Honor Soliloquies 'Decisions In William Shakespeare's Play'

The way(s) that Shakespeare set(s) up the audience for the Battle of Shrewsbury is by Henry asking Worcester if he wants to make peace. Essentially, Worcester disagrees and says that he cannot do it even if he wanted to because of Henry’s doings—assuming that he is talking about what happened with Blunt in the last Act (Act V, Lines 1-114; Worcester and the King’s proposition conversation). Each character has a decision to make at the beginning of scene five and we really see how the decisions they make—or made—throughout the play, affect the outcome of the war. Ultimately, we have Worcester feeling—at the end of the day—the king is taking advantage of the people who helped him get to where he is. He is getting, in a sense, cocky about his stance as king. …show more content…
We understand where Worcester is coming from, but we also understand where the King is coming from too. Falstaff then begins to say that honor is worthless and only the dead can keep honor, the people still alive are left to suffer on their behalf. He explains that honor can’t heal someone, it can’t give surgery, the dead cannot hear or feel honored, so why should it matter? Falstaff’s Honor Soliloquy really sets up the scene of the battle, in my opinion. It sets it up the Battle to show how these other characters who believe in honor make it out, such as Hotspur and the Prince. How they use their honor and in what ways do they manipulate that honor as well. It was, in his own way, a battle speech. It was a speech that showed a realistic view of honor, from one of the most realistic characters (in my opinion) in the play. The question on the surface is, is Falstaff going to make it out? The one character in the play who doesn’t care—not one bit—about