White Paper on "Henry V's St. Crispin's Day Speech"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Henry V's St. Crispin's Day Speech: An Exercise in Leadership

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition (IV.3)

When Shakespeare's Henry V gives his famous St. Crispin's Day speech, his English troops are outnumbered by the French forces and facing seemingly insurmountable odds. Morale is low; the men have been fighting for so long they cannot remember what they were fighting for in the first place. Even Henry has been experiencing serious doubts about the wisdom of his decision to win back French territories for England on rather dubious grounds. Henry realizes he has taken an extraordinary risk to solidify his leadership. He had wanted to demonstrate that he was no longer the sort of young man worthy of being given tennis balls as a gift by the Dauphin of France, as was the case at the beginning of the play. Now he simply wants to avoid all of his troops being slaughtered on the field of battle.

According to Freiberg & Freiberg (2003), one of the key reasons for a leadership failure, diagnosing the emotional temperament of a situation is a vital aspect of meeting leadership challenges. Showing the keen emotional intelligence that is characteristic of his leadership style, none of this self-examination is evident in Henry's speech the day of the battle. During a previous scene, Henry might speak to the audience about how "What infinite heart's-ease/Must kings neglect that private men enjoy!" (IV.1). But at a crisis moment, Henry cannot adopt a participative or democratic leadership approach, and solicit the opinions of everyone fighting by his side. Instead, Henry takes a stridently populist tone, but with a commanding style, stating that the most aristocratic and the lowest-born soldiers alike will all be brothers, if they fight together. Henry collapses the rigid hierarchy that existed in feudal society. He uses a charismatic, transformational leadership style that reminds his men of the mission they resolved to fulfill. His rhetoric is uncomplicated, yet well-suited to the moment, and even more critically it does not create false expectations, another problem of 'misdiagnosis in leadership.' Henry might worry that his goal and even his right to lead is tainted in private: "O, not to-day, think not upon the fault/My father made in compassing the crown!" he says to himself at one point (IV.1). But he tells his men that their cause is pure, because that is what they need to hear at that moment in time.

Henry has the quality of a military leader in his lack of subtlety -- but his refusal to compel his soldiers to fight deviates to some degree from the traditional military mindset. He does not tell his soldiers that they must fight or be branded as deserters -- he even gives them the option to leave. Henry believes that to make men fight with bayonets at their back is not an effective technique, particularly given the fact that they are outnumbered. Heart, rather than sheer brute force is required to triumph over the French.

Henry begins his speech by making a virtue of the fact that the English band is small in number, effectively using an apparent weakness as a strength and motivational technique:

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour (IV.3).

Henry creates a sense of a common purpose with confidence, strength, and humor -- the same qualities that have made companies such as Southwest Airlines so successful in our present era! (Freiberg & Freiberg 2003). He also says that it is the mission that is important to him, not the money he might gain as a result of the conquest. Unlike some kings he is not: "covetous for gold" but desires honor and glory for himself and for his country, and for the men with whom he fights (IV.4). His confidence in… READ MORE

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