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Henry V is a play by William Shakespeare based on the life of King Henry V Of England . It deals with the events immediately before and after the Battle Of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War . The play is the final part of a '', '' Henry IV, Part 1 '' and '' Henry IV, Part 2 ''. The original audiences would already have been familiar with 'Prince Hal', who was depicted in the ''Henry IV'' plays as a wild, undisciplined lad. In ''Henry V'', the young prince has grown into a mature man and is about to embark on the attempted conquest of France . PLOT Elizabethan stages did not use scenery. Acknowledging the difficulty of conveying great battles and shifts of location on a bare stage, Shakespeare introduces the character of the Chorus (a throwback to the Chorus of Greek drama, which Shakespeare would have been very familiar with), who acts as a narrator, explaining the story to the audience and encouraging them to use their imaginations. The chorus calls for a " Muse of fire" so that the actor playing King Henry can "Assume the port of Mars ." He asks, "Can this Cockpit 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 the fleet for France, and include the real-life incident in which the Earl Of Cambridge and two others plotted to assassinate Henry at Southampton . 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. 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 Shakespeare's serious plays, there are 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 include Pistol, Nym, and Bardolph from the ''Henry IV'' plays. They also include representatives of each of the constituent parts of the soldier, whose name is almost certainly a phonetic rendition of " Llewellyn "). The play also deals briefly with the death of Falstaff , Henry's one time mentor and another character 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 , Henry utters one of Shakespeare's best-known speeches, beginning "Once more unto the breach, dear friends...". Before the Battle Of Agincourt , 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. Following the victory at Agincourt, Henry attempts to court the French princess, Catherine Of Valois . 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 both lost France, and made his England bleed" - a reminder of the tumultuous reign of Henry VI Of England , which Shakespeare had previously brought to the stage. VIEWS ON WARFARE The famous American critic, Norman Rabkin , aptly described the play as a "dog-duck doodle"; from one point of view, the sketch is a rabbit's head, and from the other it is the head of a duck. The play is frustrating in that it never settles on one viewpoint towards warfare, and Henry is the perfect example of this; he switches his style of speech constantly, notably when he switches from talk of "rape and pillage" during Harfleur to patriotic glorification in his St. Crispian's speech. On one hand, we have a play that glorifies nationalistic pride and conquest, with the Chorus , Archbishop Of Canterbury , Fluellen, and Henry himself all being prime examples of characters that show this. The play can be viewed as being produced in support of Elizabethan military ventures in Spain and Ireland, notably the Duke Of Essex 's suppression of revolts in Ireland. Henry is sometimes seen as an amalgamation of Essex's military prowess and Elizabeth I 's pragmatism and skillful, heavy-handed leadership. On the other hand, we have a play that abhors and ridicules the very notion of international violence and conquest. The words of the Chorus and Henry are consistently undermined by the actions of the three thieves Pistol, Bardolph and Nym, who show the exact opposite of the patriotic fervour they were trying to portray. Pistol, especially, talks in a kind of awful blank verse that seems to ridicule Henry's own style of speech. One point of view is that the play is a parody of warfare within itself; Pistol et al are there to point out and make a mockery (note Henry's constant use of the word "mock") of the actions of their rulers. Henry could be said to be stealing France just as Pistol and friends steal bread. This ambiguity has lead to several interpretations of the play being performed in the past, with the 1944 Film directed by Laurence Olivier showing us the patriotic side and the 1989 Film showing us more of the horrors associated. A 2003 National Theatre production featured Henry as a modern war general, and parodied the Iraq invasion, showing it as ridiculous, exemplifying the view shown above. PERFORMANCE HISTORY There is no evidence that ''Henry V'' was popular in Shakespeare's own time. However, it is now frequently staged and many of its speeches have passed into popular culture. There have been two major film adaptations. The First , directed by and starring Laurence Olivier in 1944 , is a colourful and highly stylized version which begins in the Globe Theatre 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. , Ian Holm , Brian Blessed and Kenneth Branagh in Branagh's 1989 film version of Henry V .]] The Second Major Film , directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh in 1989 , attempts to give a more realistic evocation of the period and lays more emphasis on the horrors of war. It features a memorably mud-spattered and gruesome Battle of Agincourt. ''DRAMATIS PERSONAE''
POPULAR CULTURE
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