The Life Of King Henry The Fifth — Acts IV, V, Reveal
ACT IV
Prologue
The chorus is back! I would be remiss if I did not mention the literary fact that a “prologue,” as it were, is a scene that should come before the story’s beginning. Mr. Chorus, as well-intended as you may be, I’m not quite sure you have a grasp on what you actually are. Just some knowledge to chew on, sir. Now go ahead and show me what you’ve got.
The Chorus shows us both the English and French camps, the night before battle. Many of the French soldiers are amped up, believing they will win. The English, not so much. This is exactly the opposite of how I pictured things going down. Perhaps I fell victim to King Henry’s confidence. Here, the king himself walks among his troops and it does well to boost their morale. Because, as the Chorus tells,
His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,
Behold, as many unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.
Scene i
The English camp at Agincourt.
Holy smokes! There’s a lot going on here. For starters, King Henry is disguised as a common soldier in his own camp, to get the feel of things from that commoner’s perspective, I presume.
King Henry has himself a grand, old time, pretending to be just another soldier. He asks others what they think of the king and of the war. He is pleased by Pistol’s devotion to him. Pistol praises the king yet knows not to whom he speaks.
When others go by, namely Gower and Fleullen, they hardly notice him sitting there, as he is not robed and fluffy, as a king would be.
At last, a soldier called Williams engages in conversation with our disguised king. When Henry learns this character disapproves of the king (himself!) he offers to quarrel with the man if they are both alive when the war is through. They exchange gloves. So I guess it’s on.
But I mean come on, how can you not be down with the sheer, classic audacity of it all?
King Henry, alone now, thinks deeply about what it means to be ruler of a land. He figures that beyond the fine clothes and “ceremony,” there is not much else besides holding your country together. In a moment of either weakness or, at the least, self-effacement, King Henry kind of wishes he was a slave or a common soldier for real, so that he wouldn’t have to bear this great burden.
Scene ii
The French camp.
Enter Dauphin, Orleans, Rambures and others.
It is morning and a messenger delivers news that the English camp is nearby. A constable rallies the troops with a decent battle speech, as does a Grandpere. Who’s Grandpere is this? If he’s old, he doesn’t seem it. He’s ready to sally forty into war. No one on this side has a notion they might lose. I’m just saying…
Scene iii
Back to the English camp.
The men are feeling the weight of their odds, and they don’t like it. Westmoreland makes mention of wanting “one ten thousand of those men in England / That do not work today.” Is he saying there are lots of folks back home who should have joined up but didn’t?
King Henry comes about to set them all straight.
That he which hath no stomach to fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
Oh, our fair King Henry’s just getting warmed up. For no one that fights here today will be forgotten!
The story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds my blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That doughy with us upon St. Crispin’s Day.
All right, brother. Count me in.
Montjoy, a French messenger, appears and asks once again if Henry will accept their terms and surrender himself to avoid bloodshed. Fat chance of that happening. Henry sends the messenger back to his side with a cordial “thanks but no thanks.”
And the English advance.
Scene iv, v, vi
The field of battle!
Pistol meets a French soldier on the field. Rather than kill each other, the soldier basically cries mercy in his own language. Luckily, there is a boy translator with them who tells Pistol everything the French soldier says. When Pistol doesn’t kill the French soldier, he is overtly grateful.
In another part of the field, Constable and Dauphin are realizing their ranks are broke and maybe this isn’t going to be such a slam dunk as they thought.
In still another part of the field, King Henry learns of the death of the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk. The touching tale of how one laid down to die with the other moves him to tears.
But the French haven’t quit yet. They persist. An alarm, a rally cry from the French side cries out and King Henry orders his men to kill every French prisoner in their camp,
That’s some cold shit, Harry. But hey, war is Hell.
Scene vii
Another part of this huge ass field.
Fleullen and Gower talk about some slaughter by a small, French faction.
The messenger Montjoy returns, but this time, he says to Henry that the English have won the day. In fact, they have only had 29 casualties compared to France’s 10,000. Whoa. King Henry praises God for the victory.
It gets weird here when gloves are exchanged. I think Henry is playing a joke on Fleullen by giving him the glove he exchanged with the guy he previously said he would duel with.
Is this really the time for practical jokes, Henry?
Scene viii
Before King Henry’s pavilion.
Well here’s a bunch of nonsense. Williams meets Fleullen and sees his glove. They quarrel, even though Fleullen has little idea why. King Henry waltzes into the scene and is all like, “Hey you guys! Oh Williams, it was really me who your quarrel is with. I’m the one who exchanged gloves with you, silly head.”
And Williams is all, “Oh, good one, Harry.”
Meanwhile, I think there’s still a war on?
Ah yes, someone comes in and reads off a long list of names from both the French and English side. These are the names of the dead. Haughty haughty haughty ho!
Act V
Prologue
King Henry, the Chorus explains, returns to England. He’s there for awhile and the people cheer him, and then he heads back to France again. Well alrighty then!
Scene i
France. The English tower.
Pistol, Gower, and Fleullen play a game of Green Eggs and Ham but with leeks. Pistol insists that he would not, could not eat leeks on a train. Actually, he says, “Not for Cadwaller and all his goats.”
But is not all fun and games after all. For Fleullen strikes him.
“If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek,” Fleullen says. He’s very passionate about this disgusting vegetable.
There’s more going on here than I can figure but the scene ends when Pistol is alone talking to himself. He says his wife is dead and he can’t wait to go back to England and steal some shit.
So whatever. OK. This play is weird in its late stages.
Scene ii
France. A royal palace.
Enter King Henry, the King of France, and pretty much everyone who managed to live through this play.
Both kings are extremely friendly with each other, having just finished a war.
But we’re just getting warmed up…
Burgundy (his name is Burgundy!) steps up and starts the bidding at: “So what are you here for, anyway? What are your terms again?”
Henry relays that his terms remain the same as when he last sent them. “We shall have peace between us, so long as I get to marry Princess Katherine. You know, so my heirs will rule France someday. Savvy?”
The French King and all his Frenchies go off to discuss it.
Katherine stays behind and Henry woos her.
O fair Katherine, if you will love me soundly with
your French heart, I will be glad to hear you
confess it brokenly with your English tongue.
Ha! Yeah, Katherine don’t speak English too good neither.
Do you like me Kate?
KATHERINE
Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is ‘like me.’
KING HENRY V
An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.
Wicked smooth, brah!
A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a
black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow
bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax
hollow: but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the
moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon; for it
shines bright and never changes, but keeps his
course truly. If thou would have such a one, take
me; and take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king.
Marvelous. Who knew we were reading a love story? Seriously, I’m swooning. If Katherine doesn’t take him, I will.
As his courtship of the French princess continues, Henry’s words fluctuate between romantic and comical. Katherine gets the jist of what he’s saying, because they have an interpreter named Alice with them (though she’s not very good). At one point, Henry says, “Oh blast my cursed French words!” or something to that effect. I should have made a note of it but I’ve read through the entire scene and don’t want to go back right now. It’s close enough. It’s funny. Laugh, damn you.
Anyway, Katherine kinda sorta agrees to marry him but says it’s up to her father. So the King of France and his queen and all else return to the room. The French king gives his blessing and yay! We have a happy ending! And Henry’s heirs will rule England and France! Huzzah!
Hold it, the Prologue guy wants to throw up an epilogue. Sheesh.
Epilogue
Well, it’s short and doesn’t say much. The Chorus tells us what we already know — that we’ve just bared witness to a short period in history. And that Henry VI will rule both England and France. Duh.
Sequels galore, bitches!
Reveal
I don’t have much to report here. In my paltry post-reading research, I’ve mainly found similar plot structures as to the ones I’ve posited. I am left feeling somewhat jarred at completion. These history plays, though having most elegant and exquisite language, are more snapshots of scenes thrown together with no real throughline. Well, of course the connective tissue is Henry, but all minor characters sort of play out their own stories around him. Each unto his own is interesting, but I’m not sure how they all jive together to form an overall picture of the protagonist. Perhaps if I knew more of the actual historical facts, I might be more inclined to let it pass.
That said, I continue to marvel at Shakespeare’s poetry. I get lost in it — both in good ways and bad.
One small note of note: The French scene in Act Three was a French lesson. For the life of me, I don’t understand the significance of including this in the play. It does nothing (for me) than to confound my appreciation of the characters.
One final note of note: The final scene where Henry woos Katherine occurs some time after the rest of the play. There are, of course, no stage directions to announce this. So that too was somewhat muddled. That last scene does feel entirely like some other play outside of the play. Now I know why.
What comes next? Simple math tells us Henry VI comes after V. And it’s in three parts. Oh boy oh boy! With that much to work with, I can only assume Shakespeare paints a much clearer picture of this king’s entire life. Come read Part One (“The Toddler Years”) with me in March!
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