Henry V Author: William Shakespear Please Provide

¶ … Henry v Author: William Shakespear Please provide an essay Henry v interpretation Kingship relation actions play. Please include quotes

William Shakespeare's play, The Life of Henry the Fifth, is constructed on the central theme of kingship. "In terms of both plot and character, the play unfolds as the testing of a monarch" (Hall, 1997), and this paper attempts to present the main instances of action and choice which establish King Henry's portrait as a fit leader.

The beginning of the play acquaints the audience with a skilled rhetorician and a king decided to go to war against France -- "France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, / Or break it all to pieces" (Shakespeare, 224-25). This resolve is expressed not only as a matter of state and claiming of national rights, but also as a personal quest for the purpose of proving his value as monarch. Notwithstanding Henry's aspirations for glory, clearly visible in his hope to "Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness" (Shakespeare, 274), he carefully monitors and controls this heroic drive.

During Act II, the king is obliged to successfully present the ability to deliver justice. In the Southampton scene, Henry feigns a naive over trusting in his subjects as deceptive strategy to uncover his hypocritical adversaries. When an assassination conspiracy is discovered, he condemns all guilty men, including one of his former friends, to die. With this episode, Shakespeare implies that kingship pervades an unrelenting administration of justice that ought to be unencumbered by mercy or personal sympathies. In addition to being just, Act III depicts Henry at Harfleur in the instance of an accomplished "warrior-king" (Hall, 1997). His Majesty's strength and Machiavellian ruthlessness is portrayed in both the brutal threat made to the Governor if he does not capitulate and the regretless approval of former friends' Nim and Bardolph execution for the charge of looting against orders.

In Act IV, King Henry is confronted with the challenges of sustaining his soldiers' morale through battle and justifying his cause to them. The disguise episode suggests that the impression of strength in leaders is of great importance, as "no man should possess [the king] with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his army" (Shakespeare 112-14). Furthermore, Henry's reflections on ceremony convey a profound resentment for his royal status, which separates him from his peers. When he finally does come to terms with his place in the world, King Henry leads with confidence and proves capable of transferring that same confidence to his followers, in his speech before Agincourt and most notably in the Crispin's Day speech which surpasses the issue of royal discrepancy in favor of common cause and brotherhood -- "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" (Shakespeare IV. iii. 60). At any rate, inherent humility allows Henry to project confidence in a victory at Agincourt only "if God please" (Shakespeare 120).