Study Guide to Henry V by William Shakespeare

Intelligent Education

• Publisher: Influence Publishers
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781645425656
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for William Shakespeare’s Henry V, one of his most popular historical plays. As an expedition of French royalty, Shakespeare explores the complicated nature of responsibility and kingship. Moreover, he depicts the moral and personal costs of war through the complex portrayal of Henry V. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Shakespeare’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including
essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

INTRODUCTION TO WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 

On April 26, 1564, William Shakespeare, son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, was christened in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon. His birthday is traditionally placed three days before. He was the eldest of four boys and two girls born to his father, a well-to-do glover and trader, who also held some minor offices in the town government. He probably attended the local free school, where he picked up the “small Latin and less Greek” that Ben Jonson credits him with. (“Small” Latin to that knowledgeable classicist meant considerably more than it does today.) As far as is known, this was the extent of Shakespeare’s formal education. In November of 1582, when he was eighteen, a license was issued for his marriage to Ann Hathaway, a Stratford neighbor eight years older than himself. The following May their child Susanna was christened in the same church as her father. While it may be inferred from this that his marriage was a forced one, such an inference is not necessary; engagement at that time was a legally binding contract and was sometimes construed as allowing conjugal rights. Their union produced two more children, twins Judith and Hamnet, christened in February, 1585. Shortly thereafter Shakespeare left Stratford for a career in London. What he did during these years - until we pick him up, an established playwright, in 1592 - we do not know, as no records exist. It is presumed that he served an apprenticeship in the theatre, perhaps as a provincial trouper, and eventually won himself a place as an actor. By 1594 he was a successful dramatist with the Lord Chamberlain’s company (acting groups had noble protection and patronage), having produced the Comedy of Errors and the Henry VI trilogy, probably in collaboration with older, better established dramatists. When the plague closed the London theatres for many months of 1593-94, he found himself without a livelihood. He promptly turned his hand to poetry (although written in verse, plays were not considered as dignified as poetry), writing two long narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. He dedicated them to the Earl of Southampton, undoubtedly receiving some recompense. The early nineties also saw the first of Shakespeare’s sonnets circulating in manuscript, and later finding their way into print. In his early plays - mostly chronicle histories glorifying England’s past, and light comedies - Shakespeare sought for popular success and achieved it. In 1599 he was able to buy a share in the Globe Theatre, where he acted and where his plays were performed. His ever-increasing financial success enabled him to buy a good deal of real estate in his native Stratford, and by 1605 he was able to retire from acting. Shortly thereafter he began to spend most of his time in Stratford, to which he retired around 1610. Very little is known of his life after he left London. He died on April 23, 1616, in Stratford, and was buried there. In 1623 the First Folio edition of his complete works was published by a group of his friends as a testimonial to his memory. This was a very rare tribute, because at the time plays were generally considered to be inferior literature, not really worthy of publication. These scanty facts, together with some information about the dates of his plays, are all that is definitely known about the greatest writer in the history of English literature. The age in which Shakespeare lived was not as concerned with keeping accurate records as we are, and any further details about Shakespeare’s life have been derived from educated guesses based on knowledge of his time. Shakespeare’s plays fall into three major groups according to the periods in his development when he wrote them:

EARLY COMEDIES AND HISTORIES

The first group consists of romantic comedies such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1593-5), and of strongly patriotic histories such as Henry V (1599). The early comedies are full of farce and slapstick, as well as exuberant poetry. Their plots are complicated and generally revolve around a young love relationship. The histories are typical of the robust, adventurous English patriotism of the Elizabethan era, when England had achieved a position of world dominance and power.

THE GREAT TRAGEDIES

The second period, beginning with Hamlet and ending with Antony and Cleopatra, is the period of the great tragedies: Hamlet (1602); Othello (1604); King Lear (1605); Macbeth (1606); and Antony and Cleopatra (1607-8). Shakespeare seems to have gone through a mental crisis at this time. His vision of the world darkens, and he sees life as an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, between order and chaos within man and in the whole universe. The forces for good win out in the end over evil, which is self-defeating. But the victory of the good is at great cost and often comes at the point of death. It is a moral victory, not a material one. These tragedies center on a great man who, because of some flaw in his makeup, or some error he commits, brings death and destruction down upon himself and those around him. They are generally considered the greatest of Shakespeare’s plays.

THE LATE ROMANCES

In the third period Shakespeare returns to romantic comedy. But such plays as Cymbeline (1609-10), The Winter’s Tale (1610-11), and The Tempest (1611) are very different in point of view and structure from such earlier comedies as Much Ado About Nothing (1599) and Twelfth Night (1600). Each of these late romances has a situation potentially tragic, and there is much bitterness in them. Thus the destructive force of insane jealousy serves as the theme both of the tragedy, Othello, and the comedy, The Winter’s Tale. They are serious comedies, replacing farce and slapstick with rich symbolism and supernatural events. They deal with such themes as sin and redemption, death and rebirth, and the conflict between nature and society, rather than with simple romantic love. In a sense they are deeply religious, although unconnected with any church dogma. In his last play, The Tempest, Shakespeare achieved a more or less serene outlook upon the world after the storm and stress of his great tragedies and the so-called “dark comedies.”

SHAKESPEARE’S THEATRE

Shakespeare’s plays were written for a stage very different from our own. Women, for instance, were not allowed to act; so female parts, even that of Cleopatra, were played by boy actors whose voices had not yet changed. The plays were performed on a long platform surrounded by a circular, unroofed theatre, and were dependent on natural daylight for lighting. There was no curtain separating the stage from the audience, nor were there act divisions. These were added to the plays by later editors. Because the stage jutted right into the audience, Shakespeare was able to achieve a greater intimacy with his spectators than modern playwrights can. The audience in the pit, immediately surrounding the stage, had to stand crowded together throughout the play. Its members tended to be lower class Londoners who would frequently comment aloud on the action of the play and break into fights. Anyone who attended the plays in the pit did so at the risk of having his pockets picked, of catching a disease, or, at best, of being jostled about by the crude “groundlings.” The aristocratic and merchant classes, who watched the plays from seats in the galleries, were spared most of the physical discomforts of the pit.

ITS ADVANTAGES

There were certain advantages, however, to such a theatre. Because complicated scenic, lighting and sound effects were impossible, the playwright had to rely on the power of his words to create scenes in the audience’s imagination. The rapid changes of scene and vast distances involved in Antony and Cleopatra, for instance, although they create a problem for modern producers, did not for Shakespeare. Shakespeare did not rely - as the modern realistic theatre does - on elaborate stage scenery to create atmosphere and locale. For these, as for battle scenes involving large numbers of people, Shakespeare relied on the suggestive power of his poetry to quicken the imagination of his audience. Elizabethan audiences were very lively anyway, and quick to catch any kind of word play. Puns, jokes, and subtle poetic effects made a greater impression on them than on modern audiences, who are less alert to language.

INTRODUCTION TO HENRY V

IMMEDIATE SOURCES FOR HENRY V

Shakespeare’s primary source seems to have been Holinshed’s Chronicles (1578), for many passages in the play are very similar to those in Holinshed. But Holinshed himself drew heavily on Hall’s Union of the Two Noble Houses of Lancaster and York (1548), and, therefore, it is not always possible to tell where Shakespeare is following Hall and where Holinshed. Other sources available to Shakespeare were the Gesta, written by a chaplain who accompanied Henry to France and a biography called the Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti, written by an unknown author about thirty years after the death of Henry. It is also possible that Shakespeare may have seen other chronicles, including the account of the Frenchman Le Fevre. Plays about Henry V had been written before this one, but it is impossible to say how much Shakespeare may have borrowed from them. The only earlier play extant is the Famous Victories of Henry V, which was registered in 1594. It is believed that an earlier version of this play has been lost. In any case, Shakespeare’s Henry V bears only superficial resemblance to the Famous Victories.

THE TEXT OF HENRY V

Shakespeare’s plays were at times published without his consent during his lifetime, and pirated and generally inaccurate versions resulted. Thus in 1600 a bad Quarto edition of Henry V appeared, based on the recollections of actors in the play. In 1623, however, Shakespeare’s friends put out a Folio edition of his plays derived from his own manuscripts. Our modern text is based on the 1623 folio.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF HENRY V

The main action of the play is concerned with the historical events leading up to and following the battle of Agincourt. In the first act the king decides to make war on France, having been assured by the clergy that he has a valid claim to the French throne, and by the nobility that there is strong popular support for the proposed and by the nobility that there is strong popular support for the proposed war. The king then receives the French ambassadors, who bring him a case of tennis balls and a contemptuous message from the French dauphin. The reason that the dauphin treats him with such slight regard is that when he was a prince Henry was famous for leading a gay and idle life. We have learned in the first scene, however, from a conversation between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely, that Henry has undergone a miraculous transformation since becoming king. Now he has the unqualified respect and admiration of his countrymen. The king sends word to the dauphin that he will answer this mock in the forthcoming war on France.

In the second act all preparations are made for the expedition to France. The king has uncovered a plot against his life, and before the assassins have an opportunity to carry out their plan they are arrested. After hearing Henry’s reproaches for their betrayal of king and country, they repent of their treason as they are led off to execution.

In the course of the second act we meet the French king, dauphin, constable, and other high dignitaries. The French appear silly and pompous and they seriously underestimate the threat posed by Henry’s invasion. The dauphin is a rash and headstrong young man, who refuses to be convinced that Henry the king is different from Hal the madcap prince. In the third act we see that the English have landed in France and are besieging the town of Harfleur, which finally capitulates when it becomes clear that the reinforcements promised by the dauphin cannot arrive on time. Henry is glad that he does not have to sack the town for both humanitarian and practical reasons. His army is already weakened by disease, and he hopes to march on to the English stronghold of Calais to rest. However, the French, humiliated by the loss of Harfleur, are determined to force an encounter immediately. A French herald asks Henry to surrender voluntarily, since his army is no match for the numerically superior French. Henry refuses. He will neither retreat nor surrender. He will stand where he is and fight if necessary. In the final scene of this act the French nobility are eagerly awaiting the morning and the opportunity of destroying the enemy.

In the fourth act we see that the English soldiers are justly apprehensive on the eve of battle. They know that they are outnumbered by about five to one. Through the long night hours the king goes among his men, trying to cheer them his own confidence in Providence. At one point, disguised by the night and a borrowed cloak, he engages in conversation with three ordinary soldiers. They talk about the duty a subject owes to his sovereign and about the responsibility the king must bear. Henry tells them he thinks the king is a man just as they are. He also says that the monarch cannot be responsible for the souls of his men if they die in battle, as one of the soldiers suggested. At the conclusion of the discussion, an argument arises between Henry and a soldier named Williams. They exchange gloves as tokens by which they can recognize and fight each other after the battle.

Before the battle starts, Henry encourages his men with a rousing speech about the honor they can win this day just because they are so greatly outnumbered. After the fighting begins, it soon becomes apparent that the English are winning a glorious victory. The French acknowledge that they have seriously underestimated their adversary. They surrender, and the casualty list reveals that whereas the French have lost thousands of men, the English have lost very few. Henry gives thanks to God and promises his troops a speedy return to England. In the meantime he has found an opportunity to resolve his quarrel with the soldier (Williams) be revealing his true identity and by rewarding the soldier for his obstinate courage and dignity.

In the fifth act the king and his followers, after some time has elapsed, return to France in order to conclude the peace. Henry woos the French princess in the blunt and good-humored manner of a plain soldier rather than a royal king. The peace terms agreed upon stipulate that Henry shall marry the princess and be accepted as the heir to France upon the death of the present French king. The two warring factions are reconciled and the play ends on a joyous and hopeful note, although the Chorus, in an epilogue, reminds the audience that the English possession of France was lost in the troubled reign of Henry VI.

Simultaneous with the historical action of the play is a comic subplot, in...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1) Introduction to William Shakespeare
• 2) Introduction to Henry V
• 3) Textual Analysis
• 4) Character Analyses
• 5) Critical Commentary
• 6) Essay Questions and Answers
• 7) Subject Bibliography and Guide to Research Papers
• 8) General Biography and Criticism