Henry V of England

Henry V is the final play in Shakespeare’s second tetralogy of history plays and, like the others, reflects the Elizabethan interest in history and politics. As a biographical text, the play cannot be separated from history as “history is a story in itself” (Angus 2) and there are multiple historical constructs within it. Henry V is both a signifier and signified. It is a reconstruction of past events from an Elizabethan point of view (signifier) and, from a modern perspective is a consideration…

When Shakespeare wrote Henry IV, Part II, England faced issues of kingship, constitution, and rebellion. Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Elizabethans in the 1590s, undoubtedly had anxieties about the aging Queen Elizabeth I’s lack of an apparent heir, much like the anxieties surrounding Hal’s imminent succession to the throne. At the same time, Shakespeare presents to his audience a history play, dramatizes information, introduces fictional characters, and “mingling kings and clowns” on stage, and…

Shakespeare and Henry V: Instinct Over Intellect In Shakespeare's Henry V, the title character is a king renowned for his various strength as a leader. The Bishop of Canterbury, in conversation with another priest, attests to his skills as a speaker primarily. "The air," he says "is still" when the king speaks in "sweet and honeyed sentences" (l.i.51-53). Henry uses his talents as an orator to impress or to debate just as often as he uses them to persuade his enemy of something. In Act lll,…

Henry V It is always a fear amongst the people, when a new king comes to the throne, whether he will be good and just or greedy and cruel. Imagine the kingdom in waiting as the new king was put to the throne. The kingdom knew it would be the next in line but what was he like? Would he be kind? Would he be a good king? The people needed a king who will care for the concerns and welfare of the kingdom. And to their happiness, Henry the V did just that. Being a young king, his life was still…

toes, stand high, because they should be proud of himself. Henry adds that every peasant who fights with him will become his brother, and all the Englishmen that chose to stay at home and not fight will have regret for the rest of their life that they were not there to witness and share in the honour of winning. The St Crispian’s speech is obviously very inspirational. His men are extremely outnumbered so to encourage them to fight, Henry obviously put out a very charismatic speech. He is…

time, but his histories always contain relevant reminders to play attendees: history has and always will repeat itself. From the battlefields of England and France, all the way to Ancient Rome, leaders of the state will take any action necessary to protect the state, other than place themselves in harm’s way, as without them, no state exists. King Henry IV fascinated Shakespeare; the author tells the man’s achievements over the course…

(Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d; Newworldencyclopedia.org, 2013) His reign begun at the age of 11 with the death of father, King Charles V in 1380, and ended with his own death in 1422 for a total of 42 years. (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d) Due to the age of Charles VI being below the required age for independent rulership, his uncle, Philip the Bold was appointed regent, along with the…

extent by the reflection that they fail to see the opposite. In Henry V, by William Shakespeare, the Chorus describes Henry as the mirror of all Christian kings whom his men follow. Is Henry the reflection or the opposite of a Christian king? At first, Henry might seem like the true reflection of a Christian king based upon his moral and sincere actions. However, not all his acts are as virtuous as they appear and just as a mirror, Henry carries several flaws. Thus, Henry’s illusional actions…

Shakespeare’s second tetralogy, Henry IV is the second play in the sequence. We talked briefly about the plot of Richard II and how Bolivar became king Henry IV. We then talked about the beginning of Henry IV in which the king is being plotted against due to his apparent forgetting of debts due, and his son whom behaves in a non-royal manner hanging out with thieves and commoners. We mentioned the idea that the central hero of Shakespeare’s historical plays was England itself always being…

Remaining onstage at the end of Act V, Scene I of Shakespeare’s The First Part of King Henry IV, Sir John Falstaff delivers a rumination on the meaning of honor that reduces the noble human ambition to nothing more than an empty symbol of the dead. In doing so, Falstaff resists the aims and motivations of the most influential and powerful characters of the play; Falstaff’s passions—for life, for living, for joy—are undervalued by the courtly culture Prince Hal is joining. In this speech,…