Henry V

Question 1

BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
The king is full of grace and fair regard.
BISHOP OF ELY
And a true lover of the holy Church.
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
The courses of his youth promised it not.
The breath no sooner left his father’s body,
But that his wildness, mortified in 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 (1.1.24-32)

Answer 1

According to Canterbury and Ely, Henry V is an excellent king, despite his wild youth. Here, Canterbury compares Henry to Adam (from the Book of Genesis) and suggests that Henry has been redeemed for the sins of his past

Question 2

KING HENRY
My learnèd 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.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your
reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colors with the truth;
For God doth know how many now in health
Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence shall incite us to. (1.2.11-23)

Answer 2

Henry is thinking of claiming the French throne. Here, Henry tells the Archbishop that it will be his fault if Henry starts a big war that can’t be justified. Henry seems reluctant to take responsibility for his actions and decisions.

Question 3

That the land Salic is in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe,
Where Charles the Great, having subdued the
Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women
For some dishonest manners of their life,
Established then this law: to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salic land,

Answer 3

Canterbury gives a long, drawn out speech explaining why he thinks it’s okay for Henry to make a grab for the French throne. Here, he says that the French have been using the Salic Law as an excuse to prevent English kings (like Henry’s great-grandfather King Edward III) from inheriting the French crown. (Salic Law is just the name of a French rule that prevented men from inheriting the crown through a female line. In other words, if a king has a daughter, she can’t inherit the throne and her sons and grandsons can’t inherit it either.) A bunch of French kings have inherited the crown through their mothers’ family lineage, so the Salic Law shouldn’t apply to King Henry V either.

Question 4

KING HENRY
May I with right and conscience make this claim?
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
The sin upon my head, dread sovereign, (1.2.101-102)

Answer 4

Can Henry make a claim to the French throne with “right and conscience”?

Question 5

CAMBRIDGE
For me, the gold of France did not seduce,
Although I did admit it as a motive
The sooner to effect what I intended;
But God be thankèd for prevention,
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,
Beseeching God and you to pardon me. (2.2.162-167)

Answer 5

When it’s discovered that the French have bribed Cambridge, Scrope, and Grey to assassinate King Henry before he can invade France, we’re led to believe that plot is treacherous. Here, though, Cambridge reveals that he took money from France only because he thought it would help him achieve his end goal. [Cambridge supports Edmund Mortimer, who seems to have a better claim to the English throne than Henry V. Remember, Henry V only inherited the throne after his father Henry IV usurped the crown from Richard II (Richard II, 4.1). Also, Mortimer is the great-grandson of Edward III’s third son, while Henry, on the other hand, is the grandson of Edward III’s fourth son.]

Question 6

KING HENRY
There’s for thy labor, Montjoy.
Gives money.
Go bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hindered,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolor. And so, Montjoy, fare you well.
The sum of all our answer is but this:
We would not seek a battle as we are,
Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it.
So tell your master. (3.6.163-171)

Answer 6

Henry’s claim to the French throne may be dubious, but he often comes off as an awesome king. Here, he has the confidence to tip the enemy messenger after the guy delivers a threatening message from France.

Question 7

KING HENRY
I think the King is but a
man, as I am. The violet smells to him as it doth to
me. The element shows to him as it doth to me. All
his senses have but human conditions. His ceremonies
laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man,
and though his affections are higher mounted than
ours, yet when they stoop, they stoop with the like
wing. Therefore when he sees reason of fears as we
do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as
ours are. Yet, in reason, no man should possess him
with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it,
should dishearten his army. (4.1.105-116)

Answer 7

Disguised as a common soldier, King Henry walks among his troops the night before battle and delivers a speech that reveals his isolation. Here, he tries really hard to convince us that he’s just a “man” like everybody else. The fact that he’s running around in a disguise so he can hang out with his troops like a regular Joe suggests that Henry longs for the human connection he enjoyed with Falstaff and company (back in Henry IV Part 1). The moral? It’s lonely at the top.

Question 8

BATES
Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we
know enough, if we know we are the king’s subjects.
If his cause be wrong, our obedience to the
king wipes the crime of it out of us.
WILLIAMS
But if the cause be not good, the King
himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all
those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a
battle, shall join together at the latter day, and cry
all ‘We died at such a place,’ some swearing, some
crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left
poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe,
some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard
there are few die well that die in a battle, for how
can they charitably dispose of anything, when blood
is their argument? Now, if these men do not die
well, it will be a black matter for the king that led
them to it, who to disobey were against all proportion
of subjection. (4.1.134-151)

Answer 8

Not everyone is on board with Henry’s war. As Bates and Williams point out, most of the common soldiers don’t even know if the king is justified in invading France. Bates says he doesn’t even want to know if the king is wrong because he’s powerless to do anything about it. Williams delivers the most crushing accusation when he says that Henry is ultimately responsible for sending his soldiers to their deaths.

Question 9

KING HENRY
So, if a son that is by his father sent about
merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea,
the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule,
should be imposed upon his father that sent him. (4.1.152-155)

Answer 9

This is Henry’s response to Williams’ claim that the king is responsible for the deaths of his soldiers. Here, he compares kingship to fatherhood in order to shirk responsibility (once again).

Question 10

KING HENRY
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. O hard condition,
Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath
Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel
But his own wringing. What infinite heart’s ease
Must kings neglect that private men enjoy? (4.1.238-245)

Answer 10

When Henry complains that being king means that he never gets to relax, we’re reminded of something his father said back in Henry IV Part 2: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” (3.1.31). In other words, kingship is a heavy burden.

Question 11

KING HENRY
Not today, O Lord,
O, not today, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown.
I Richard’s body have interrèd new
And on it have bestowed more contrite tears
Than from it issued forcèd drops of blood.
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay
Who twice a day their withered hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood. And I have built
Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard’s soul. More will I do—
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon. (4.1.303-316)

Answer 11

Henry is feeling guilty about the fact that he inherited the crown from a father who stole it from Richard II. Here, Henry asks God to forgive him for his father’s sins and says that he’s spent years trying to atone for Henry IV’s sins.

Question 12

KING HENRY
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his
Hath turned his balls to gun-stones,
[…]
Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on,
To venge me as I may and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallowed cause.
So get you hence in peace. And tell the Dauphin
His jest will savour but of shallow wit
When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.—
Convey them with safe conduct.—Fare you well. (1.2.292-294; 304-310

Answer 12

This is where Henry officially declares that he’s going to invade France (after the Dauphin mocks Henry by sending him a boatload of tennis balls). What’s interesting (and also kind of scary) about this speech is the way Henry says he’s going turn the tennis balls to cannons and destroy France in a deadly match. We also notice here that Henry sees himself as God’s avenger, which is an idea that will surface throughout the play.

Question 13

KING HENRY
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. . .

Answer 13

Here, Henry urges his men into battle with the famous rally cry, “Once more into the breach dear friends, once more.” (A “breach” is just a gap in the fortifications – the English have just blasted a hole in the town’s walls.) What’s compelling about this speech is the way Henry declares that fighting against the French will ennoble the English troops, even if they’re “of grosser blood” (commoners) than the noblemen who serve as their commanders. By telling his men that each of them has a “noble lustre” in their eyes, his strategy is to compel his troops to fight bravely. For the most part, Henry’s battle cry works. Most of the troops are pumped up enough to rush forward, forcing the Governor of Harfleur to surrender the town.

Question 14

BOY
Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would
give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety. (3.2.13-14)

Answer 14

Henry’s rousing speech to his troops (see above) doesn’t seem to have the desired effect on Bardolph, Pistol, Nim, or the unnamed Boy who says here that he wishes he was back in London at a bar. Is Shakespeare suggesting that these men and the young boy are cowards? Or, is he suggesting that they’re right to want to be at home in the safety of a favorite hangout

Question 15

MACMORRIS
It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save
me. The day is hot, and the weather, and the wars,
and the King, and the dukes. It is no time to
discourse. The town is beseeched. An the trumpet
call us to the breach and we talk and, be Chrish, do
nothing, ‘tis shame for us all. So God sa’ me, ‘tis
shame to stand still. It is shame, by my hand. And
there is throats to be cut, and works to be done,
and there ish nothing done, so Christ sa’ me, la. (3.2.107-115)

Answer 15

Bardolph, Pistol, and Nim aren’t the only ones who are reluctant to avoid the fighting. Here, three Captains (Fluellen, MacMorris, and Gower) stand around chitchatting about the art of war… while the other soldiers do all the dirty work of charging into the “breach.” Even after MacMorris says it’s a “shame” for them to be standing around instead of fighting, nobody does anything. So, what’s the difference, if any, between Bardolph’s low-life pals and the professional military captains we see here?

Question 16

KING HENRY
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ (3.1.36-37)

Answer 16

Like we said, Henry insists that God is on his side during his campaign against France, which makes it easy for him to justify the invasion. Here, he aligns himself (“Harry”) with God and England’s Patron Saint (George).

Question 17

KING HENRY
If I begin the battery once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
Till in her ashes she lie burièd.
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,
And the fleshed 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 flow’ring infants.
What is it then to me if impious war,
Arrayed in flames like to the prince of fiends,
Do with his smirched complexion all fell feats
Enlinked to waste and desolation?

Answer 17

Here, King Henry V warns the Governor of Harfleur that if he doesn’t surrender immediately, the English soldiers will probably rape the town’s virgins, smash in the heads of old men, and impale all the newborns on spikes. What does this speech say about King Henry? For some, this speech is simply evidence that Henry is a brilliant military strategist and orator. By conjuring up images of horrific violence, Henry convinces the Governor to surrender and avoids more bloodshed in Harfleur.

For others, this speech speaks to the atrocities of war. According to actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Henry’s “threatening speech to the Governor of Harfleur offers a graphic reminder of the violent reality of medieval warfare at its most desperate” (source). Branagh’s take on this speech can be seen in his 1989 film adaptation of Henry V, which goes out of its way to portray the gritty realities of the Battle of Agincourt.

Question 18

KING HENRY
We would have all such offenders so cut
off: and we give express charge, that in our marches
through the country, there be nothing compelled
from the villages, nothing taken but paid for,
none of the French upbraided or abused in disdainful
language; for when lenity and cruelty play
for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest
winner. (3.6.109-116)

Answer 18

There are a few ways to read this speech. On the one hand, this passage supports the idea that Henry’s previous speech about virgins getting raped and babies getting impaled (see above) was just a savvy tactic to get the Governor to surrender Harfleur to the English troops. Here, Henry forbids his soldiers from pillaging the French town or “abus[ing]” the French people in any way, which suggests that he’s not a ruthless war monger. On the other hand, Henry’s anti-looting stance can be seen as just another smart political strategy: “When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentle gamester is the soonest winner.” We should also point out that Henry’s seemingly benevolent attitude toward the French shifts later on, when he orders his troops to kill all the French war prisoners.

Question 19

KING HENRY
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. (4.3.62-69)

Answer 19

This is the most famous passage in the play and one of the most famous speeches of all time. Before the Battle of Agincourt, Henry declares that, if his troops fight alongside him, they will become his “band of brothers.” This line in particular is often embraced as a statement about the strength of bonds that are forged in combat.

Question 20

KING HENRY
But hark, what new alarum is this same?
The French have reinforced their scattered men.
Then every soldier kill his prisoners.
Give the word through. (4.7.36-39)

Answer 20

Here, Henry gives orders for his troops to kill all of the French war prisoners. Some critics and audiences see this as evidence that Henry is a monster. Others point out that this move is simply par for the course in medieval style warfare.

Question 21

KING HENRY
If
thou would have such a one, take me. And take me,
take a soldier. Take a soldier, take a king. And what
sayest thou then to my love? Speak, my fair, and
fairly, I pray thee. (5.2.171-175)

Answer 21

Why does Henry try to pass himself off a simple soldier when he tries to woo Catherine? (We already know that he’s anything but.) As Henry insists over and over again in this scene that he’s a “soldier,” we begin to think that he approaches his pursuit of Catherine with the same kind of dogged determinism that he approaches warfare.

Question 22

BISHOP OF CANTEBURY
Look back into your mighty ancestors.
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire’s tomb,
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit
And your great-uncle’s, Edward the Black Prince,
Who on the French ground played a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France,
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling to behold his lion’s whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full Pride of France
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work and cold for action! (1.2.107-119)

Answer 22

When Canterbury and Ely urge Henry to channel his ancestors and “forage in blood of the French nobility,” it’s pretty clear that they think it’s Henry’s patriotic duty to declare war on France.

Question 23

BISHOP OF CANTEBURY
She hath been then more feared than harmed, my
liege,
For hear her but exampled by herself:
When all her chivalry hath been in France
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended
But taken and impounded as a stray
The King of Scots, whom she did send to France
To fill King Edward’s fame with prisoner kings
And make her chronicle as rich with praise
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wreck and sunless treasuries. (1.2.161-172)

Answer 23

Henry worries that invading France will leave England’s borders vulnerable to attack from outsiders. After all, when Henry’s great-grandfather led a campaign on foreign soil, England was invaded by their neighbours, the Scottish. Canterbury’s response is that England was hardly threatened by the Scots. In fact, she took the Scottish king prisoner, which was quite a feather in her cap. In other words, Canterbury says that England’s been racking up successful military campaigns left and right, making the country rich with the “treasures” of victory.

Question 24

KING HENRY
But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal, and in whose name
Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on,
To venge me as I may and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallowed cause. (1.2.302-306)

Answer 24

Henry frequently declares that God is on his side. Here, he warns the Dauphin (via the Messenger) that, when he invades France, he’s coming as God’s avenger.

Question 25

KING HENRY
On, on, you noblest English,
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof,
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument.
Dishonor not your mothers. Now attest
That those whom you called fathers did beget you.

Answer 25

Remember when Canterbury and Ely told Henry that he should invade France for his country’s (and his family’s) honour? Well, here, Henry uses the same tactic to motivate his soldiers.

Question 26

KING HENRY

Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ (3.1.37)

Answer 26

It doesn’t get more patriotic than this. When Henry declares that God is “for England,” we’re reminded that national pride and religious zeal go hand in hand in this play.

Question 27

KING HENRY
I dare say you love him not so ill to wish
him here alone, howsoever you speak this to feel
other men’s minds: methinks I could not die anywhere
so contented as in the king’s company, his
cause being just and his quarrel honorable.
WILLIAMS
That’s more than we know. (4.1.128-133)

Answer 27

When Henry (disguised as a common soldier) attempts to justify his invasion of France, Williams replies with much scepticism: “That’s more than we know.” In other words, Williams doesn’t necessarily buy into Henry’s patriotic call to arms but concedes that it’s not his place to criticize the king.

Question 28

KING HENRY
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. (4.3.62-69)



Answer 28

Henry suggests that it’s a privilege for his troops to fight by his side, even if they wind up dead. The king’s strategy for rallying his troops seems to boil down to this: everyone who stayed at home is going to be so jealous! Plus, they’ll feel like a bunch of wimps for not getting their battle on.

Question 29

KING HENRY
My people are with sickness much enfeebled,
My numbers lessened, and those few I have
Almost no better than so many French,
Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,
I thought upon one pair of English legs
Did march three Frenchmen. Yet forgive me, God,
That I do brag thus. This your air of France
Hath blown that vice in me. I must repent.
Go therefore, tell thy master: here I am.

Answer 29

As the English troops prepare to fight at Agincourt, they are serious underdogs because they’re exhausted, sick, and completely outnumbered. When Henry’s army emerges virtually unscathed, the victory is that much more compelling. It’s obvious that Shakespeare meant for the play to instil his audience with a sense of national pride.

Question 30

KING HENRY

Then every soldier kill his prisoners (4.6.38)

Answer 30

Is this the act of a noble king or a cold war monger? Is Shakespeare criticizing Henry? You decide.

Question 31

FLUELLEN
By Jeshu, I am your majesty’s countryman,
I care not who know it. I will confess it to all the
‘orld. I need not to be ashamed of your Majesty,
praised be God, so long as your majesty is an
honest man. (4.7.117-121)

Answer 31

When the Welsh Captain Fluellen declares that he is proud to be Henry’s countrymen (Henry was born in Wales), we’re reminded that Shakespeare tries to unite all of the country’s of Britain into one cohesive nation. (This is why he portrays Captains from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and England fighting together in Henry’s army.)

Question 32

HOSTESS
By my troth, he’ll yield the crow a pudding
one of these days. The King has killed his heart.
Good husband, come home presently. (2.1.85-87)



Answer 32

Shakespeare brings Mistress Quickly back for a few more good times in Henry V, but he doesn’t let her live long. (Toward the end of the play, we learn that she, like Falstaff, has died from a venereal disease. This follows on the heels of the news that both Bardolph and Nim have been hanged for stealing.) Why does Shakespeare kill off so many of his low-brow characters from Eastcheap in this play? Is it because they’re too rowdy and disruptive? Is Shakespeare worried that they’ll detract from Henry’s serious war campaign? Something else?

Question 33

BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain,
His companies unlettered, rude, and shallow,
His hours filled up with riots, banquets, sports,
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity. (1.1.56-62)

Answer 33

In the previous passage, we asked why Shakespeare killed off so many of his seedy Eastcheap characters. When we think about how Henry has put the rowdy days of his youth (and his old Eastcheap friends) behind him, it seems like Shakespeare had to get rid of Falstaff, Quickly, Bardolph, and Nim to signal that Henry really has buried his past

Question 34

BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Therefore doth heaven divide 
The state of man in divers functions, 
Setting endeavor in continual motion, 
To which is fixèd as an aim or butt 
Obedience; for so work the honeybees, 
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach 
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

Answer 34

Canterbury’s speech is interesting because the Archbishop uses such vivid imagery to justify the subservient relationship between subjects and their monarch. Here, he makes an analogy between society and a colony of honeybees. Like people, honeybees have a leader (in the Renaissance people thought that queen bees were male) and the rest of the hive works toward a common goal. In other words, Canterbury is arguing that the division of people into various classes is as natural as a hive of bees working together in harmony.

Question 35

KING HENRY
…for,
though I speak it to you, I think the King is but a
man as I am. The violet smells to him as it doth to
me. The element shows to him as it doth to me. All
his senses have but human conditions. His ceremonies
laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man,
and though his affections are higher mounted than
ours, yet when they stoop, they stoop with the like
wing. Therefore, when he sees reason of fears as we
do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as
ours are. Yet, in reason, no man should possess him
with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it,
should dishearten his army. (4.1.104-116)

Answer 35

Here, Henry tries to convince everyone that the “king is but a man,” just like everyone else.

Question 36

WILLIAMS
But if the cause be not good, the King
himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all
those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a
battle, shall join together at the latter day, and cry
all “We died at such a place,” some swearing, some
crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left
poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe,
some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard
there are few die well that die in a battle, for how
can they charitably dispose of anything when blood
is their argument? Now, if these men do not die
well, it will be a black matter for the king that led
them to it, who to disobey were against all proportion
of subjection. (4.1.138-151)



Answer 36

King Henry may view warfare as a way to gain honour and glory but here, Williams reminds us that the commoner soldier is worried about more practical issues, like losing their legs, arms, and heads during battle.

Question 37

KING HENRY
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. (4.3.62-69)

Answer 37

When Henry delivers his famous St. Crispin’s Day speech, he assures his men that, when they fight together in battle, they will become “a band of brothers.” Presumably, this newly forged bond will transcend barriers that have been erected by divisions in social status, since most of Henry’s soldiers are simple “yeoman” (lower in status than gentlemen). Is Henry sincere when he makes this speech? (Henry’s treatment of Williams later in the play suggests that he isn’t.)

Question 38

MONTJOY
No, great King.
I come to thee for charitable license,
That we may wander o’er this bloody field
To book our dead and then to bury them,
To sort our nobles from our common men,
For many of our princes—woe the while!—
Lie drowned and soaked in mercenary blood.
So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs
In blood of princes, and the wounded steeds
Fret fetlock deep in gore, and with wild rage
Yerk out their armèd heels at their dead masters,
Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king,
To view the field in safety and dispose
Of their dead bodies.(4.7.73-86)



Answer 38

Here, we learn that it’s really important to the French that they be able to sift the battlefield in order to separate their dead. (Since they don’t want any dead commoners soaking up the blood of dead noblemen.) The language of this passage is both graphic and disturbing, and it reminds us that rank and nobility are important markers of identity

Question 39

KING HENRY
Where is the number of our English dead?
Herald gives him another paper.
Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk,
Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire;
None else of name, and of all other men
But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here,
And not to us, but to thy arm alone
Ascribe we all! When, without stratagem,
But in plain shock and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss
On one part and on th’ other? Take it, God,
For it is none but thine. (4.8.106-116)



Answer 39

When the English count up the numbers of their casualties, we notice how careful they are to distinguish the deaths of commoners (whose names aren’t even read aloud) from the deaths of noblemen (“men of name”). What’s up with that? We thought they were all supposed to be a noble “band of brothers”?

Question 40

KING HENRY
Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns
And give it to this fellow.—Keep it, fellow,
And wear it for an honor in thy cap
Till I do challenge it.—Give him the crowns.—
And, captain, you must needs be friends with him.
FLUELLEN
By this day and this light, the fellow has
mettle enough in his belly.—Hold, there is twelvepence
for you, and I pray you to serve God and keep
you out of prawls and prabbles and quarrels and
dissensions, and I warrant you it is the better for
you.
WILLIAMS
I will none of your money. (4.8.59-70)



Answer 40

After playing a humiliating joke on a commoner named Williams, King Henry fills his glove with some money and gives it to him as peace offering, which Williams seems to accept. Still, when Fluellen tries to throw some more coins at the problem, Williams is insulted and refuses to accept Captain Fluellen’s money. If Henry wasn’t a king, would Williams’ have taken his money?

Question 41

KING HENRY
It is not a fashion for the maids in France
to kiss before they are married, would she say?
ALICE
Oui, vraiment.
KING HENRY
O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great
kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined
within the weak list of a country’s fashion. We are
the makers of manners, Kate, and the liberty that
follows our places stops the mouth of all find-faults,
as I will do yours for upholding the nice fashion of
your country in denying me a kiss. Therefore,
patiently and yielding. (5.2.276-286)

Answer 41

According to Henry, Catherine doesn’t have to live by the same rules that other young women live by because she’s royalty.