“ Dishonour not you mothers”
He now changes tack from praising their forefathers to saying. Are you a worthy son? “ That those whom you called fathers did beget you” By using these insults he is rousing their anger which he now channels towards charging the breach. “Be copy now to men of grosser blood, And teach them how to war” He gives them a challenge which is also saying that if they do not charge, they are not worthy of their ancestry.
Picking on a small group he shouts . “And you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture;” He is invoking a sense of patriotism and urging them to prove their worth in battle which by now they all want to do.
“ let us swear
That you are worth your breeding”
Shakespeare constantly modulates and changes the tone again. After insulting them he goes back and starts putting his faith in them. “ which I doubt not.” As if to say I have full confidence in you. With all of Henry’s soldiers prepared Shakespeare builds up the tempo.
“I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start.”
Comparing the soldiers to greyhounds ready and eager at the start of a race ,this is used to excite the troops further. “The game’s afoot;” At the last moment he gives them a battle cry which channels all their built up energy towards the breach. “ Follow your spirit; and upon this charge Cry ‘God for Harry, England and Saint George!’ and with this he releases their blood lust.
How yet resolves the Governor of the town ?
After Henry’s soldiers had taken the outer wall of Harfleur he decided that he would convince the governor of the town to surrender. He begins in a forceful yet merciful tone designed to startle the governor.
“This is the latest parle we will admit;”
Meaning that this is your last chance, there will be no more negotiation after this. This immediately puts pressure on the governor as it narrows down his options.
“Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves”
Shakespeare uses the fact that other French citizens would be hearing this, and if th governor surrenders then they will be treated mercifully
“Or, like to men proud of destruction,”
Henry is speaking as it was obvious that the French were going to lose and that they would signing their own self destruction if they declined his offer. As the citizens had no idea as to the true numbers of the English army they would believe Henry’s every word.
“Defy us to our worst;”
Shakespeare uses monosyllabic stresses to create emphasis, this would instil fear from Henry’s words. Henry then threatens the Governor and describes to him the consequences of failing to surrender.
“I am a soldier,”
Shakespeare uses the idea of a ‘soldier’ to imply rape and pillage, which was very common in Henry’s time. Henry really does not want to harm or harass the French in any way as he wants to be their future ruler, and if they are rebellious it will make it harder for him. Therefore in this speech he is aiming to convince the governor that his soldiers “will harass the citizens of Harfleur” and so he should surrender ( A blood less victory would make Henry’s life easier.)
“If I begin the batt’ry once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
Till in her ashes she lie buried.”
This builds up to a crescendo on the last line and tells the governor that if he does not surrender then Harfleur will be destroyed and burnt to the ground.
“The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,
And the flesh’d soldier, rough and hard of heart,
In liberty of bloody hand shall range”
A vivid picture is built up in the Governors mind that there will be no mercy, and Henry’s soldiers will be given the freedom to do as they like. Shakespeare also states that Henry’s men are ‘rough and hard of heart’ implying that they have no sympathy for the French people.
“mowing like grass”
In the modern day this brings to mind the mowing down of men using a machine gun, however Henry’s soldiers would be using long swords Shakespeare uses this to build a picture in the governors head of his citizens being hacked down and brutally murdered.
“Your fresh fair virgins and your flow’ring infants”
Henry is clearly indicating to the governor that the weak and defenceless will be targeted. “What is it then to me” Henry is acting as if he does not care about the welfare of his adversaries reminding the governor that there will be no mercy.
“when you yourselves are cause,”
If the governor refuses to surrender and the French get beaten then the blame lays solely on the governor. In this way Henry isolates the governor, and puts pressure on him by holding him responsible for the outcome.
“If your pure maidens fall into the hand
Of hot and forcing violation?
What rein can hold licentious wickedness”
This is directed towards the citizens who are listening to the speech. It strikes fear in to their hearts and singles out the governor as he is saying that once his soldiers are let lose they cannot be controlled and the governor will be the person who set them lose, if he doesn’t surrender.
“We may as bootless spend our vain command
Upon th’ enraged soldiers in their spoil,
As send precepts to the Leviathan
To come ashore.”
Assimilating his soldiers with the ‘Leviathan’ ( A mythical sea monster) Henry creates the idea of an unstoppable and wicked force which will be unleashed on Harfleur .
“Therefore, you men of Harfleur,
Take pity of your town and of your people
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace.”
Here Henry is addressing the people of Harfleur directly and starts to put time pressure on them when he says ,whilst his soldiers are still in his command,
using ‘yet’ twice creates a feeling of imminent threat and he compares it to words like ‘cool’ and ‘grace’ which are inviting.
“If not- why, in a moment look to see
The blind and bloody with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;”
This is the climax that Shakespeare has been building up to. He uses assonance to raise the volume of the speech and make Henry’s tone more threatening. Henry again threatens the Governor with rape and pillage and coveys this image with the sounds of ‘shrill-shrieking’
“Your fathers taken by their silver beards,
And their most reverend heads dash’d to the walls;”
The elderly people in Henry’s time were well respected as the life expectancy was very low, therefore this is a very severe threat to the French and they know that Henry is serious about these threats as one like this would not be made idly.
“Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,”
Henry knew that there had been many rumours in the French town about what the English would do if they got into Harfleur. He plays on this along with the fact that the French are listening to him very seriously and taking his every word as truth.
“Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confus’d
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry
At Herod’s bloody-hunting slaughter men.”
Most people inside Harfleur would be devoutly catholic and Henry uses this to instil fear by comparing the massacre that he will unleash on them with Herod’s killing of the babies in the Bible. With this final remark the Governor is convinced to surrender.
Saint Crispin’s Day Speech
This speech was delivered by Henry Before the battle of Agincourt to rouse his troops from their low morale and turn them berserk. This is important as they were outnumbered six to one. Shakespeare’s main focus is honour, and how it is shared.
The speech begins with Henry’s cousin Westmoreland.
WESTMORELAND. “O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
HENRY. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss;
Henry begins by acknowledging the fact that they may die but If they are fated to die, then the fewer the better
“and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.”
The line Henry has taken to boost his soldiers is ‘not one man more’. This is a very clever tack as he is saying that not only do they have enough numbers to win the battle but also there is an advantage to having fewer numbers. That is that if they win then the greater the share of honour for them.
“No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Then just in case some of the soldiers may not be not bothered about the honour he goes on to sell them the importance of this honour by saying to them that he values it so much himself. Henry’s constant repetition of ‘not one man more’ convinces the soldiers that they can indeed beat the French and he propagates the idea of ‘the fewer man the greater share of honour. By making the solders want to fight they will have a better morale then if they were forced to fight.
“Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.”
This is a huge gamble by Henry in that he gives his men freedom to chose whether they fight or not. It is risky as, if one man left then many would follow, however he has phrased his words such that if any leave, they would have been classed as dishonourable cowards and as deserters. If it pays off though, all of Henry’s soldiers will be there by their own free will as he has given them a chance to leave. His confident attitude sweeps through his army and raises everybody’s spirits.
“This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day ,and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.”
Henry is now describing further what the honour means. By calling it St Crispian’s day he is saying that they are fighting for god, it is a holy war.
“He that shall live this day , and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.”
Not only will they be honoured when the battle is won but they will be proud of their battle wounds which they will be able to show off to others back home. He talks as if they are all going to survive and live to see ‘old age’. Whilst others in their old age will have lost their memory these solders will be able to recount in vivid detail every moment of how they won the battle.
“This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-”
Henry is telling them that they will become legends and heroes. This makes them feel energized and fearless.
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother;"
He calls them his brothers removing all class barriers and thus gives them the carrot of being regarded as nobility. Fighting like brothers side by side will also give his army more strength.
“And gentle men in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
The first two lines here refer to the beginning of the speech where Westmoreland said that ‘O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day!’ Henry has managed to completely turn this around by saying that those men back in England laying safe in their beds will curse themselves for not being here and think less of their manhoods when they hear the stories of the brave solders who fought on Saint Crispin’s day St.
In this way Henry cleverly convinces his solders to fight like brothers and if they fight with great zeal they are assured to win and will forever be remembered in history.
Henry’s invigoration of his solders paid off when they won the battle and the French reported to him that the number of French dead was about twenty thousand and the number of English dead was a mere twenty nine.