Was Henry V the ideal medieval, Christian king? This is the statement that has been put forward. Many of his actions and speeches back this statement.

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                                          Henry V essay

                                          Carly Moore

Was Henry V the ideal medieval, Christian king? This is the statement that has been put forward. Many of his actions and speeches back this statement.

At the beginning of the play we find ourselves in the middle of a conversation between two priests, Ely and Canterbury, they talk of their king.

As a boy an older man named Sir John Falstaff led the teenage prince astray. He joined in with a bunch of hooligans who were rude and shallow. He got caught up in the life of heavy drinkers and practical jokers. This may seem all right by the bystanders of today, but back then when your next in line for the throne, to bare the weight of a country on your shoulders and expected to make decisions that would affect a whole nation it was not expectable.

 The rebellious, drunken teen that lived in Henry died the day his father, Henry IV, died, Canterbury even says ‘The breath no longer left his fathers body but that his wildness, mortified in him, seemed to die too’ he also goes on to say ‘At that very moment consideration, like an angel came, and whipped the offending Adam out of him, leaving his body as a paradise’ The once rebellious, frowned upon teen was now described as ‘a true lover of the holy church’. ‘We are blessed in the change’ says Ely. He is also praised for his remarkable turn around in his study Canterbury says ‘hear him reason in divinity, and all admiring, with an inward wish, you would desire the king were made a prelate. Hear him debate commonwealth affaires’ but before the death of his father ‘his hours filled with riots, banquets and sports and never noted in him any study’. The two priests are in constant praise throughout act 1 scene 1, they do not have a single bad word to speak of him after his reformation that followed the death of his father.

The question that I ask however is why did this reformation come about? I believe it to be because he realised the responsibilities that he one day would have so he was just having fun why he still had the chance and always had the intentions of settling down and becoming the best king he could be.

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It is clear from the above that Ely and Canterbury thought there king truly was a perfect Christian and Henry clearly had their backing, this was very good for Henry as it was important as a king to get the churches approval as religion played a large role in medieval England.

In the play we are also confronted with the dilemma of whether or not Henry should take England to war with France. Canterbury gives an impressive, long speech trying to persuade the king to go to war with France (to take his mind off the bill), but it would ...

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