Henry V

The way in which a building is structured makes the difference between a monumental testament to human achievement and a disaster. The decisions made by the architect in regards to structure are some of the most important decisions involved in the construction of a building. The same core concept applies to the way in which an author chooses to structure his or her literary work. Where does the story begin, how does it end, is the ending happy, is the sequence of events chronologically sequential? These are a mere drop in the bucket of questions that an author must ask while structuring his or her work. He or she has to find the proper way in which to present his or her story in order to make it more enjoyable and comprehensive. A good …show more content…
He speaks of the grand battles between kings on the fields of France that are to come; he explains that since it is merely a play preformed on a small stage and not literally on the fields of France, some imagination is required on the part of the audience in order to bring the story to life. They must imagine that the small stage is the lush and fertile fields of France and that the group of men portraying the soldiers are vast armies stretching as far as the eye can see. By doing this, Shakespeare does some nice foreshadowing of the events to come and also does a nice job of reminding the audience that some imagination will be required to enjoy the play and even helps plant some word pictures in their minds that they may draw upon when needed. The play now transitions into the first act and the audience is immediately given a sense of the political tension present in the play and they have still yet to see King Henry, but they already know a great deal about him courtesy of Shakespeare and some corrupt clergymen. Through this act Shakespeare seamlessly introduces some character development and provides some context for the …show more content…
On one side, King Henry is attempting to find out if he has a legitimate claim to the thrown and on the other side there is the French expressing conflicting emotions in regards to the maturity and intimidation of King Henry and whether or not he should be taken seriously as a threat. It is a passionate story of love and war and is relatively intense. The intensity of the story is often broken up by humorous exchanges between some of the characters, Shakespeare does this in order to lighten the mood and make sure that the play doesn't become too depressing so that his audience becomes sad and uninterested in what the play has to offer. Among the most humorous scenes was when Henry is dressed up as a common soldier and is talking to his men about himself while they are unaware of his true identity and he meets one man who has some unflattering things to say about the king and Henry defends the king's honor and states that, should they both survive the battle, they will meet up and settle their differences like men. Then, after the battle, he gives the mans glove to somebody and says that it belongs to a Frenchman so if anyone recognizes it they must be a traitor; so when the man that Henry got into the altercation with recognizes his glove he goes after it and then Henry explains everything and promotes the man and they all laugh it