6. Henry V: The King-Dr Harleen Kaur

Henry V is apparently based on Holinshed and covers the period from lent, 1414, to May, 1420. The character and the achievements of the King remain true to tradition. Shakespeare has portrayed Henry V as the King who led England to unity, sublimity and glory from the turbulent, inchaote and bloody days of the past.

Derek Traversi rightly comments:

The national unity aimed at by Henry IV is finally achieved, in the last play of the series, by his son. The principal theme of Henry V, already approached in its predecessors, is the establishment in England of an order based on consecrated authority and crowned successfully by action against France. The conditions of this order are, again in accordance with the main conception, moral as well as political. The crime of regicide which had stood between Bolingbroke and the attainment of peace no longer hangs over Henry V- unless as a disturbing memory – and the crusading purpose which had run as an unfulfilled aspiration through the father’s life is replaced by the reality, at once brilliant and ruthless, of the son’s victorious campaign.[1]

EMW Tillyard considers Henry V the most optimistic history play of Shakespeare. In his famous book Shakespeare’s Histories, he writes:

Henry V, the most optimistic of Shakespeare’s history plays, is popular with audiences and regarded with suspicion by some scholars. Its optimistic atmosphere is, to a very large extent, a logical outcome of Shakespeare’s treatment of the themes introduced in the two plays of Henry IV. In those plays, the curse under which England had lain since the usurpation of Richard II is still in operation. The accession of Hal, untouched by the personal guilt his father feels, put the curse in abeyance, and his reign is allowed to be productive and glorious. We witness the other side of the dark fortunes which had attended England throughout the previous reign. Where rebellion existed there is now amity; where guilt flourished there is now a pious assumption of strong Kingship; where the commonweal lacked a sense of identity and unity, all is now one, and Kingship freed, if only temporarily, from its bonds of guilt now discovers an almost ideal status. Henry V is a model for a Christian monarch, kind but just, a repository of honour, aware of his duties and responsibilities to his people. He has both a regal colouring and that common touch which allows him easy commerce with high and low. The measure of his assured status is proved by the relationship which his contemporaries are shown to have with him. The church gives spiritual sanction to his military intentions; his nobility join with him in common purpose; the common soldiery find, in him, one who knows them and whom they will trust.[2]

Henry V is not a drab play as many critics have said. It is a play that looks at England’s glorious march towards nationhood. Professor S.C. Sengupta estimates king Henry V:

The Unity of Henry V is the unity of the personality of the hero. He is not a ‘patchwork’ figure, but a homogeneous character in whom disparate traits are inextricably intermingled. He is at the van of the army, shares all its discomforts, and although no democrat mixes with the commonest soldier as with the brother.[3]

EMW Tillyard’s comments on the play are conclusive:

Thus the play is a kind of processional, with the lineaments of a well-designed frieze, which has come to life. The monarch, resplendent in perfection, leads a willing people towards the gates of success, pride, and power and patriotic fervor. It is the atmosphere of a national epic which accounts for its popularity with audiences, making no great intellectual demands, merely asking us to watch and applaud events which strike easily into our hearts.[4]

The play begins in England, the Royal court. The Archbishop of Canterbury expresses concern to the Bishop of Ely about the revived tax bill originally proposed in Henry IV and reign that if successfully passed will cause the loss of half of the possessions of the Church:

Turn him to any cause of policy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,

Familiar as his garter, that, when he speaks,

The air, a chartered libertine is still.[5]

(Act I, Scene I, Lines 45-48)

He marvels at the transformation seen recently in the King compared to his wild days of youth, how scholarly he is and how he has mastered the affairs of the commonwealth and of war.

He has made an offer to the King to give a large sum to help Henry V pursue a claim to the crown of France as previously claimed by Edward III (his great grandfather). King Henry V, Harry, formerly Henry Plantagenet of Monmouth, also formerly called Prince Hal enters with his brothers Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and Thomas Duke of Clarence along with Earl of Warwick, Earl of Westmorland, and Henry V’s uncle Duke of Exeter. Canterbury explains in elaborate detail his justification which is as clear as is the summer’s sun for Henry V’s claim to the French throne. Edward III’s mother (Isabella, wife of Edward II) was the sister to the French king (Charles IV), and the Salic laws, which supposedly barred inheritance of titles through females, did not apply in France since they were intended for a part of Germany also. French Kings Pepin, Hugh Capet, and Lewis X (actually IX) derived their titles through female inheritance. He also argues that in the Book of Numbers, a man’s inheritance goes to the daughter omitting that this is only if he has no son. He urges him to reawaken the warlike spirit and victories of his great grandfather Edward III and Edward III’s son, Edward the black Prince at Crecy etc.. Ely also urges Henry V to renew these feats and Exeter and Westmorland concur. Henry V is concerned that the Scots will take advantage of any reduction of England’s northern defences and attack as they did in the historical past, but Canterbury counters with the fact that King David II of Scotland was captured while Edward III was in France. A Lord adds caution about their vulnerability to Scotland, but Exeter is optimistic and Canterbury argues that obedience to the King, as with bees, will lead to success, especially if he leaves 3/4 of his powers behind. Henry V resolves to pursue the claim, and calls in the French ambassadors, who have been waiting to see him.

The first ambassador acknowledges that he represents the Dauphin, not the French King himself, an intentional slight. After obtaining permission to render freely his message, he says that Dauphin believes that Henry cannot win with a dance any land in France and wants to hear no more from him. The Dauphin has sent tennis balls to him as a mocking gesture of contempt reflecting on Henry V’s youthful reputation. Henry V responds to the taunt, and says that he will play a set in France after he defeats Charles VI and reflects on his wilder days; and says he will dazzle the eyes of France, that the Dauphin’s tennis balls are turned to gunstones, that many thousands will die and he will be avenged. The ambassadors leave. Henry V now has no thought but to go to France.

The chorus says the youth of England are on fire with thoughts of war; expectation is in the air the French shake in fear:

For a muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention!

A Kingdom for a stage, princess to act.[6]

(Act I, Chorus, Lines 1-3)

But there is a local conspiracy an allegedly aided by France to stop Henry V, Richard Earl of Cambridge (father of Richard Piantagenet Duke of York, Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and Sir Thomas Grey of Northumberland.

Falstaff’s cronies Lieutenant Bardolph and Corporal Nym meet as they prepare to go to France. Nym is resentful about Ancient Pistol, who has married the Hostess Mistress Nell Quickly even though she was previously engaged to Nym, and is biding his time to do violence to Pistol. Pistol and Quickly arrive:

Pistol: Base is the slave that pays.

Nym: That now I will have; that’s the humour of it

Pistol: As manhood shall compound. Push home.[7]

(Act II, Scene I, lines 97-99)

Pistol does not want her to keep lodgers, since she has 12-14 gentlewomen employed at sewing and would not want to appear to be running a bawdy house. Pistol and Nym threatens him and they again draw, but Bardolph says he will kill whichever first strikes the other—Nym vows to cut Pistol’s throat someday. Pistol advises Nym to espouse the now diseased whore, Doll Tearsheet.

A boy, formerly Falstaff’s page, arrives to say Falstaff is very ill. Boy suggests Bardolph to place his head under Falstaff’s sheets to warm him. Hostess goes with Boy to see Falstaff. Pistol reluctantly agrees to pay to Nym most of what he owes him, and they make a peace. Hostess returns to say how ill Falstaff is of fever and that they should go to console him before he dies.

Bedford who is (John Duke of Bedford and formerly Duke of Lancaster), brother of Henry V, Exerter and Westmorland discuss about the traitors whose plot to kill the King has been secretly discovered.

King enters along with Scroop, Cambridge, and Grey. The three flatter the King and speak glowingly about the upcoming invasion of France. The King refers to a man who was arrested railing against the King while drunk and the three recommend that no mercy should be shown to him. Henry V wonders if such an offense is to be severely punished, what should be done with those committing capital crimes? He gives them ostensible commissions on paper, but these actually accuse them of their intended crimes. They confess and ask for no mercy. Henry V will weep for them as like for another fall of man. Cambridge says he did not do it primarily for another fall of man. Cambridge says he did not do it primarily for money alluding to his real motive to promote Edmund Mortimer’s claim. Grey is relieved that the treason was discovered and all seen repentant. Henry V sends them to their deaths, relieved that this and all other immediate obstacles to his departure have been resolved.

Hostess et al recount the poignant death of the Falstaff, the man she once wanted to marry. Pistol knows he must now make his living through someone else. Bardolph wishes that he would were with him, wheresoever he is, either in heaven or in hell.

Hostess says he is in Arthur’s bosom. Hostess felt under the sheets and found he was cold:

I put my hand into the bed, and

felt them, and they were

As cold as any stone.[8]

(Act II, Scene III, lines 24-26)

He cried out against sack and against women, saying they were devils incarnate. The Hostess innocently misinterprets this. He also spoke of the Whore of Babylon. Falstaff’s former henchmen know they must now find another way to support themselves. Pistol kisses his wife and cautions her to run the tavern on a cash only basis and be thrifty in his absence, and rallies the other to advance to France.

In France in the royal court, French King Charles VI and the Dauphin discuss the coming of the invasionary force. Dauphin is only confident, assured that Henry V is a vain giddy humorous youth. The Constable of France cautions Dauphin that he underestimates Henry V, suggesting he has feigned a deceptive outer shell as did Lucius Junius Brutus:

Self love my liege, is not so vile a sin,

As self nefecting.[9]

(Act II, Scene IV, lines 74-75)

The King is also less confident, and reminds Dauphin of the French losses to Edward III and Edward the Black Prince at Crecy.

A messenger arrives, announcing Exeter’s embassy. He asks Charles VI to lay aside his rule and turn over the crown to Henry V, giving him the written pedigree to justify Henry V’s claim. The Dauphin is contemptuous, but Exeter cautions that he will find Henry V different than in the days of his youth. The king will give his response the next day:

Have in these parts from main till even fought

And sheath’d their swords for lack of argument.[10]

(Act III, Scene I, lines 20-21)

In France, before the walls of Harfleur Henry V rallies his troops to charge the city walls:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

or close the wall up with our English dead![11]

(Act III, Scene I, Lines 1-2)

Bardolph calls his men to the breach also, but Nym holds back. Pistol sings a ballad about winning immortal fame. Captain Fluellen arrives and forces them forward into the breach:

I would give all my fame for a pot of

ale, and safety.[12]

(Act III, Scene I, Lines12- 13)

Boy is left alone to lament on the cowardice of Bardolph, Pistol’s killing tongue and a quiet sword, and Nym’s lack of words or actions, the stealing they all do, and their efforts to train him in stealing. He wants to seek better service.

Several colourful and comical captains interact. Captain Gower wants the Welsh Captain Fluellen to report to the Duke of Gloucester about the mines being constructed by the Irish captain Macmorris in order to undermine the walls. Fluellen expresses his contempt for this non-traditional form of warfare. He reveres the classical models of warfare. The Scots Captain Jamy arrives. Fluellen speaks in a strong accent and is a comical replacement for Falstaff. Macmorris arrives and Fluellen wants to debate with him the techniques being employed. But Macmorris wants them to get on with the action of cutting throats. Macmorris takes offense at Fluellen as the thick accents fly. Gower tries to moderate. A parley is sounded.

The governor of Harfleur on the walls parleys with Henry V and says it will be their last parley before burning and sacking the city. He threatens that his soldiers will go down and violates the virgins and kill the infants, which he says the governor will bear responsibility for. They will defile the daughters, dash the heads of the fathers against the walls, and impale the heads of the infants on pikes. The governor has not received help from the Dauphin as requested, so he concedes defeat to Henry V and has the gates opened. Henry V and Exeter fortify the city, while, with winter approaching, he will lead his sick troops toward Calais:

For when lenity and cruelty play for a Kingdom,

the gentler gamester is the soonest winner.[13]

(Act III, Scene VI, lines 111-112)

In the French court at Rouen, Katharine, daughter of Charles VI is trying to learn English from Alice. She is shocked by the English words foot and the count, which sound like French vulgarities.

Charles VI advises constable that Henry V has passed the river Somme as he moves east towards Calais. Dauphin is contemptuous of Henry V referring to the English as a wild and savage bastard offspring. He criticizes their climate and poor lands, but nevertheless fears the French ladies are giving themselves to the English. Duke of Britanny says the English claim the French have grace in their heels helping them to run away. Charles VI wants the herald Montjoy to go to Henry V with words of defiance. He calls his noblemen to battle and wants Henry V's men and that they will sink into fear when they behold the French army. Charles VI sends Montjoy to ask what ransom Henry V is willing to pay for his life.

Fluellen says that Exeter has made it safely across a bridge. Fluellen mentions meeting a gallant man, Ancient Pistol, who then arrives. Pistol pleads for intervention. Exeter has arrested Bardolph for stealing from a church and has said that he is to be hanged. Fluellen agrees with the death sentence, and Pistol gives him the fig. After Pistol leaves, Gower recalls that Pistol is actually a cutpurse and bawd. Fluellen though defends him, recalling the brave words Pistol uttered at the bridge. Gower talks of the kinds of men who memorize wartime events and tell great but exaggerated tales of their own involvement with war time experiences.

Henry V arrives and asks Fluellen what men he has lost. He says only one man, Bardolph, who is to be executed. Henry V concurs with the sentence, again stating that his men are to do no stealing from the countryside:

I thought, upon one pair of English legs

Did march three Frenchmen.[14]

(Act III, Scene VI, lines 149-150)

Montjoy arrives, saying that the French are awakened now to battle though previously sleeping and asks what ransom he will pay. Henry V says he does not seek battle now, as they march to Calais to recuperate from their sickness and injuries, though even in sickness his men are better than Frenchmen when they are well, and he will not shy from battle if forced into it. He says that they were in God’s hands.

Constable confers with Orleans and Dauphin. Dauphin waxes eloquently with praise for his horse, which is like Pegasus. He starts a sonnet to his horse, but Orleans would rather talk of women. The Dauphin claims that his horse is his mistress and various double entendres follow. They anxiously await the morning. After the Dauphin leaves, Constable suggests that Dauphin will not harm any enemy in the upcoming battle. A messenger arrives to say that English are camped 1500 paces from their tents. Constable and Orleans deride the English for their stupidity. Lord Rambures comments that they breed valiant mastiffs, though Orleans says they are foolish dogs. Constable observes that the men do sympathize with the mastiffs in robust and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives; and then give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils. But Orleans says they are out of beef:

You may as well say, - that’s a valiant flea that

dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.[15]

(Act III, Scene VII, Lines 144-145)

Henry V confers with Gloucester and John, acknowledging they are in great danger but nevertheless expressing resoluteness. Sir Thomas Erpinghem arrives and expresses gallant optimism, saying of sleeping on the ground, ‘Now lie I like a King.’ Henry V is glad of the example he sets. He asks to borrow Erpingham’s cloak, planning to wander alone and incognito.

Henry V is now alone when Pistol arrives. Henry V confronts him as Harry le Roy, Pistol tells him that the King is a good man, not recognizing him:

There is some & out of goodness in things evil,

Would men observingly distil it out.[16]

(Act IV, Scene I, Lines 3-4)

He speaks contemptuously of Fluellen and the leek Fluellen wears in his cap on Saint Davy’s Day celebrating the Welsh victory over the Saxons in 540. After Henry V says he is a kinsman of Fluellen, Pistol gives him the obscene gesture and leaves:

Every subject’s duty is the King’s; but every subject’s

soul is his own.[17]

(Act IV, Scene I, lines 178-179)

Fluellen and Gower meet. Fluellen wants Gower to speak quieter, and holds forth about the ancient methods of war as used by Caesar against Pompey the Great.

Henry V incognito encounters soldiers John Bates, Alexander Court, and Michael Williams. He says that he serves under Erpingham and grimly states they are even as men wrecked upon sand that look to be washed off the next tide. Asked about the King Henry V he says that he is but a man, experiencing the same fear as others but trying to set a good example for his men. Bates wishes they were elsewhere. Henry V answers that their cause is just and honorable, but Williams is not sure of that and thinks the King will have a heavy reckoning to make for all the slaughter that will result from his actions.

That’s a perilous shot out of an elder gun.[18]

(Act IV, Scene I, lines 197-198)

Henry V counters with a statement on the relationship between Kings and subjects. The King is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor and the master of his servant. Men should follow their King. They should prepare their consciences for dying if they survive, they will be better prepared to live on:

The wretched slave,

Who, with a body fill’d and vacant mind,

Gets him to rest, cramm’d with distressful bread.[19]

(Act IV, Scene I, Lines 268-269)

Henry V mentions that the King has refused to be ransomed, but Williams answers cynically that he may ultimately give in, incensing Henry V. Henry V challenges him to a fight in the future asking for the man’s glove so that he can wear it on his cap. They exchange gloves and Henry V says that he will box him on the ears when he sees him next. Bates asks them to calm down and save the fighting for the French.

Left alone, Henry V reflects that the burden on the King is a hard one. The only benefit Kings have is ceremony, and that comes with poisoned flattery. And even the slave enjoys sleeps while the King keeps watch to maintain the peace:

Such a wretch.

Winding up days with Toil, and nights with sleep,

Had the forehand and Vantage of a King.[20]

(Act IV, Scene I, Lines 278-279)

Erpingham asks for Henry V to rejoin the nobles. Henry V prays to God to steel his soldier’s hearts to battle, and to forgive his father’s usurpation of the crown from Richard II for which he has shown much penitence:

That he, which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

And crowns for convoy put into his purse.[21]

(Act IV, Scene III, Lines 35-37)

Dauphin is eager to mount his horse and do battle. A messenger tells them the English are ready for battle. Constable comments on the pathetic condition of the English and how they will be easy prey. Lord Grandpre says the crows are flying over the English in anticipation their deaths.

Westmorland says the French have 60000 and Exeter says that is 5:1 odds over them. Salisbury wishes them well against such odds until they meet in heaven. Henry V enters and Westmorland expresses his wish to him that they had more men. But Henry V answers that they are enough, either to die or to win the honor without sharing it among more men.

The Duke of York arrives to ask for the honor to lead the advance and Henry’s grants it.

In the field of battle, the battle begins. Pistol encounters a French soldier and demands ransom of him, though having difficulty understanding his French. He has a Boy to translate his threats. After they leave, Boy comments that he did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart! and that Bardolph and Nym had more valor though less bombast. Constable of France and Orleans lament that the day is lost, their ranks broken. Bourbon feels ashamed.

Henry V says they have done well, but have more to do. Exeter says the Duke of York is dying from a wound. Earl of Suffolk is also dead, having been lamented over by York. Henry V hears new alarms and, fearing a renewed French attack, orders that all prisoners should be killed. Fluellen is disturbed by the order to kill the prisoners. Fluellen compares Henry V to Alexander the Great.

Henry enters with others, angered that horsemen are standing idly on a hill looking down on the battle, he wants them either to join or leave. Montjoy arrives to ask permission to carry away the French dead bodies, saying the day belongs to the English, and naming the battle site as the field of Agincourt. Fluellen recalls Edward III fought a famous battle there:

There is a river in Macedon; and there is

also moreover a river at Monmouth; …and

there is salmons in both.[22]

(Act IV, Scene VII, Lines 26-30)

Williams enters, deciding to continue with his prank, Henry V calls over Exeter, and asks him why he has the glove in his cap. William describes about the rascal that challenged him. Henry V tells him to keep his oath when he encounters the man who offended him. After he leaves, Henry V gives Fluellen the glove to wear in his cap, and sends him to Williams, saying he had the glove from the French Duke Alencon and that anyone who challenges it, is a friend of Alencon. He has Warwick to go along with him to be sure that no one is hurt.

Flullen encounters Williams, who strikes him because of the glove:

’Sblood an arrant traitor, as any’s in the universal,

’orld, or in France, or in England.[23]

(Act IV, Scene VIII, Lines 109-110)

Fluellen calls him a traitor and a friend of Alencon. Henry V shows the glove to Williams and tells that previously he received it from the rascal and it is Henry V’s glove Williams apologies, saying Henry did not come to him as himself but disguised. Henry’s and Exeter fill William’s glove with money and asks Fluellen to be friends with him both the men are reconciled.

A herald arrives to announce the dead on each side; they include Charles Duke of Orleans, Duke of Bourbon, Alencon and 10000 French, and Suffolk, York and 25 men. Henry V attributes their success to God, not to himself, and pronounces a death penalty on anyone bragging otherwise. He plans to go on to Calais and England.

Fluellen wears a leek even though it is not St. Davy’s day, in order to aggravate Pistol:

There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things.[24]

(Act V, Scene I, Line 3)

Pistol shows up and they exchange insults, then Fluellen strikes him. Fluellen forces Pistol to eat the leek:

By this leek , I will most horribly revenge;

I eat, and eat, - I swear.[25]

(Act V, Scene I, Lines 49-50)

Fluellen sends him off, calling him a counterfeit cowardly knave. Pistol laments that his Doll was dead (an error for Nell, his wife) of venereal disease, and resolve to return to England for more theft and there he will claim the scars he got from Flullen’s blows in the war.

Henry V meets with Charles VI Queen Isabel, Burgundy and they talk of making peace. Burgundy wants the garden of France to blossom and be fruitful again. Henry V says peace must come on the terms he is putting forth in a document, he has provided. Charles VI asks for representatives of both sides to go over the terms in details. Henry V asks to be left with Katharine.

He proceeds to woo her in his blunt straightforward soldier’s speech, saying he cannot flatter or make eloquent speeches. She asks if she can really love the enemy. He answers that she and he will combine England and France. She still is not sure if she can love him and is cautious:

A fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow: but a good heart.[26]

(Act V, Scene II, Line 264)

Finally she says if her father will be pleased with such a marriage, she will also be content. When he tries to kiss her, she says it is not their custom to kiss before marriage, but he says they are able to establish customs for themselves, and kisses her:

Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined

within the weak list of a country’s fashion:

we are the makers of manners, Kate.[27]

(Act V, Scene II, Lines 276-78)

The French King and Lords return. Burgundy encourages him in his incomplete success at wooing her, by saying:

Can you blame her then, being a maid yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self.[28]

(Act V, Scene VI, Lines 299-301)

He will encourage her to comply. Charles VI is willing for them to marry and has consented to all the terms of the treaty, asking only that Henry V is called King of England, Heir to France. Charles VI expresses hope that this will end the enmity between the two countries. Henry V and Katharine kiss in the presence of the others; the Queen blesses the engagement and Henry V calls for preparations for the wedding.

References

• [1] Shakespeare from Richard II to Henry V, 166.
• [2] Shakespeare’s Histories, Tillyard, 112.
• [3] S.C. Sen Gupta. Shakespeare’s Historical plays. (London: Oxford University Press, 1964),145.
• [4] EMW Tillyards.Shakespeare’s History Plays,( United Kingdom: Basil Blackwell, 1988).1.
• [5] p.443.
• [6] p. 443.
• [7] p. 448.
• [8] p. 450
• [9] p. 451.
• [10) p. 452.
• [11] p. 452.
• [12] p. 452.
• [13] P. 455.
• [14] p. 455.
• [15] p. 457.
• [16] p. 457.
• [17] p. 459.
• [18] p. 459.
• [19] p. 459.
• [20] p. 459.
• [21] p. 460.
• [22] p. 462.
• [23] p. 464.
• [24] P. 466.
• [25] P. 466.
• [26] p. 468.
• [27] p. 470.
• [28] p. 470.