was outstanding, the British were soon to lose the French lands once again. In summary, although undoubtedly brave, Henry V appears to be almost
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immature in his irresponsible-risk-taking conduct. Shakespeare shows that if fate had not been kind to Henry rather than be hero-worshipped by the British he would be despised as a greedy, manipulative imperialist.     In act I, scene I, the Archbishop of Canterbury recognizes that Henry, when in his youth, was not a suitable person to be king of England. In line 29, Henry is described as, “The offending Adam” a reference to the wickedness that is born into men. Henry was also described as “Hydra-headed” in his youth; this reference describes how his wilfulness was shown in a variety of ways. ...

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