Henry V: The King Behind the Speeches
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Henry arrives in this play having spent two previous plays being a disappointment. In Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 he drank in taverns with Falstaff, avoided his duties, and let people wonder whether he would ever be a real king. Now Falstaff is dead and Henry has chosen war.
The speeches are extraordinary: Harfleur, the night before Agincourt, the Crispin's Day address to a vastly outnumbered army. But Shakespeare writes the calculation in alongside the heroism. In Act 1 Scene 2, the Archbishop of Canterbury provides Henry with a legal argument for invading France partly because a parliamentary bill threatening church property makes a war politically convenient. Henry takes the cover.
The wooing of Katherine in Act 5 Scene 3 is funny and uncomfortable in equal measure. He insists he cannot make fine speeches, that he loves her plainly and honestly. And he has just devastated her country. Whether the bluntness is real or a performance, the play does not settle.
Key Scenes
Henry V's Key Quotes
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!”
Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”
Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3