Henry V and The Rover reveal not only the strategies of power but also anxieties informing them. Discuss this statement in an essay.

Authors Avatar

AZS210 Approaching Literature

Name: Hazrin Bin Mohamad                                             TMA07

PI No: Y0401841

Henry V and The Rover reveal not only the strategies of power but also anxieties informing them. Discuss this statement in an essay.

From the two texts, we are presented with two different strategies of power. In Henry V we focus of the strategies of power in view of war that King Henry rages on France. In contrast, The Rover’s strategies of power look at the relationship between sexes during a period of time where males dominate the society and women are looked down upon. In view of these strategies, we will also look at anxieties that arise from the possession of these powers and how those with the power work around it.

Henry V is an English history play based on the life of King Henry the V. At the start of the play, we observe how King Henry looks for justification to his claim of the French crown. Although King Henry understands that a legitimate claim would mean war with France and would cost the lives of thousands of men, he seeks for more information about the “Salic law” that the French is using to challenge King Henry’s claim. Being a righteous Christian king, King Henry forewarns The Archbishop of Canterbury to tell him the truth to his rightful claim to the French crown. He urges the Archbishop to speak with “your conscience washed / As pure as sin with baptism.” (I.2.31-32) Here we see that the king is not just concerned with just matters of the state but with the conscience of the entire state as well. Despite the long explanation from the Archbishop, the king repeats his question “May I with right and conscience make this claim?” (I.2.96) The Archbishop realising the king’s need to have a clear conscience in declaring war, relieves him of his responsibility as he proclaims “The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!” (I.2.97) Once the king’s conscience is clear and that of the state as well, only then did he agree to stake his claim to the French crown. Here is the first instance where we see the king, despite his power, is afraid of the consequences of his actions if the intentions are wrong. In order to protect himself he manipulates the Archbishop into taking the blame if England wrongly wages war on France.

Join now!

However the king did not push the responsibilities of the war only onto the shoulders of the Archbishop, he also took the opportunity to push the responsibility onto the shoulders of the Dauphine, the son of the King of France. As the Dauphine was aware of the king’s intentions to claim the French crown, he sent his ambassadors with a gift: tennis balls. The king replies with self-control and courtesy that “we understand him well / How he comes o’er us with out wilder days / Not measuring what use we made of them.” (I.2.266-8) The king views the gift ...

This is a preview of the whole essay