Henry V

Henry V is considered one of Shakespeare's most regarded works. The play itself is centered around many different characters notably King Henry, who was determined and driven to be perfect. Perhaps where Henry V shines it in the presentation of its themes. Henry V allows Shakespeare to contextualize a variety of themes including the role of a king and how that plays out throughout the entire text.

Henry V is an interesting king, to say the least. The reader could consider him a good ruler who is smart and focused. Shakespeare paints Henry V as a commendable individual whose kingship is put to the test when he must betray his friends in order to preserve the law of the land. It seems that Henry V performs acts that are unsettling such as when he threatens ethnic cleansing and to murder the children in Hafleur in Act III, Scene III when he says "while yet my soldiers are in my command; whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace, o'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds of heady murder, spoil and villany. If not, why in a moment look to see, the blind and bloody soldier with fould hand, defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters; your fathers taken by the silver beards, and their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls, your naked infants spitted upon pikes" (Shakespeare). Here Henry V is utilizing his power and threatening the governor. It is a prime example of Shakespeare's unashamedly display of the degrees and lengths that Henry V went to in order to exercise his power as king.

Another example of Henry V's exercise of his kingship is when he decides to go war. Shakespeare seeks to show the contradictions Henry V has about going to war - even though it was something that needed to be done when he states in Act I, Scene II when he states that his "rightful hand in a well-hallowed cause" and adds that "this lies all within the will of God" (Shakespeare). With this particular scene, Shakespeare is acknowledging that Henry V felt justified in going to war even though later Shakespeare has to the chorus state that "the offer likes not" (Act IV, Scene III) indicating that while there was justification for war, Henry V did not feel it was right because there was a non-king side to him as well. Shakespeare explores the intertwinement of the king's interactions with the soldiers as well as giving a nod to the tremendous undertaking that a man goes through in being a king.

The theme of kingship and its many vicissitudes is one of the most fascinating aspects of Henry V and more or less Shakespeare’s writing in general. Henry V brilliantly captures the essence of power and its multifold influence on the psychology of man.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Henry V." Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/.