Henry V Comment Upon the Term Paper

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/ 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." (3.1. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.3.1.html)

This growing awareness of the different demands of wartime in contrast to peacetime, and the demands of hardness it makes upon a man shows that the king is capable of learning through experience, and he has begun to realize that war is not a game. When Henry is leading his men, he also realizes that he cannot show fear, despair, or weakness -- as early illustrated in his weathering of French diplomacy. This characteristic is sharpened before his experiences leading common men in the field, while it was before only shown before aristocrats whose esteem he was trying to win, and show his current contrast to his old reputation. In fact, towards the French enemy, the king is willing to be outright bloodthirsty in rhetoric and posturing when he wishes to win an objective and tactical city and show his resolve before his fighting English legions: "And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart, / in liberty of bloody hand shall range/With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass/Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants. / What is it then to me, if impious war," he shouts to the town of Hafleur (3.3. http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.3.3.html)

In moments of respite, or when speaking to men whom he trusts Henry clearly is not as confident and single-minded as the image he presents to the common, fighting or diplomatic and aristocratic world. "We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs," he says, showing his religious side. (3.6.

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(http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.3.6.html) and before the battle of Agincourt, Henry is clearly cognizant of the potential damage he may do to England and to his poorly armed, tired, and dispirited soldiers. "Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls, / Our debts, our careful wives, / Our children and our sins lay on the king! We must bear all." (4.1. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.4.1.html)

Henry is aware, over the course of the play, how the burden of kingship is a heavy one, although he must show a brave face when losses seem inevitable. "If we are mark'd to die, we are enow/to do our country loss; and if to live, / the fewer men, the greater share of honour. / God's will!" (4.3. (http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/henryv.4.3.html) True, Henry is emotional enough to ensure that all French prisoners are killed, when he is enraged, during battle -- but when wooing Katherine, he is reflective enough to admit that so much war has hardened his skin, literally and figuratively. Thus, Henry always is a changing character -- growing sober about war, and his own hardness as a man, but always willing to rally for common English people in the name of the land of England, his own name, and the need for his land and his authority to seem strong in a harsh world.

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