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Shakespeare's plays can be divided into three distinct categories: histories, romances and comedies. Henry the fifth is a history. Henry V is the last of four plays by William Shakespeare which tells of the rise of the house of Lancaster. It was written in 1599 but is set in 1415, two years after the death of his father and Henry has made a favourable impression on his courtiers and the clergy. He has constantly been encouraged to seize the throne of France with the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
When the King of France responds with a mocking gift of tennis balls it presents Henry with the perfect excuse to begin the invasion.
The invasion ends up in triumph but Henry still had more to do. In 1420 Henry returns to France on peace terms. His demands were granted, one of which was the hand in marriage of Katherine, the Dauphin's daughter and subsequently Henry is made the heir to the French crown.
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But was this play a pageant or a play? Did it actually display history or was it just a showcase of brave Britain as a story. The story of Henry V is not simply an exert from the imagination of William Shakespeare. Many historical details of the play were taken from Raphael Holinshed's the Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland.
Shakespeare also made some references to an anonymous play dating from 1594, The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth. However it is understood that this play was so poor that Shakespeare went to an earlier better version which was the inspiration for the Famous Victories of Henry V.
It has been claimed that some incidents in Henry V can be traced to other specific sources, but it is more likely that Shakespeare had absorbed the ideas from his own wide reading rather than embarking in such thorough research for this play. We know this because of the source material which has been recorded by Shakespeare.
He has recorded the following source material from Holinshed: The explanation of the Salic law in Act One; In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant, which translates to 'No woman shall succeed in Salic land. The Archbishop of Canterbury's admiration for Henry which is obvious from pages 5 and 7 in which he describes his transformation from a headstrong youth to an admirable king: "The courses of his youth promised it not. The breath no sooner left his father's body But that his wildness, mortified on him, Seemed to die too; yea, at that very moment, Consideration like an angel came And whipped th'offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise, T'envelop and contain celestial spirits. Never was such a sudden scholar made, Never came reformation in a flood With such a heady currance scouring faults; Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, As in this king. " This adoration of the king by the Archbishop was taken from Holinshed. Obviously because the primary storyline in the play is set around Henry it is only natural that Shakespeare ,through research, would try to find out as much about the king's personality as possible and many aspects of Henry were taken from this.
For instance the view of Henry expressed in the Epilogue. "In little room confining mighty men, Mangling by starts the full course of their glory. Small time, but in that small time most greatly lived This star of England. Fortune made his sword By which the world's best garden he achieved, And of it left his son imperial lord. " The view that Henry V was a great king and a "Star of England" was present in Holinshed's Chronicles as was Henry's belief in the justness of his claim to France and his confidence that he was right and any opposition therefore wrong. Henry's religiousness was taken from the chronicles as well.
Shakespeare also used The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth as a historical source. The Source material recorded from this source was: Henry consulted the church on the justice of his claim to the throne of France and asked them how the Salic law applies to France and whether or not it bars his claim (Act One, Scene 2). "My learned lord, we pray you to proceed And justly and religiously unfold Why the law Salic that they have in France Or should or should not bar us in our claim. " In Act one, Scene 2 the council of war is followed by the tennis balls scene.
Charles VI is the leader of the French campaign. The Dauphin thinks that Henry is still young and wild: "And let us do it with no show of fear, No, with no more than if we heard that England Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance. For, my good liege, she is so idly kinged, Her sceptre so fantastically borne By a vain, giddy, shallow humorous youth, That fear attends her not. " Before Agincourt, French soldiers play dice for prisoners. A clown captures a French soldier. The action moves straight from Agincourt to Troyes, from 1415 to 1420. Henry woos Katherine in plain terms.
Shakespeare's Henry V. (2020, Jun 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/shakespeares-henry-v-2503-new-essay
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