Henry V

I am coming to a crucial bit in my Henry V book and am troubled. I have read about many English Kings now, some I like, some I don't, but I have tried to understand them all so that I may make my own opinion on their cause and justifications.

I like Henry V, well at least I want to, but I do not believe in his cause. (Image Credit: Silva Animation)

I have always liked my warrior/ battle stories, and reading about a battle can be incredibly exciting when you believe in the perpetrator; when you don't it is a sad tale of events that wreak havoc on thousands of peoples lives, like a wave of suffering and destruction; and if there was one thing they knew how to do in medieval times it was make people suffer! I think Henry's cause is misguided and believe him intelligent enough to have been able to change the course of events if he had considered the bigger picture and believed in himself. 

Perhaps I am wrong; perhaps given his Father's unorthodox route to Kingship he would always be driven to seek proof of his right to rule; which I believe is much of his incentive for the war on France.

I have not read Shakespeare's Henry V but am familiar with some of the quotations, which I have looked up this morning, and some of his other notable quotations have sprung to mind also. They all make me very sad.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage;

Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.'

(Henry V 3.1.1)

'I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit; and , upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry! England and Saint George!'
(Henry V 3.1.31)

This one is not from Henry V but came into my head as I have recently learned what it meant to 'Cry Havoc' in medieval battle times. The phrase was a signal to the soldiers to plunder and wreak chaos. 

Marcus Antonius:

'And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.'

(Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 1)

And lastly, I leave you with the quote that popped in there first thing and was the impetus for this post.

Methinks I could not die any where so contented as in the King's company, his cause being just and his quarrel honourable.

(Henry V 4.1)

In Shakespeare's Henry V, the King dons the clothes of a soldier so as to walk un-recognised amongst his men on the eve of battle. He speaks this line to two soldiers and, given my opinion of his cause and quarrel, I think it is something only Henry V himself could say.