The Life of Henry V Notes
Written 1599, when the Globe theatre was built, one of the first plays performed there
Henry V (1413-1423) 1415—Agincourt pitted a relatively small English force
Major themes: militarism, war (compare to modern situations), coming of age, justice and mercy, appearance vs.
Reality, leadership, the comradery of men in arms.
The play can be divided into the events leading up to the war between English and French forces, preparations for
battle, the battles, and the aftermath of the war.
Henry V is a hero of this period because he claimed France
-mindless adoration of conquest is stopped dead.
-the play questions conquests and war; shatters illusions to the purpose of critical thinking and political
analogies. Demystification of kings.
Henry in disguise says something about the king; kingship is made to look bad. But the king is seen in a better light;
nationalism demystified.
On kingship—in Shakespeare’s plays he gives no hint that a better political world could be established.
This play has an invasive chorus who keep coming onstage over and over—unlike other plays; a parallel to Henry’s
actions—shatters and diffuses the momentum of the play; produces a critical distancing from the drama
Why does he insult the actors? The theatre? Why doesn’t he always do this? (going against what the
audience expects—it is funny) Chorus is servile, polite—he’s a courtly figure. He addresses them as
gentlemen.
Henry V is Harry—familiar to chorus; distances from the audience a negative figure, one to whom we are
not allowed to relate. He adores Henry V (he’s one of THEM, not one of US) Chorus—represents the view
of the official histories; embodies regal narrative (good ol’ King Henry) The chorus demystifies kingship (no
god given powers or anything we might think of as kingship).
Alienation effect—he’s used to alienate us from the action to destroy illusionism. One follows the action
but one knows it is a story (makes us think above the action). It’s subversive to get a commoner to talk
about kings. Shakespeare treats his audience as though they are capable of thinking for themselves.
Effect on commoners: to show us our part in history—the commoners are the pawns of the mighty; makes
it more graphic to audience since they are last. Structural juxtaposition.
Every act begins with what the chorus says about Henry, then we see Henry and the nobles, then commoners.
Henry-- what we see him do, the real man, unlike what the chorus says
Act I (Act I focuses on the events leading up to the war).
Prologue:
This isn’t a good theatre, he (the Chorus) says (line 8) apologizing. He’s there to urge the audience to use their
imagination (imagine the battle of Agincourt when King Harry battled France)
1.1
Order, honor—themes of this act
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely (churchmen who serve as advisors) are discussing a bid by the
House of Commons to reclaim church lands in order to use the revenue to benefit the state; they hope Henry will
side with them—after all, he has been fair and also loyal to the church. A distraction for Henry: The Archbishop
brings up Henry’s claim to the throne of France.
The church is against losing money to the poor, desolate. The church is painted in a bad way; we haven’t even met
Henry V yet!
1.2
Disorder in kingdom, royal household (The Prince should be there, but isn’t)
Honor= personal reputation. With a powerful opponent, one brings a certain kind of distinction to his reputation
Relationship between church and state/ church gives false legitimation for invading France. The common people
lose out on this liaison of church and state. Salic law—inheritance through a female not allowed
Canterbury—hypocritical—we know he has taken a bribe. A piety of convenience—uses religion to suit his ends;
says Salic law doesn’t apply to France and they haven’t used it either for inheritance of the kingship.
Shakespeare was intensely skeptical of organized religion. Obscurantism—seeking in a deliberately obscure
fashion (close to filibustering) which renders powerless the person one is addressing – gobbledygook about
superior language. Says that Henry has no legitimacy about claims to France.
Audience hates the Archbishop of Canterbury for being boring.
Henry wants to get to the point, unpretentious, regular guy—a regular person.
Demotic—presenting yourself as an ordinary guy and a regular person.
Archbishop of Canterbury sees a guilty conscience in Henry.
We are made to dislike Henry.
He has to elevate himself—at the end of Henry V we don’t know whether or not to hate him; this play tells us to
answer that—that we are the ones to think Henry was bad.
Exeter ( Henry’s uncle)and Westmoreland ( a nobleman) urge Henry to claim his rights in France, but Henry
worries about leaving England open to attack from Scotland if they are off fighting France. Canterbury tells him to
divide responsibilities and take a quarter of his troops to France to fight, and Henry is convinced and is determined
to win France.
Henry was to meet with the ambassadors from France, but has talked with Canterbury et al first. By the time he
lets the ambassadors in, it’s clear that he has made up his mind what he intends to do. The ambassadors
discourage Henry from trying to claim France by telling him he can’t win, and furthermore, the Dauphin has sent
Henry a gift ( a tradition), but the gift is a slap in the face—not literally, of course—it is a cask of tennis balls! Henry
isn’t thrilled with this “joke” or the implications that he is young or thought of as incapable and frivolous; he
responds with tennis puns and mentions that he will not be judged by what people think. He says that God will
determine the outcome of the events. As of this point, it’s game on with France.
Act II (Act 2 involves the preparations for battle)
Reputation—things on the scotch (coat of arms) Falstaff has failed to live up to the knightly code of honor.
Falstaff—funny; in this play, he’s dying; we only hear about it.
Mistress quickly tells him how he dies, that he’s plucking at things that aren’t there—the finger is pointed
at Henry V—the next time we hear about him in the battle of Agincourt he says “you killed your best
friend”
Act III (Battles in France)
Act IV (Battles in France)
dream- insulting the name of Agincourt, the theatre
Eager anticipation, the battle is about to happen—then—on comes the chorus.
Then a contradiction in theory and practice; The enactment contradicts the theory.
4.1 King Henry denies his divine right—a quasi-divine creature created by god. Subversive—he’s trying to present
himself as the common man—glides past the censor
Certain characters in Shakespeare can get away with saying bad things: fools, criminals (what can they say—what
do you expect, he’s a criminal.) Henry’s really the criminal on a larger scale.
Conquest--- he makes the argument , Alex court uses body language; what he does determines who wins the
argument—a framing action—he’s needed to judge the argument
Climax—battle of Agincourt.
Act V (Aftermath of the War)