Henry V is primarily concerned with war and the glory of war, we can learn little else from the study of this play. 'Discuss'.

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Rowan Lovegrove-Fielden

Henry V is primarily concerned with war and the glory of war, we can learn little else from the study of this play.  ‘Discuss’

I neither agree nor disagree with the statement ‘Henry V is primarily concerned with war and the glory of war, we can learn a little else from the study of this play’. The play is set in and around warm so obviously war features heavily in it, however there are other topics included in this play for instance; religion, history, law, relationships, kingship and leadership and through analysing the play we can learn about these.

        ‘Henry V’ is a play about war. In it we see the two aspects of war. Henry sees war as a way of gaining glory and honor however if he is not completely oblivious to the reality of war, he acknowledges openly and honestly that people will die in Act 1 Scene 2 when he says that, “many now in health shall drop their blood in approbation.” He also, in Act 3, Scene 4 reveals the true horrors of war when describing to the governor of Harfluer what will happen to the people if they do not surrender. He speaks of burning the town down and how his soldiers, out of control, will rape their daughters, kill their fathers and put their “naked infants spitted upon pikes”. Here Henry uses graphic detail, stromg language, visual imargry and alliteration to depict the grotesque nature of war. He may be exaggerating so as to frighten the governor into surrendering but it is likely that these things really did happen during conflictions.  However in front of his men, Henry does not speak like this, in fact he does the opposite. In his St Crispin’s speech he glorifies war in order to raise the men’s spirits. He talks of the riches and honor that it will bring, he describes the battlefield as ‘glorious’   and does not once mention the reality of war.

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         The St Crispains speech brings us to another subject of the play, for here Henry is showing qualities of leadership and we see that he is a charismatic orator. Shakespeare portrays Henry as the perfect king but not entirely a perfect person. Henry knows the importance of leadership, that if he is a good leader he will gain the respect and love of his men who will in turn fight hard to win the battle and so Henry will gain glory and power. However Henry says that power comes with toil, ‘hard condition is twin born with greatness.’ Henry knows ...

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