Another way the Chorus helps the audience is that it helps to create the setting and mood of upcoming scenes. “Now all the youth of England are on fire…” gives the Act 2 Chorus an aggressive tone to start. This helps the audience because in the Elizabethan time they had no set to help the imagination to understand where they were. The Choruses of Acts 2 and 3 use the adjectives: “dreadful, fault, hollow, treacherous, devilish” and many more to set this mood. Act 2 uses adjectives to do with disappointment and wrong doings because of the up coming scene about three traitors against Henry V; Act 3 uses aggressive adjectives such as “devilish” to create the feelings for the battle of Harfleur and its action scenes. In Act 2 when the Chorus explains, “Unto Southampton do we shift our scene” but it seems greatly misleading because the next scene takes place in London. Although the audience would be expecting a scene with Henry V at the docks in Southampton, they get a lighter scene with three low-life characters and a prostitute. The Chorus also sets the scene in Act 4, in Agincourt, “…do the low-rated English play at dice…” the Chorus injects its own opinion into the phrase, explaining the wounded English are not playing the odds and are risking a great deal. If the Chorus did not set the scene, the audience’s imagination would not be able to follow the play due to the reasons explained before; and to set the mood makes it easier for the audience to transition into the next scene.
The previous quotation also educates the audience about the circumstances in the play in explaining the French have every the chance to bring the English down. The Chorus does this in every appearance, the Prologue explains about “…the warlike Harry…” and how he is raring to attack the French. In Act 2 it explains about the French and how they are “…advised by good intelligence…” yet have the “…most dreadful preparation…” trying “…to divert the English purposes…” That short quote already tells you a small part about the play, even if you have never heard the story. Without the Chorus preparing the audience, the audience could be lost in the detail of the play. Although only educating the audience, Shakespeare could not resist putting in a few spectacular metaphors along side the basic facts, to put the icing on the cake. One such metaphor was “…with silken streamers, the young Phoebus feigning…” describes the ship’s flags and as if they are imitating the rays of the sun. This god-like language appears all over the play and flows beautifully with the story using many mechanical writing devices such as poetic lines, couplets and many more.
It is not just Shakespeare’s writing that appears god-like; the Chorus uses many lines that associate King Henry with the gods. The Chorus tries it’s hardest to give Henry V the epic quality the people of the Tudors believed he deserved. The first appearance of this is in the prologue where “…Harry, like himself, assume the port of Mars,” Mars being the Roman god of war; the Chorus explains the King is a heroic war figure or even granting him the superiority of being like a god himself. The same quotation from Act 3 also gives not just Henry but the whole army, epic quality “…with silken streamers, the young Phoebus feigning…” Showing this proves that Shakespeare’s language used more than one device at a time, as proved before it is a metaphor and here gives the army’s actions an epic quality. Although not necessarily needed to help the audience, it gives them a feel of how Shakespeare perceives King Henry V throughout the play and how they should understand the play. This effect was also extremely useful to build up Henry’s character and helps the audience to understand a lot more about the main role.
Everything needs a conclusion, does it not? Therefore, King Henry V also needed one; however Act 5, Scene 2 ends with Henry marrying Katherine of France. Yes, it is a conclusion to the fighting but not a conclusion to the play. That is why Shakespeare created an epilogue for the Chorus to finish the play. The Chorus explains of the play writer’s hard work and uses a slightly less descriptive language to end the story “… in your fair minds.” Shakespeare uses the Chorus to sum up the play as a type of explanation of the history or future of the play. In my opinion the best way to finish a long play, and is also very useful to the audience to have such an ending.
Speaking some of Shakespeare’s superbly written soliloquies, elegant language, and bright metaphors the Chorus, most certainly plays the vital role of Henry V. Shakespeare wrote sonnets and plays starting first in 1589 and finally finishing 1611. He created the Chorus for many reasons but in the end it was placed in between the Acts of King Henry V to help the audience with working out the complications that the Tudors could not show on the stage unlike our modern day plays. Without the Chorus in this play on its first production, it would have been a disaster to watch and understand.