Dr Kat and Shakespeare's Henry V

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and I'm dr. cat and no doubt the title for this video is a bit of a clue about what we're talking about today we're looking at another play by William Shakespeare this is one of his history plays dealing with the life and times of King Henry the fifth of England I want to look at this play by Shakespeare within its historical and performative context and I hope you're going to find it useful let's go to start with let's look at where the play henry v sits within the timeline of William Shakespeare's other dramatic works what I'm showing you here is a contested kraji of William Shakespeare's extant plays and I say contested because even now there is disagreement over the precise date or year when some of these plays were written and produced I am using the Norton Shakespeare's timeline from the second edition other people disagree usually only by a couple of years at the most when some of these plays were first produced for me and many others the Norton Shakespeare is a reputable version of the complete works of William Shakespeare therefore its timeline as far as I'm concerned is as good as any other on the market it may not be perfect but then I would say we're not going to know for sure either way William Shakespeare's history plays which of course includes henry v come from a similar root source holland heads chronicles which i did make a video on for this channel and i will be sure to leave linked in a card up here however i do think we need to be a little bit careful about terming something as a history play while all of the things that are grouped as history plays have a source code from holland heads chronicles there are other plays in the shakespeare canon that also use the chronicles as a source namely Macbeth Cymbeline and King Lear but these plays are excluded from the history plays despite the fact that they are based on the real historical from British history but it's not Shakespeare's grouping is it the history plays the tragedies and the comedies have been grouped up by heavy and konso when they were formatting and putting together William Shakespeare's First Folio after his death the first folio wasn't printed until 1623 and I've made a video on the first folio which I'll also leave linked in a card up here so I want to try something a little bit different on this channel and I'm not sure how it's going to work so you'll have to let me know what you think in the comment section down below but I want to try to get interactive and do a pop quiz so what I'm going to do is pull up that contested kranji that I had up at the start of this video once again but I've made a slight change you can see here I have highlighted the so-called history plays those that are grouped as such in the first folio by hemming in Condell in a moment I'm going to ask you to pause this video so we can figure out just how familiar you are with England's monarchs because what I want you to do is put these monarchs in their correct historical order by rain now spoiler alert this is different from the date order in which the plays about them were first presented after you hit pause make a note of the correct order that you think these monitor aimed in and then once you're done hit play again now press pause is the correct kranji of shakespeare's monarchs from his history plays as grouped in the first folio how many did you get right did you get them all right let me know in the comment section down below you may notice that there is something odd going on with Henry the sixth shakespeare's played from 1591 but as you can see it says here that Henry the sixth reigned from 14 22 to 1461 and then again from 1472 1471 perhaps you know what's going on there when we look at this timeline and we think about Henry the sick we are forced to question what right to rule means what happens when physical might Trump's manoa right is divine right absolute and what does mean if a rebel rises up and then is successful defeats a monarch in battle ends their life and becomes monarch in their place is this proof of their right to rule God has favored them in battle so therefore they are rightful king William Shakespeare is staging the lives and deaths of these monarchs arguably therefore he is posing similar questions to his audiences nevertheless he is doing so in many cases centuries after the events themselves took place but the questions are however pertinent and I ones and what it means to ask these questions in 1599 the year but Henry the fifth is believed to have been written and performed let's look at the historical context of 1599 in English history here we have the coronation portrait of Elizabeth the first it shows the Queen crowned wearing the cloth of gold that she wore at her coronation on the 15th of January 1559 this garment had previously been worn for the coronation of her elder half-sister Mary the first Elizabeth holds the orb and scepter symbols of her authority the portrait is dated to around 1600 but is probably a copy of a loss original from the time of the coronation in 1559 so this portrait is being painted within a year we think of henry v first being staged by william shakespeare's company in 1599 elizabeth the first has been on the throne for 41 years she is the unmarried Virgin Queen of England as such she has no heir and by this point even her staunchest supporters must have come to terms with the fact that she was unlikely to produce any heir she is in her 66th year and indeed would only live for four more years she died on the 24th of March 1603 I have chosen to place beside this portrait of Elizabeth at her coronation an image of one of her leading favourites probably painted to celebrate his role in the accession Day tilt of 1595 this is because he is depicted wearing such elaborately fine armor what we are seeing here is an image of Robert Devereux the 33 year old 2nd Earl of Essex in 1598 he had committed the great faux pas of losing his temper and turning his back on his Queen the following year the year of Henry the fifth in 1599 he had managed to gain Elizabeth's forgiveness she made him Lord left hadn't've Island and tasked him with putting down an Irish rebellion between 1593 and 1603 was a period known as the nine years war in Ireland also called Tyrone's rebellion after Hugh O'Neill Earl of Tyrone its ringleader the expectation was that as Lord left hand of Ireland Essex would go over and sort it all out returned Ireland to obedience to the English Queen at home a swift victory for the English was expected to be led by this dashing young military hero this national hope and expectation finds its voice arguably in the prologue to act 5 of Henry v the mayor and all his brethren in best sort like to the Senators of the antique Rome with the plebeian swarming at their heels go forth and fetch their conquering Caesar in as by a lower loving likelihood were now the general of our gracious Empress as in good time he may from Ireland coming bringing rebellion broached on his sword how many would the peaceful City quits to welcome him much more and much more cause did they this Harry in this Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex is being linked with Henry the fifth and also therefore with Caesar Elizabeth is the Empress William Shakespeare is pointing out through his play that the expectation is that like a conquering hero like Caesar or Henry v Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex will return to England with Irish rebellion broke his sword in true service of his great Empress Queen Elizabeth the first as it would turn out however Essex his force was underfunded and what money there was the Earl of Essex misspent without royal permission Essex made a peace with Tyrone knighted his officers and returned to England perhaps understandably the aging Queen Elizabeth was furious and she was determined to punish Essex banishing him from her presence and denying him access to his monopolies the things that earned him his fortune all of this eventually would lead up to the Essex rebellion indeed it was only just around the corner and would occur on the 8th of February 1601 indeed the ties between Shakespeare's company and the Essex faction would also be evident the night before this rebellion took place I talk about it in my video on Shakespeare's play which is the second which I will also leave links in a cart Shakespeare Company was paid extra to stage which of the second with the band deposition scene left in the night before this rebellion was to take place the play was staged at the globe upon hearing of the staging of this play Elizabeth the first allegedly claimed I am Richard the second know ye not that but how was the figure of Henry the fifth being remembered at the time of Shakespeare's play here we have items that for many centuries were known as King Harry the fifths armour and war equipment they functioned as his funeral achievements from his tomb in Westminster Abbey for those seeking a day's entertainments in London in 1599 it's highly likely that Westminster Abbey might be one of their first ports of call once inside surely the tomb of that great war hero henry v would be top of their list there they would see these funeral achievements if they had more time to kill maybe they would make their way to Southwark it's the newly erected Globe Theatre also built in 1599 and there they could enjoy seeing that very same King have his life and victory staged not to be a spoilsport but in recent years the provenance of these items and their connection to Henry the faith has been questioned take for example the lime wood shield which has a small section of crimson velvet remaining on the inner side which bear the arms of Navarre Joan of Navarre was Henry the fifth stepmother so the argument has been made that rather than being Henry the fifth shield this may instead have belonged to Henry the fourth additionally if we look at the helm this probably didn't go with Henry the fifth to a shank or this five Section domed helm is about 16 inches high it has an applied decoration band of copper alloy around the bottom edge it is rather than a war helm a jousting or tilting helm it would not have been worn into battle also the sword found in the Abbey in 1869 tantalizingly it has the cross of st. George in the pommel for many years it was thought to be part of a funeral armor however more recent research has shown that this sword was much later than the time of Henry the fifth probably close to the time of Henry the seventh but nobody would have known this in 1599 they would have been able to see the two of Henry the fifth and whatever funeral Cheeseman t' was on display around it they would have seen these things and connected them to the great English victories in France Henry the fifth was England's warrior king so perhaps he makes a particularly fitting figure for Shakespeare's company to stage as they had their own celebration in 1599 namely the opening of their brand-new theatre in Southwark the globe and if we look at the prologue to the play henry v it is clear that making reference to their new theatre is high on the agenda they might be quite deprecating of its capacity to show this splendor of the warfare Henry the fifth but I think that by mentioning it at all they are drawing connections with celebrating Henry the fifth and breaking their new theater let's look at it Oh for a muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention a kingdom for a stage Prince's to act and monarchs to behold the swelling scene then should the warlike Harry like himself assume the port of Mars and at his heels leashed in like hounds should famine sword and fire crouch for employment but pardon and gentles all the flat unraised spirits that have dared on this unworthy scaffold to bring forth so great an object can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France or may we cram within this wooden o the very casks that did affright the air at ashen core oh pardon since a crooked figure may attest in little place a million and let us ciphers to this great account on your Imaginary Forces work suppose when the girdle of these walls are now confined to mighty monarchies whose high upreared and abutting fronts the perilous narrow ocean parts asunder piece out our imperfections with your thoughts into a thousand parts divided on man and make imaginary prescence think when we talk of horses that you see them printing their proud hoots in the receiving earth fort is your thoughts that now must deck our kings carry them here and there jumping our times turning the accomplishment of many years into an hourglass for the whip supply admit me chorus to this history who prologue like your humble patience pray gently to hear kindly to judge our play evidently through this prologue the globe is being questioned can this small circular space ever pay a fitting tribute to stage the great events that it plans to when it details the life and triumphs of henry v and his england however it's not just the globe that's being questioned I think that within this play Henry v himself is being queried his personality and his legacy the man and the king are not always being lionized by Shakespeare's play if we look at this speech by the DOE far from act 2 scene 4 he talks about how England is so idly Kingd her scepter so fantastically borne by a vain giddy shallow humorous youth that fear attends her not and for those audience members who had encountered the feckless idle youth Prince Hal in the Henry the fourth plays they might have seen that doe fond had a point to make here is Prince Henry the future Henry the fifth speaking in Henry the fourth part 1 act 1 scene 2 he announces the following I know you all and will a while uphold the unyoked humour of your idleness yet herein will I imitate the son who doth permit the base contagious clouds to smother up his beauty from the world but when he please again to be himself being wanted he may be more wondered at by breaking through the foul and ugly mists of vapours that did seem to strangle him if all the year were playing holidays to sport would be as tedious as to work but when they seldom come they wished for come as nothing pleases but rare accidents so when this loose behavior I throw off and pay the debt I never promised by how much better than my word I am by so much shall I falsify men's hopes and like bright metal on a sullen ground my Reformation glittering oh my falls shall show more goodly and attract more eyes than that which had no foil to set it off I'll so offend to make offence a skill redeeming time when men think least I will in Henry for this character of Prince Henry the Future Henry the fair is saying that he will act as poorly as possible intentionally so that when he choose to reform himself it will look better to those who had judged him harshly previously is this really the attitude that we want from a king does this seem like a sensible war leader a monarch who we can place our faith in or is this really a cunning scheme it's Prince Hal a mastermind of sorts by setting himself up as this feckless idle youth he can surprise those around not only his countrymen but his future enemies does this show him as a potentially weak King to be or an incredibly strong and powerful one let me know what you think in the comment section down below do we see traces of the old prince hell in the moment where King Henry puts on a disguise and moved among his soldiers when he has it encounter with Bates court and Williams when conversing particularly with Bates and Williams Henry v is forced to confront the fact that they believe that any king who takes his men into battle is responsible for their immortal souls if he has led them into some sinful act through this combat it is he they believe he must bear the burden when these soldiers part company with their disguised King William Shakespeare makes the choice to stage Henry v sinking into self-pity upon the king let us our lives our souls our debts are careful wives our children and our sins lay on the king we must bear all Oh hard condition twin born with greatness subject to the breath of every fool who cents no more can feel but his own ringing what infinite hearts ease must Kings neglect that private men enjoy and what have Kings that privates have not to save ceremony save general ceremony what art thou thou idle ceremony I am a king but finds the and I know tis not the bar the scepter and the ball the sword the mace the crown Imperial the inter tissue drone of gold and pearl the fast title running for the King the throne he sits on nor the tide of pomp that beats upon the high shore of this world no not all these thrice gorgeous ceremony not all these laid in bed majestical can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave who with a body filled and vacant mind gets him to rest crammed with distressful bread never sees horrid night the child of hell but like her Lackey from the rise to set sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night sleeps in Elysium next day after dawn doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse and follow so the ever running year with profitable labor to his grave and but for ceremony such a wretch winding up days with toil and nights with sleep had the forehand and Vantage of a king the slave a member of the country's peace enjoys it but in gross brain little Watts what watch the King keeps to maintain the peace whose hours the peasant best advantages for me a clear example of William Shakespeare's decision to stage a contested narrative of the figure of Henry the fifth appears here in act 4 scene 6 an alarm sounds and Henry the fifth responds by saying but hark what new alarm is this same the French have reinforced their scattered men then every soldier kill his prisoners the stage Direction reads the soldiers kill their prisoners what William Shakespeare has chosen to stage here it's one of the most conflicted and contested moments from the whole history of the Battle of Agincourt the moment where Henry the fifth is said to have given the order to Massacre the French prisoners being held by his men it is said that he believed that the French forces were mounting back up ready to reattach his troops and he was worried that the prisoners might form a danger to his men that if the French forces came from one side the prisoners themselves might also attack leaving the English army sandwiched between these two violent enemies but in doing this and potentially keeping his men safe what he does is breach codes of conduct about chivalry the treatment of prisoners of war at this time the expectation for many was that prisoners of war would be ransomed back to their families by not doing this by breaching this code of chivalry we must question what kind of a king a general and a war maker henry v is is this act tyrannical and with these questions in mind we then also have to ask why William Shakespeare chooses to stage this moment at all there are so many moments from the life henry v that he could choose to stage he could choose to stage as ink or as an uncomplicated uncontested victory by the english over the french by putting this moment in it puts a query in our minds and i wonder why you think William Shakespeare chooses to do this do let me know in the comment section down below indeed the contested nature of the personality and monarchy of king henry v infects the world of the play and shakespeare sees it right through to the end in the last moment of action the audience is given this hope Queen Isabel mother of Catherine of Valois the wife of King Henry the fifth says the following God the best maker of all marriages combine your hearts in one your realms in one as man and wife being two are one in love so be there twixt your kingdom such a spousal that never may ill office or fell jealousy which troubles off the bed of blessed marriage thrust in between the passion of these kingdoms to make divorce of their in corporate league that English made us French French Englishman receive each other God speak this arm all reply our men King Henry the fifth prepare we for our marriage on which day my lord of Burgundy will take your oath and all the peers for surety of our leagues then shall I swear to Kate and you to me and may our oaths well-kept and prosperous be there we have the end of act 5 scene 2 and it would seem that all is well peaceful reign England will marry France the monarchies will combine particularly of course in their air there will be a royal air of France and England who will be able to rule over both nations but Shakespeare it seems is unwilling to let this happy ending rest without being questioned and so he gives his audience this epilogue as a parting gift from the chorus thus far with ruff and all unable pen are bending author has pursued the story in little room confining mighty men mangling by starts the full course of their glory small time but in that small most greatly lived this star of England fortune made his sword by which the world's best garden be achieved and of it left his son Imperial Lord Henry the sixth in infant bands crowned King of France and England did this King succeed who states so many had the managing that they lost France and made his England bleed which oft our stage hath shown and for their sake in your fair minds let this acceptance take Henry the fifths marriage to Catherine of Valois was a peace treaty out of this marriage of course would produced their child Henry the sick because of Henry the fifths untimely death their son was crowned as an infant to history sic is remembered as an ineffectual and deposed monarch but henry v marriage to Catherine of Valois also brought her to England and after his early death his widow formed a relationship with a Welshman Oh intruder from that relationship was produced two boys Edmund and Jasper Edmund would go on to marry Margaret Beaufort and together they would produce one child Henry Tudor the future Henry the seventh so arguably in the marriage of Henry the fifth to Catherine of Valois the seeds were laid for the rising up of the Tudor dynasty what Shakespeare is staging in 1599 in the final years of the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty is the moment of the genesis of her house I've always found it quite difficult to get a handle on what Shakespeare is intending with these quite contested Genesis points I'm not simply talking about Henry v I'm thinking about all of the kings that Shakespeare stages in his so-called history plays as they are grouped in the first folio perhaps from that I would like to exclude Henry the eighth which I think functions quite differently but in the rest of the history plays Shakespeare doesn't present what I see a traditional divine right monarch their humanity is present and as such they are flawed they are occasionally fearful feckless idle tyrannical but also brave noble and kingly but in doing so in showing this humanity the two sides of them I wonder where the space for them to be divine to have that Divine Right comes in and if that is in question in Shakespeare's play what does that mean for the Kings that he is writing under and the Queen's what does it mean in 1599 to have these contested King ships when you have a queen on the throne who everybody is aware will be the last of her dynasty the Tudors will die out with Elizabeth and in 1599 there are many thinking that it's probably going to happen fairly soon so what is Shakespeare doing I'm not sure and I wonder what you think is going on so I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section or you can come and find me over on my social media as always I will leave links to my Instagram and Twitter in the description box down below follow me there and we can continue this conversation I do hope you found this video interesting and useful if you did then please let me know by hitting the thumbs up button please also subscribe to this channel and while you're there why not hit the bell icon next subscribe button so that YouTube tells you what I've next uploaded I hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to you in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music] you [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 33,971

Rating: 4.9465241 out of 5

Keywords: Henry V, William Shakespeare, English Literature, Revision, GCSE, A Level, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: WdDb_32nxSY

Length: 29min 56sec (1796 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2020