Monday, January 19, 2015

What is Henry's attitude to conflict based on his speeches in Act 3 Scene 1 and Act 4 Scene 3?

In the Henry IV plays, we watched as
Hal learned not just the way of the court but also the way of the
world.


In Henry V , Act III, scene 1,
we see him put this knowledge into action.  As the young warrior king, he urges his men
forward but his language is full of acting term.  For example he says to "imitate the
action," and "disguise fair nature".  He has been an "actor" so to speak since we first
met him in Henry IV, part 1 and he is now learning a new role.  He
has not yet experienced the realities of war so his view of war is not
real. 


By the time we get to Act IV, scene 3 he has seen
war and what it can do to people.  He has spent the night wondering what gives him the
right to ask men to bleed and die for him.  The fact that his father became king and he
was his eldest son gives him the "legal" right but Henry is more concerned with the
morallity of his actions. 


His refusal to be ransomed,
which would burden the English people, shows that he has become a leader with
integrity.  His Crispin Day speech is from the heart.  No more acting terms.  That he
offers his men the option of opting out knowing the odds against them were tremendous
and that nobody left shows even more what a great leader Henry became.  His men believed
in him and his leadership and it paid off.  The victory at Agnincourt was stunning and
Shakespeare's statistics in the play are
accurate.      


From Act III, scene 1 to Act IV, scene 3,
we see a man grow from a rather idealistic warrior king to a war weary but strong king
who understands his own mortality.   The realities of war have changed
him.

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