Henry V Theme

Power

Shakespeare's history plays are obsessed with royal power, especially the question of who has a right to rule and why. Should the throne be inherited by an eldest son? Can anyone just come along and take it by force if they feel like it? In this particular play, the English King Henry V makes a sketchy claim to the French throne and goes to war in order to secure his position as France's next king. Meanwhile, his claim to the English throne is being called into question by those who think he's doesn't have a legal claim to the crown. (After all, Henry only inherited it after his dad stole it away from Richard II.) In Henry V, Shakespeare also considers what it is that makes a good king and admits that, sometimes, being a successful monarch often involves being a not-so-nice person.

 The Ruthlessness of the Good King

In presenting the figure of its heroic yet ruthless protagonist, Henry V’s predominant concern is the nature of leadership and its relationship to morality. The play proposes that the qualities that define a good ruler are not necessarily the same qualities that define a good person. Henry is an extraordinarily good leader: he is intelligent, focused, and inspiring to his men. He uses any and all resources at his disposal to ensure that he achieves his goals. Shakespeare presents Henry’s charismatic ability to connect with his subjects and motivate them to embrace and achieve his goals as the fundamental criterion of good leadership, making Henry seem the epitome of a good leader. By inspiring his men to win the Battle of Agincourt despite overwhelming odds, Henry achieves heroic status.
But in becoming a great king, Henry is forced to act in a way that, were he a common man, might seem immoral and even unforgivable. In order to strengthen the stability of his throne, Henry betrays friends such as Falstaff, and he puts other friends to death in order to uphold the law. While it is difficult to fault Henry for having Scrope killed, since Scrope was plotting to assassinate him, Henry’s cruel punishment of Bardolph is less understandable, as is his willingness to threaten the gruesome murder of the children of Harfleur in order to persuade the governor to surrender. Henry talks of favoring peace, but once his mind is settled on a course of action, he is willing to condone and even create massive and unprovoked violence in order to achieve his goal.
Shakespeare’s portrayal of the king shows that power complicates the traditional distinctions between heroism and villainy, so that to call Henry one or the other constitutes an oversimplification of the issue. As Henry himself comments, the massive responsibilities laid on the shoulders of a king render him distinct from all other people, and the standards that can be brought to bear in judging a king must take that distinction into account. A king, in Shakespeare’s portrayal, is responsible for the well-being and stability of his entire nation; he must subordinate his personal feelings, desires, dislikes, and even conscience wholly to this responsibility. Perhaps, then, the very nature of power is morally ambiguous, which would account for the implicit critique of Henry’s actions that many contemporary readers find in the play. But within the framework of judgment suggested by the play, there is no doubt that Henry is both a great king and a hero.

The Diversity of the English

The play opens with the Chorus reminding the audience that the few actors who will appear onstage represent thousands of their countrymen, and, indeed, the characters who appear in Henry V encompass the range of social classes and nationalities united under the English crown during Henry’s reign. The play explores this breadth of humanity and the fluid, functional way in which the characters react to cultural differences, which melt or rupture depending on the situation.
The catalog of characters from different countries both emphasizes the diversity of medieval England and intensifies the audience’s sense of Henry’s tremendous responsibility to his nation. For a play that explores the nature of absolute political power, there is something remarkably democratic in this enlivening portrayal of rich and poor, English and Welsh, Scottish and Irish, as their roles intertwine in the war effort and as the king attempts to give them direction and momentum.
Interestingly, this disparate group of character types is not unanimous in supporting Henry. Many of them do admire the king, but other intelligent and courageous men, such as Michael Williams, distrust his motives. It is often seen as a measure of Henry’s integrity that he is able to tolerate Williams’s type of dissent with magnanimity, but the range of characters in the play would seem to imply that his tolerance is also expedient. With so many groups of individuals to take into account, it would be unrealistic of Henry to expect universal support—another measure of pressure added to his shoulders. In this way, the play’s exploration of the people of Britain becomes an important facet of the play’s larger exploration of power. As the play explores the ruler, it also examines the ruled.

Warfare

In Henry V, Shakespeare dramatizes England's invasion of France and King Henry's success at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). Does the play glorify war and justify Henry's actions, or does it reveal the horrific realities of medieval warfare? These are questions that often divide audiences and literary critics, but there's plenty of evidence to support both views. Shakespeare portrays a wide range of attitudes in the play – from Henry's aggressive stance that war will bring England honor and glory, to the common soldiers' skeptical obedience and desire to simply make it home safely. Regardless of whether or not we believe Shakespeare glorifies Henry's invasion of France, one thing is certain – Henry V shows us that warfare (justifiable or not) has some devastating consequences that go beyond the horrific field casualties to generations of families: "the widows' tears, the orphans' cries, / The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans, / For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers" (2.4.2).

Patriotism

Henry V is one of the most patriotic works of art we've ever come across. The play is chock-full of rousing speeches that have been carefully crafted to portray the English troops as underdogs that overcome overwhelming odds to achieve victory over the French. What's more, Henry maintains that God is on his side, and he insists that fighting the French is a matter of national pride and honor throughout the play. At the same time, Shakespeare also registers a lot of skepticism about Henry's decision to declare war on France and he portrays several English characters in an unflattering light.

Family

This may be a big war play concerned with foreign affairs and national politics, but there's also a whole lot of family drama in Henry V. After all, both the English and French crowns are supposed to be inherited by lineal succession. (Lineal succession is a fancy way of saying that sons are supposed to inherit the throne from their dads.) It makes a lot of sense that the play is obsessed with all types of things that get passed down from fathers to sons – from entire kingdoms to character traits (like bravery and valor). In some cases, sons even inherit the burdens of their fathers' sins. Shakespeare also shows us how fragile family ties can be. During times of war, parents mourn for their lost sons, children are made into orphans, and wives are turned to grieving widows.

Gender

When Henry V affectionately calls his troops his "band of brothers," it's pretty clear that Shakespeare is mostly interested in male bonds – particularly the kinds of close-knit relationships that are forged among soldiers on the battlefield. Yet, despite the emphasis on male relationships, Henry V's triumphant ending hinges on the fact that Henry gets hitched to the French princess, Catherine, a hook-up that's been designed to unite the kingdoms of France and England. Because it's a union that's been negotiated as part of England's peace treaty with France, the value of this male-female relationship is the fact that it forges a political alliance, not an emotional connection based on love or affection.

Art and Culture

Henry V is one of Shakespeare's most self-conscious plays. Each time the Chorus steps out on stage to set the scene for us, we're asked to pardon the theater's inability to accurately portray historical events (like Battle of Agincourt, the siege of Harfleur, and Henry's journey across the English Channel). After all, it's impossible for a tiny theater stage to "hold the vastly fields of France" or the thousands of troops and horses that marched across the battlefields. Time and time again, the Chorus suggests that the audience must labor alongside the actors (and soldiers). By using our imaginations, we, the audience, are responsible for bringing Shakespeare's play to life. The fact that Shakespeare sees his play as an interactive experience is pretty cool, don't you think?

Society and Class

In Henry V, Shakespeare knows that common soldiers experience war differently than the king and the nobility. After all, they're the ones who bear much of the burden of war and, if a battle is lost, they're likely to be killed while the king may be ransomed and his life spared. When Henry V orders his troops to invade France, his soldiers, many of whom are commoners, have no choice but to obey orders. They may not like it, and they may wish that they were back at home with their families or with friends at a favorite tavern, but their options are pretty limited. As a soldier named Williams puts it, "to disobey were against all proportion of subjection" (4.1.23).

Memory and the Past

Because it's the final play in a four-play cycle, Henry V is always looking over its shoulder (into the historical past and also into the plays that have gone before it). At times, Shakespeare's characters are haunted by their pasts. (Henry must answer for his wild youth and feels compelled to beg God's forgiveness for his father's mistakes.) As Henry looks forward into his future as the King of England (and potentially the King of France), he forges ahead at the expense of leaving old friends (like Falstaff) behind in his wake. Of course, Shakespeare's preoccupation with the past also means that the play is full of shout-outs to the earlier history plays, Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, and Henry IV Part 2.