Term Paper on "King Henry V"

Term Paper 3 pages (1265 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Henry V

Comment upon the attributes of Henry V that are brought out in various parts of the play

One of the most interesting aspects of Shakespeare's history play "Henry V" is not the military drama of the piece, but the way that the central protagonist evolves as a king over the course of the play, both in his own estimation as well as the estimation of the other characters on stage. Henry V begins the play as a relatively untested king of England. Then the young king emerges through military struggle into a final, regal maturity as a statesman. At the end of the play, the king's tender and less confident side is show in his wooing of the young French princess Katherine. or, as his old friend Nym says: "The king is a good king: but it must be as it may;/he passes some humours and careers," passing from prince to warlike king, to fully-fledged leader. (II.1. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.2.1.html)

Henry V's former, less mature princely side is first showing during the early course of the play, less in the king's actions but more in other character's references to Henry's past life. As the new king resolves to go to war with France, to reclaim what Henry V considers England's rightful lands, the Archbishop of Canterbury remarks: "The courses of his youth [Henry's] promised it not. / the breath no sooner left his father's body, / but that his wildness, mortified in him, / Seem'd to die too."(I.1. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.1.1.html) the young king's past is referred to in even less flattering terms when the new king receives "tennis-balls, my liege," from the Dauphin of Franc. (I.2. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.1.2.html) These tennis balls are sent to remind Henry V of his youthful pastimes as well as his youth in general. Henry meets them with stern-faced humor and uses the flagrant disrespect the gift shows to rally his troops. "We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;/His present and your pains we thank you for:/When we have march'd our rackets to these balls, / We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set/Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard." (I.2. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.1.2.html)

Henry solidifies his regality and kinship with war: "Now all the youth of England are on fire, / and silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:/Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought/Reigns solely in the breast of every man," says the Chorus, when Henry takes England to war against France for the disputed territories Henry believes are his country's by right, custom, and law. Henry takes the slight upon his persona in the 'gift' of the tennis balls along with his land's claim upon France as a justification to seek glory through armament for all the people of England. Henry's actions indicate that he is not pacific or idle in temperament, but still possesses some of his old, immature and adolescent character -- not in his love of games, but in his view of war as a diplomatic game and a scene for proving his reputation to be won or lost, much as at a game of tennis. (II. Prologue. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.2.0.html) but when at war, this changes within and without of Henry's character, showing that he always has a capacity to adapt and evolve as a leader.

Henry cries, when first going to war to the English troops: "You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;/for your own reasons turn into your bosoms, / as dogs upon their masters, worrying you," and ends one of his first wartime rallying cries of the second act, "the signs of war advance:/No king of England, if not king of France." (II.2. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.2.2.html) a slight against his men is a slight against Henry by France! But after fighting for a time, even the young enthusiasm… READ MORE

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