Henry V (play)

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Henry V (play)

Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
, believed to be written in 1599. It is based on the life of King Henry V of England

Henry V of England

Henry V was one of the most significant English warrior kings of the 15th century. He was born at Monmouth, Wales, in the tower above the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle, and reigned as King of England from 1413 to 1422....
, and focuses on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt

Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 ...
(1415) during the Hundred Years' War

Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior House of Capet line of French kings....
.

The play is the final part of a tetralogy

Tetralogy

A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. Compare to a trilogy; made up of three works.The name comes from the Attica theater, where tetralogies were meant to be played in one sitting at the Dionysia....
, preceded by Richard II
Richard II (play)

'King Richard the Second' is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part...
, Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, Part 1

Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second of Shakespeare's tetralogy that deals with the successive reigns of Richard II of England, Henry IV of England , and Henry V of England....
and Henry IV, part 2
Henry IV, Part 2

Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V ....
.

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Sources

Shakespeare's primary source for Henry V, as for most of his chronicle histories, was Raphael Holinshed's

Raphael Holinshed

Raphael Holinshed was an England chronicler, whose work, commonly known as Holinshed's Chronicles, was one of the major sources used by William Shakespeare for a number of Shakespeare's plays....
Chronicles; the publication of the second edition in 1587 provides a terminus ad quem
Terminus post quem

Terminus post quem and the related terminus ante quem are terms used to give an approximate date for a text. Terminus post quem is used to indicate the earliest point in time when the text may have been written, while Terminus ante quem signifies the latest date at which a text may have been written....
for the play. Edward Hall's

Edward Hall

Edward Hall , England chronicler and lawyer, was born about the end of the 15th century, being a son of John Hall of Northall, Shropshire.Educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, he became a barrister and after-wards filled the offices of common sergeant of the city of London and judge of the sheriff's court....
The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York appears also to have been consulted, and scholars have supposed Shakespeare familiar with Samuel Daniel's

Samuel Daniel

Samuel Daniel was an England English poetry and History of England....
poem on the civil wars

Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars fought in England between supporters of the Houses of House of Lancaster and House of York....
.

Date and text

On the basis of an apparent allusion to Essex's

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Nine Years' War (Ireland)

The Nine Years War in Ireland took place from 1594 to 1603 and is also known as Tyrone's Rebellion. It was fought between the forces of Gaels Irish people chieftains Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, Hugh Roe O'Donnell and their allies, against the Elizabeth I of England Kingdom of England government of Ireland....
, the play is thought to date from early 1599.The Chronicle History of Henry the fifth was entered into the Register

Stationers' Register

The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England....
of the Stationers Company

Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Company of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557....
on August 14, 1600 by the bookseller Thomas Pavier

Thomas Pavier

Thomas Pavier was a London publisher and bookseller of the early seventeenth century. His complex involvement in the publication of early editions of some of William Shakespeare plays, as well as plays of the Shakespeare Apocrypha, has left him with a "dubious reputation."...
; the first quarto

Book size

The size of a specific book is measured from the head to tail of the spine, and from edge to edge across the covers.However, in bookbinding, printing, and publishing, a series of terms are used to indicate the approximate size of a book....
was published before the end of the year—though by Thomas Millington

Thomas Millington

Thomas Millington was a London publisher of the Elizabethan era, who published first editions of three William Shakespeare plays. He has been called a "stationer of dubious reputation" who was connected with some of the "bad quartos" and questionable texts of Shakespearean bibliography....
and John Busby rather than Pavier. (Thomas Creede

Thomas Creede

Thomas Creede was a printer of the Elizabethan era and Jacobean era eras, rated as "one of the best of his time." Based in London, he conducted his business under the sign of the Catherine Wheel in Thames Street from 1593 to 1600, and under the sign of the Eagle and Child in the Old Exchange from 1600 to 1617....
did the printing.)

Q1 of Henry V is a "bad quarto

Bad quarto

Bad quarto is a term and concept developed by twentieth-century William Shakespeare scholarly method to explain some problems in the early transmission of the texts of Shakespearean works....
," a shortened version of the play that might be a pirated copy or reported text. A second quarto, a reprint of Q1, was published in 1602 by Pavier; another reprint was issued as Q3 in 1619, with a false date of 1608—part of William Jaggard's False Folio

False Folio

False Folio is the term that Shakespeare scholars and bibliography have applied to William Jaggard's printing of ten Shakespearean and Shakespeare Apocrypha plays together in 1619 in literature, the first attempt to collect Shakespeare's work in a single volume....
. The superior text first saw print in the First Folio

First Folio

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
in 1623.

Performance history

A tradition, impossible to verify, holds that Henry V was the first play performed at the new Globe Theatre

Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613....
in the spring of 1599; the Globe would have been the "wooden O" mentioned in the Prologue. In 1600 the first printed text states that the play had been played "sundry times." The earliest performance known for certain, however, occurred on January 7, 1605, at Court.

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys, Fellow of the Royal Society was an English people Navy Board and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under James II of England....
saw a Henry V in 1664—but it was written by Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery , United Kingdom soldier, statesman and dramatist He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton....
, not by Shakespeare. Shakespeare's play returned to the stage in 1723, in an adaptation by Aaron Hill

Aaron Hill

Aaron Hill was an England dramatist and miscellaneous writer.The son of a country gentleman of Wiltshire, Hill was educated at Westminster School, and afterwards travelled in the East....
.

Today, Henry V is frequently staged and many of its speeches have passed into popular culture. A stirring example is Henry's Eve of Saint Crispin's Day
Saint Crispin's Day

Saint Crispin's Day falls on 25 October and is the feast day of the Christian saints Crispin and Crispinian , twins who were martyred circa A.D....
speech:

Henry V:-

"This day is called the feast of Crispian:

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.

And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day: then shall our names.

Familiar in his mouth as household words

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,

Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.

This 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 his 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 they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day"

The longest running production of the play in Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
history was the staging starring Richard Mansfield

Richard Mansfield

Richard Mansfield was an Anglo-American actor best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas and for his portrayal of the dual title roles in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
in 1900 which ran for 54 performances. Other notable stage performances of Henry V include Charles Kean

Charles Kean

Charles John Kean , was born at County Waterford, the son of the actor Edmund Kean.After preparatory education at Worplesdon and at Greenford, near Harrow, London, he was sent to Eton College, where he remained three years....
(1859), Charles Alexander Calvert

Charles Alexander Calvert

Charles Alexander Calvert was a British actor and theatre manager noted for Shakespearean "revivals" featuring elaborate staging and historically accurate sets and costumes....
(1872) and Walter Hampden

Walter Hampden

Walter Hampden is the artist name of Walter Hampden Dougherty was a U.S. actor and theatre manager.He went to England for apprenticeship for six years....
(1928).

Major revivals in London during the Twentieth Century include

1900 Lyceum Theatre, Lewis Waller as Henry
1914 Shaftesbury Theatre, F.R.Benson as Henry
1916 His Majesty's Theatre, Martin Harvey as Henry
1920 Strand Theatre, Murray Carrington as Henry
1926 Old Vic Theatre, Baliol Holloway as Henry
1928 Lyric, Hammersmith, Lewis Casson
Lewis Casson

Sir Lewis Thomas Casson Military Cross was an England actor and theatre director and the husband of Dame Sybil Thorndike....
as Henry (Old Vic Company)
1931 Old Vic Theatre,Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
as Henry
1934 Alhambra Theatre, Godfrey Tearle as Henry
1936 Ring, Blackfriars, Hubert Gregg
Hubert Gregg

Hubert Gregg was a British Broadcasting Corporation Presenter, writer and theatre actor, in recent times probably best known for the BBC Radio 2 "oldies" shows A Square Deal and Thanks For The Memory....
as Henry
1937 Old Vic Theatre,Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
as Henry
1938 Drury Lane Theatre, Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello

David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Wales composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the early 20th century....
as Henry
1951 Old Vic Theatre,Alec Clunes
Alec Clunes

Alec Clunes was an England actor.He was born into a showbusiness family, the son of Alexander Sydenham Sherriff Clunes and Georgina Ada Sumner....
as Henry
1955 Old Vic Theatre,Richard Burton
Richard Burton

Richard Burton, Order of the British Empire was a multi award-winning Wales actor. He was at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood....
as Henry
1960 Mermaid Theatre, William Peacock as Henry
1960 Old Vic Theatre,Donald Houston
Donald Houston

Donald Daniel Houston was an impassive, hardworking Wales actor whose first two films - The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness - were highly successful....
as Henry
1965 Aldwych Theatre,Ian Holm
Ian Holm

Sir Ian Holm Order of the British Empire is an England award-winning actor known for his stage work and for many film roles, including the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the first and third films of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element and the android Ash in Alien ....
as Henry (Royal Shakespeare Company)
1976 Aldwych Theatre,Alan Howard
Alan Howard

Alan MacKenzie Howard, Order of British Empire, is an England actor known for his roles on stage, television and film.He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983, and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000....
as Henry (Royal Shakespeare Company)
1985 Barbican Theatre, Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Charles Branagh is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated actor and film director from Northern Ireland....
as Henry (Royal Shakespeare Company)

On British television the play has been performed as follows

1951Clement McCallin as Henry, Marius Goring
Marius Goring

Marius Goring Order of the British Empire was an English people theatre and film actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell and Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes ....
as Chorus, Willoughby Gray as Pistol
1953Colin George
Colin George

Colin George is a British actor and director. He is known for his many roles in numerous theatre productions as well as the founder of the Crucible Theatre ....
as Henry, Toby Robertson as Chorus, Frank Windsor
Frank Windsor

Frank Windsor is an England actor, mainly on television.He attended Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall. He began his career on radio and made an appearance in a 1953 film of Henry V ....
as Pistol
1957John Neville
John Neville

John Neville, Order of Canada, Order of the British Empire is an English people theatre and film actor who moved to Canada in 1972. He enjoyed a resurgence of international attention in the 1980s as a result of his starring role in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen....
as Henry, Bernard Hepton
Bernard Hepton

Bernard Hepton is a United Kingdom actor of stage, film and television.Hepton is known as a particularly versatile character actor. He trained at Bradford Civic Theatre school under Esme Church, and alongside actors such as Robert Stephens....
as Chorus, Geoffrey Bayldon
Geoffrey Bayldon

Geoffrey Bayldon is a United Kingdom actor. After playing roles in dramas of Shakespeare, he became famous with the role of Catweazle in the early 1970s, after turning down the opportunity to play both the First Doctor and Second Doctors in Doctor Who....
as Pistol
1960Robert Hardy
Robert Hardy

Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, Order of the British Empire is an England actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow....
as Henry, William Squire
William Squire

'William Squire' was a Wales actor of stage, film and television. He performed at Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Old Vic. His varied screen roles included Thomas More in the 1969 film version of Maxwell Anderson's play Anne of the Thousand Days, Sir Daniel Brackley in the 1972 television adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black...
as Chorus, George A. Cooper as Pistol
1979David Gwillim
David Gwillim

David Gwillim is an England actor. He was a leading man on British television in the early 1970s to the mid 1980s. Best known for playing Hal in the BBC Television Shakespeare plays Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II and the title role in Henry V which aired in 1979....
as Henry, Alec McCowen
Alec McCowen

Alexander Duncan "Alec" McCowen Order of the British Empire, is an English actor, best known for his strikingly individual stage performances in modern and classical roles including William Shakespeare....
as Chorus, Bryan Pringle
Bryan Pringle

Bryan Pringle was a long serving British people actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions throughout a career which spanned almost four decades....
as Pistol

Dramatis personae

Henry V
Henry V of England

Henry V was one of the most significant English warrior kings of the 15th century. He was born at Monmouth, Wales, in the tower above the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle, and reigned as King of England from 1413 to 1422....
Duke of Gloucester (Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester , "son, brother and uncle of kings", was the fourth and youngest son of King Henry IV of England by his first wife, Mary de Bohun....
) & Duke of Bedford (John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford), Brothers to the King
Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, Uncle to the King
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York

Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York and 1st Duke of Aumale , was a member of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom who died at the Battle of Agincourt....
, Cousin to the King. He is the Aumerle of Richard II and the traitor Cambridge's brother; nothing is made of these connections.
Earls of Salisbury
Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury

Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, , was an England nobleman. He was one of the most important English commanders during the Hundred Years' War....
, Westmoreland
Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland

File:Neville.svg?Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland was born in Raby Castle, County Durham, England, the son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby and Maud Percy....
, and Warwick
Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick

Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick was an England medieval nobleman and military commander....
Archbishop of Canterbury
Henry Chichele

Henry Chicheley , Archbishop of Canterbury, founder of All Souls College, Oxford, was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364....
Bishop of Ely
John Fordham

John Fordham was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely.He was keeper of the privy seal of Richard II of England from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June of 1377....
Earl of Cambridge
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge

Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge was the younger son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York....
, Lord Scrope, and Sir Thomas Grey, Traitors
Sir Thomas Erpingham
Thomas Erpynham

Sir Thomas Erpingham, Knight of the Garter was an England knight who became famous as the commander of Henry V's archery at the Battle of Agincourt....
, Gower, Fluellen
Fluellen

Fluellen is a fictional character in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Fluellen is a Welsh people Captain , a leader of a contingent of troops in the small Medieval warfare of the England King Henry V of England while on campaign in France in the Middle Ages during the Hundred Years' War....
, Macmorris, Jamy, Officers in King Henry's Army
Bates, Court, Williams, Soldiers in the Same
Pistol, Nym, Bardolph
Boy
A Herald
The King of France, historically Charles VI
Charles VI of France

Charles VI , called the Well-loved and the Mad , was the List of French monarchs from 1380 to 1399, as a member of the House of Valois....
but never named as such in the play
Lewis
Louis, Dauphin of France (1397-1415)

Louis, Dauphin of France and Duke of Guyenne was a younger son of Charles VI of France and Isabella of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. He was the third child of his parents to hold the title Dauphin of France , holding it from the death of his older brother in 1401, when he was likewise made Duke of Aquitaine ....
, the Dauphin
Dukes of Burgundy, Orleans
Charles, duc d'Orléans

Charles of Valois was Duke of Orl?ans from 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis of Valois, Duke of Orl?ans on the orders of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy....
, Bourbon
John I, Duke of Bourbon

John I of Bourbon was Duke of Bourbon, from 1410 to his death and Duke of Auvergne since 1416. He was the eldest son of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon and Anna d'Auvergne....
, and Berry
Constable of France
Charles d'Albret

File:Armoiries Albret moderne.pngCharles d'Albret was Constable of France two different times: from 1402 until 1411, and again from 1413 until 1415....
Rambures and Grandpré, French Lords
Montjoy, a French Herald
Governor of Harfleur
Ambassadors to the King of England
Monsieur le Fer, a French soldier
Isabel, Queen of France
Katharine
Catherine of Valois

Catherine of Valois was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of King Henry V of England, mother of King Henry VI of England, and through her secret marriage with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of King Henry VII of England....
, Daughter to Charles and Isabel
Alice, a Lady attending on the Princess Katharine
Hostess of the Boar's Head Tavern, formerly Mistress Quickly
Mistress Quickly

Mistress Quickly refers to either of two characters in plays by William Shakespeare:* The Merry Wives of Windsor* Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V ...
, and now married to Pistol

Synopsis

Elizabethan stages did not use scenery. Acknowledging the difficulty of conveying great battles and shifts of location on a bare stage

Thrust stage

In theater, a thrust stage is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its Stage #Stage directions end....
, the chorus calls for a "Muse

Muse

File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpgThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts....
of fire" so that the actor playing King Henry can "Assume the port of Mars

Mars (mythology)

Mars was the Roman mythology warrior God , the son of Juno and Jupiter , husband of Bellona , and the lover of Venus . He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions....
." He asks, "Can this cockpit

Cockpit

A cockpit is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin....
[i.e. the theatre] hold / The vasty fields of France?" and encourages the audience to use their imaginations to overcome the stage's limitations: "Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts."

The early scenes deal with the embarkation of Henry's fleet for France, and include a real-life incident in which the Earl of Cambridge

Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge

Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge was the younger son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York....
and two others plotted to assassinate Henry at Southampton

Southampton Plot

The Southampton Plot of 1415 was a conspiracy against Henry V of England, aimed at replacing him with Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March. The three ringleaders were Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, Mortimer's brother-in-law, Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham , and Sir Thomas Grey ....
. Henry's clever uncovering of the plot and ruthless treatment of the plotters is one indication that he has changed from the earlier plays in which he appeared.

When the Chorus reappears, he describes the country's dedication to the war effort - "They sell the pasture now to buy the horse" - and tells the audience "We'll not offend one stomach with our play."

As with all of Shakespeare's serious plays, there are also a number of minor comic characters whose activities contrast with and sometimes comment on the main plot. In this case, they are mostly common soldiers in Henry's army, and they include Pistol, Nym, and Bardolph from the Henry IV plays. The army also includes a Scot, an Irishman, an Englishman and Fluellen

Fluellen

Fluellen is a fictional character in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Fluellen is a Welsh people Captain , a leader of a contingent of troops in the small Medieval warfare of the England King Henry V of England while on campaign in France in the Middle Ages during the Hundred Years' War....
, a comically stereotyped Welsh

Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
soldier, whose name is an attempt at a phonetic rendition of "Llywelyn

Llywelyn

The Welsh language name Llywelyn most likely derives from British language Lugubelenus, a compound word formed from the names of the Celtic gods Lugh or Lugh and Belenus....
". The play also deals briefly with the death of Falstaff

Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare as a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England....
, Henry's one time friend (although their relationship is fraught) from the Henry IV plays.

The Chorus appears again, seeking support for the English navy: "Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy" he says, notes that "the ambassador from the French comes back Tells Harry that the king doth offer him / Katharine his daughter."

At the siege of Harfleur

Harfleur

Harfleur is a communes of the Seine-Maritime d?partement in the Seine-Maritime departments of France of the Haute-Normandie region of northern France....
, Henry utters one of Shakespeare's best-known speeches, beginning "Once more unto the breach, dear friends...”

Before the Battle of Agincourt

Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 ...
, victory looks uncertain, and the young king's heroic character is shown by his decision to wander around the English camp at night, in disguise, so as to comfort his soldiers and find out what they really think of him. Before the battle begins, Henry rallies his troops with the famous speech:

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his 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 they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day

Saint Crispin's Day

Saint Crispin's Day falls on 25 October and is the feast day of the Christian saints Crispin and Crispinian , twins who were martyred circa A.D....
."

Following the victory at Agincourt, Henry attempts to woo the French princess, Catherine of Valois

Catherine of Valois

Catherine of Valois was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of King Henry V of England, mother of King Henry VI of England, and through her secret marriage with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of King Henry VII of England....
. The action ends with the French king adopting Henry as his heir to the French throne and the prayer of the French queen "that English may as French, French Englishmen, receive each other, God speak this Amen."

But before the curtain descends, the Chorus re-appears one more time and ruefully notes that Henry's own heir's "state, so many had the managing, that they lost France, and made his England bleed" - a reminder of the tumultuous reign of Henry VI of England

Henry VI of England

Henry VI was Kingdom of England 1422?1461 and then 1470?1471, and King of France as the de jure monarch from 1422 to 1429....
, which Shakespeare had previously brought to the stage.

Views on warfare

Readers and audiences have interpreted the play’s attitude to warfare in several different ways. On the one hand, it seems to celebrate Henry's invasion of France and valorises military might. Alternatively, it can be read as an anti-war allegory.

Some critics connect the glorification of nationalistic pride and conquest with contemporary English military ventures in Spain and Ireland. The Chorus directly refers to the military triumphs of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is the best-known of the many holders of the title "Earl of Essex." He was a military hero and royal favourite, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1599, he defied the Queen and was executed for treason....
, in the fifth act. Henry V himself is sometimes seen as an ambivalent representation of the stage machiavel, combining apparent sincerity with a willingness to use deceit and force to attain his ends.

Other commentators see the play as looking critically at the motivation for Henry's violent cause. The noble words of the Chorus and Henry are consistently undermined by the actions of Pistol, Bardolph and Nym. Pistol talks in a bombastic blank verse

Blank verse

Blank verse is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter , but no rhyme. In English, the meter most commonly used with blank verse has been iambic pentameter ....
that seems to parody Henry's own style of speech. Pistol and his friends thus show up the actions of their rulers. Indeed the presence of the Eastcheap

Eastcheap

Eastcheap is a road in the City of London. Its name derives from cheap, market, with the prefix "East" distinguishing it from the other former City of London market of 'Westcheap' ....
characters from Henry IV has been said to underscore the element of adventurer in Henry's character as monarch.

The American critic Norman Rabkin described the play as a picture with two simultaneous meanings. Rabkin argues that the play never settles on one viewpoint towards warfare, Henry himself switching his style of speech constantly, talking of "rape and pillage" during Harfleur but of patriotic glory in his St. Crispin's Day speech.

The play's ambiguity has led to diverse interpretations in performance. Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
's 1944 film

Henry V (1944 film)

Henry V is a 1944 in film film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V . The on-screen title is The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France ....
, made during the Second World War, emphasises the patriotic side, while Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Charles Branagh is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated actor and film director from Northern Ireland....
's 1989 film

Henry V (1989 film)

Henry V is a 1989 in film film directed by Kenneth Branagh, and based upon the William Shakespeare Henry V about the Henry V of England. Branagh stars in the title role with Derek Jacobi as the Chorus ....
stresses the horrors of war. A 2003 Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre, London, England, is generally known as the National Theatre and commonly as The National. It is located on the The South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge....
production featured Henry as a modern war general, ridiculing the Iraq invasion.

Adaptations and cultural references

Film adaptations

There have been two major film adaptations. The first

Henry V (1944 film)

Laurence Olivier

Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613....
and then gradually shifts to a realistic evocation of the Battle of Agincourt. Olivier's film was made during the Second World War and was intended as a patriotic rallying cry at the time of the invasion of Normandy.

The second major film

Henry V (1989 film)

Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Charles Branagh is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated actor and film director from Northern Ireland....
in 1989, attempts to give a more realistic evocation of the period and lays more emphasis on the horrors of war. It features a mud-spattered and gruesome Battle of Agincourt.

Popular culture references

French novelist Stendhal
Stendhal

Henri-Marie Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century France writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme ....
dedicated his 1839 masterpiece The Charterhouse of Parma
The Charterhouse of Parma

The Charterhouse of Parma is a novel published in 1839 by Stendhal. The novel, along with The Red and the Black, is considered Stendhal's finest work....
to the happy few, a phrase (in English) that is taken from the St. Crispin's Day Speech in the play.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is a science fiction television program created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Set in the 24th century, about 70 years after Star Trek: The Original Series, the program features a new crew and a new Starship Enterprise....
episode 3.10, "The Defector
The Defector (TNG episode)

"The Defector" is the 58th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the 10th episode of the third season....
", Data
Data (Star Trek)

Lieutenant Commander Data , played by Brent Spiner, is a character that appears in all but one episode of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and in the four films based on The Next Generation....
and Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional Star Trek character primarily portrayed by English actor Patrick Stewart. He appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation as the captain of the United Federation of Planets starship USS Enterprise ....
are rehearsing the play in the holodeck
Holodeck

A holodeck is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases in the fictional universe Star Trek universe. The holodeck was first seen in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint"....
at the beginning of the episode.
In both popular culture and real life, a stirring and dramatic speech that serves as a rallying cry to war is often called a "St. Crispin's Day Speech", after the most famous passage from this play. Examples include the speech that Bill Pullman
Bill Pullman

William James Pullman is an American film, television, and stage actor....
delivers at the end of Independence Day
Independence Day (film)

Independence Day is a 1996 in film science fiction film about a hostile alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they coincidentally converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance retaliation effort on July 4....
. Giles and Spike do a slight variation in "The Gift" in the fifth-season finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Two other good examples include the speeches Théoden and Aragorn give in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 in film fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the The Two Towers and The Return of the King of J....
. Admiral Adama paraphrases the speech in an episode "Exodus: Part One" of the new Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica is a Media franchise of science fiction films and television program, the Battlestar Galactica was produced in 1978. A series of book adaptations, original novels, comic books and video games have also been based on the concept....
series. A part of the speech can also be heard during a scene in the 1993 western Tombstone
Tombstone (film)

Tombstone is a 1993 Western movie written by Kevin Jarre and directed by its star Kurt Russell, with credited director George P. Cosmatos ghost-directing....
.
Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Ambrose

Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans....
's historical account of a company of soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division

The 101st Airborne Division ? the "Screaming Eagles"? is a U.S. Army modular infantry division trained for air assault military operation....
during the late stages of World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
is titled Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers is a ten-part television World War II miniseries based on the book of the same title written by historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose....
, as is the subsequent HBO miniseries adaptation of Ambrose's book. The speech is also recited during an interview with Carwood Lipton
Carwood Lipton

Clifford Carwood "Lip" Lipton was a United States Army commissioned officer in the 101st Airborne Division, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment ....
, and a surrendering German commander alludes to it.
In his director's commentary, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, Officer of the Order of Australia is an Australian-American actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter....
notes that Randall Wallace
Randall Wallace

Randall Wallace is an American songwriter, screenwriter, film producer, and film director who wrote the screenplay for the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, for which he received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay Adapted Directly for the Screen....
based William Wallace
William Wallace

William Wallace was a Scotland knight and landowner who is known for leading a resistance during the Wars of Scottish Independence and regarded as a patriot and national hero....
's pre-battle speech in Braveheart
Braveheart

Braveheart is an Academy Award-Winning, 1995 historical action-drama movie film producer and Film director by Mel Gibson, who also starred in the title role....
on Henry V's speech before the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 ...
.
The St. Crispin's Day speech is quoted in the 1994 film Renaissance Man. One of Danny DeVito's
Danny DeVito

Daniel Michael "Danny-Fanny" DeVito, Jr. is an United States actor, film director and film producer, who first gained prominence for his portrayal of "Louie De Palma" on the popular American Broadcasting Company and NBC television television program Taxi ....
students quotes it to Gregory Hines
Gregory Hines

Gregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer....
. Additionally, Danny DeVito takes his Army pupils on a visit to Canada to watch a production of Henry V.
The BBC show The Black Adder
The Black Adder

The Black Adder is the first series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, directed by Martin Shardlow and produced by John Lloyd ....
includes numerous Shakespeare references and parodies. In the first episode, the line "Once more unto the breach, my friends, once more," is said by King Richard III. The St. Crispin's Day speech is parodied in the final episode with the lines, "We few, we happy few, we band of ruthless bastards!"
In the book The Battle of Mogadishu, Staff Sergeant
Staff Sergeant

Staff Sergeant is a Military rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company....
Matt Eversmann
Matt Eversmann

Matthew Eversmann is a 75th Ranger Regiment and was the leader of Chalk 4 during the Battle of Mogadishu . The October 3, 1993 mission was his first time leading a group in combat....
states that General William Garrison ended a speech with the line "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
In 1991, Jay Tarses
Jay Tarses

Jay Tarses is an American television comedy writer and producer. He created and produced The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and The Slap Maxwell Story, co-created Buffalo Bill , and was an executive producer for The Bob Newhart Show....
received an Emmy nomination for 'Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series' for an episode of 'The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd

The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime Television comedy-drama that aired from 1987 in television - 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role....
' entitled "Here's A Little Touch Of Harry In The Night", a reference to the Prologue in Act IV.
Footage from the Olivier film adaptation is incorporated into the 2004 A&E
A&E Network

A&E is a cable television and satellite television television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Connecticut, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London....
television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
film Ike: Countdown to D-Day
Ike: Countdown to D-Day

Ike: Countdown to D-Day is a 2004 American television film originally aired on the American television channel A&E Network and was directed by Robert Harmon and written by Lionel Chetwynd....
, which dramatizes the decisions faced by Dwight Eisenhower (Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck

Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an United States actor, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his starring role on the television show Magnum P.I....
) in the period leading up to the Normandy invasion. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley
Omar Bradley

Omar Nelson Bradley Knight Commander of the Bath was one of the main United States Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
(James Remar
James Remar

William James Remar is an United States actor. He has appeared in at least 98 different media projects including movies, video games, and TV shows....
) watch Olivier deliver the St. Crispin's Day speech (although in reality, the Olivier film was not released in the U.K. until well after the invasion). They note that Europeans have been waging war for a very long time and that Shakespeare was writing long after the battle was over.
A June 2008 PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation ....
commercial features a modified version of the Saint Crispin's Day Speech, accompanying footage of several PS3 games.
The Saint Crispin's Day "Band of Brothers" speech serves as the rallying cry for the privileged "Fifth Avenue Contingent
Rough Riders

The Rough Riders was the name bestowed on the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the United States' war with Spain and the only one of the three to see action....
", a vital group in the plot of the 1997 television mini-series about the Spanish–American War of 1898, Rough Riders
Rough Riders (film)

Rough Riders is a 1997 three hour television miniseries about Theodore Roosevelt and the regiment . The series chronicles the major land battles of the Spanish-American War of 1898....
.
In the finale episode of Due South
Due South

Due South is an award-winning Canada television police comedy-drama created by Paul Haggis and produced by Alliance Communications , first aired in 1994....
- Call of the Wild - Buck Frobisher (Leslie Neilson) parodies the St. Crispin's Day speech with his "March 11th" speech.

External links

at Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com

Bartleby.com is an e-text archive, headquartered in New York City and named after Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener. It was founded under the name "Project Bartleby" in January 1993 by Steven H....
, from the 1914 Oxford Shakespeare
at Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works, as founder Michael Hart said "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."....
at Web English Teacher