Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of the ways in which Henry is a great king.

Charlotte Edwards

HENRY V

Discuss Shakespeare’s presentation of the ways in which Henry is a great king.

Shakespeare presents Henry V as a good king, and more importantly, a good leader and gives Henry many positive characteristics in order to create this image.

Henry is a good orator. He has the ability to change his style of rhetoric to suit the mood and atmosphere that he is trying to create. At times in the play Henry has to persuade his people that he is one of them and that there is a bond or unity between them, almost as if he and they are brothers, all the sons of the same God and the same Country – England. This is the case particularly outside Harfleur when Henry is rousing his men to fight bravely. He creates a unity between them by using words like ‘yours’ and ‘our’:

“Dear friends … you noble English … made in England … you are worth your breeding”.

On the other hand, when they are outside Harfleur, and Henry speaks to the governor of the town (in Act 3 Scene 4), he displays the ability to put fear into his enemy. With harsh language he puts across dreadful images of his enemy’s “naked infants spitted upon pikes”. This instantly conveys a huge amount of terror into the men of Harfleur, who consequently surrender. This demonstrates just how powerful Henry’s rhetoric is. These two situations show Henry’s ability to adapt to the situation. They also demonstrate how Henry can change his temperament according to what is required in any given situation.

On the one hand, he needs to be an inspirational hero for his army. Whilst on the other hand, he has to carry out his duty and be cruel and harsh. He is sometimes required to be merciless, and at other times needed to be merciful. These apparent contradicting states of mind, merely display the differences between when he needs to be a leader, and when he needs to be a human. As the Italian writer Machiavelli once famously wrote “It is better for the prince to rule by fear than love.” The ease with which Henry seems to create both of these emotions makes him both a kind acquaintance of his subjects, and an effective leader.

One thing Henry’s subjects would look at him and expect is that he should be a religious person who both fears God and also has God on his side. He is a true believer in God and he conveys this very well by being sincere and devout throughout the play. He always turns to God when in need of help, and thanks God when he achieves something. An example of this is shown both before and after the battle of Agincourt. The night before the battle Henry prays

“O God of battles, steel my soldiers’ hearts.”

This shows Henry feels ...

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“O God of battles, steel my soldiers’ hearts.”

This shows Henry feels that God is on his side and that he can call on God to help him. He also passes the glory on to God after winning the battle. This is shown when Montjoy tells him that the day is his, Henry replies

“Praised be God, and not our strength, for it”.

This shows how Henry feels God is there for him, and that he truly and sincerely depends upon him. These were very religious times and it was important that the King believed in God as it helped his followers by giving them something to believe in also. It was also important that his subjects remembered that God had chosen him to be King.

Henry is not only serious; he also has fun side, which consists of his humour and his wits. These display his mental sharpness. At the beginning of the play Henry replies to insult with wit and intelligence. He replies to the Dauphins insolence by turning his sarcasm into a metaphorical speech, which can be interpreted either as a joke, or as a threat.

“And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his hath turned his balls into gun-stones”

Although this is a witty remark, but when it is interpreted as a metaphor then one realises that Henry is actually declaring war on France. This is also another example of Henry’s rhetoric skills. This speech by Henry obviously required intelligence to continue the metaphor so well.

When he is betrayed by his colleagues he slyly makes them decide upon their own death in a psychological game he plays. After asking them what they thought a traitors fate should be he carries out their decision on them – death. “You show great mercy if you give him life,” says Gray, one of the conspirators. Another says that he should be killed in order to set an example towards other conspirators. The King then punishes them exactly the way they dictated, by handing them their death warrant.

He can be a very sensitive leader, who cares what his subjects think about him. Henry feels very strongly about how his decision to attack France could affect his subjects – even when Pistol offends the King, Henry says “God be with you” just so that he doesn’t lose his support. We see Henry personally caring about his subjects when he walks around the camp on the night before the battle at Agincourt. His men are downhearted and expecting to die on the next day. Henry tries to urge his people on to have faith in God and hence be courageous in battle. He wants his subjects to have faith in him and he actually cares what they feel. This is evident when he prays to God to help his soldiers to be brave

“O God of battles, steel my soldiers’ hearts. Possess them not with fear”.

Henry possesses many characteristics required in order to be an effective leader. He is both merciful and merciless, evokes fear and admiration, is a great King and yet still possesses humanity. He is able to set aside his personal feelings and to put them after those of his throne. He achieves the results needed at any cost and without favouritism or leniency to friends. What makes someone a good King doesn’t necessarily make a then a good person.

2. How does Shakespeare make the play exciting?

The events of Henry V were known to Shakespeare’s audience and they were aware that Henry did win against the French. Shakespeare had to keep the audience interested and needed to make the play exciting. He did this in several ways:

Use of the Chorus (or prologue)

This is a single character whose speeches open each of the play’s five acts and sets the scene for the audience. He steps forward and announces that we are about to watch a story that will include huge fields, grand battles, and fighting kings. The Chorus serves a different purpose in every act, but its general role is to fire the audience’s imagination with strong descriptive language that helps to overcome the visual limitations of the stage. The Chorus uses striking language to help the audience picture that reality for themselves: “Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them, / Printing their proud hoofs i’th’ receiving earth” (I.Prologue.26–27). The Chorus uses language so descriptive that can almost transport the audience from the theatre to the actual events. A good example of this is in the Prologue of Act III where the magnificence with which King Henry sails from England to France is described. Also, in the prologue of Act IV the chorus describes the scene in the French and English camps the night before the battle: the quiet night, the burning watch fires, the clank of the knights being suited up in their armour. Descriptions like this help to keep the audience interested and make the play more realistic and exciting.

Use of inspiring speeches made by Henry.

For example, perhaps the most famous speech of the entire play, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,” Where Henry unifies his men for his cause. The whole of this stirring passage uses the techniques of poetry to celebrate and glorify war. In particular, Henry invokes images and metaphors from nature — of wild animals like the tiger and of natural forces like the weather — to urge his men to shift into a state of nearly uncontrolled ferocity for battle. He commands his men to “imitate the action of the tiger. / Stiffen the sinews, conjure up the blood, / Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage” is a call to arms, a call for his men to display their masculinity and to fight.

Use of sound effects.

There are several times when Henry enters with a flourish of trumpets (Act III, scene iii) or with a drum roll and fanfare (e.g. Act III scene vi) The use of sound effects such as this would keep the audience alert and the adrenalin racing.

3 What do you like about the play?