ACT IV

CHORUS

Chorus paints the scene of both camps on the night before the battle. Again, we are instructed to supply our imaginations to the material.

SCENE i

Henry borrows a cloak and disguises himself to wander among the common soldiers at night. Is this another manifestation of the Shakespeare insomnia (Ogburn and Ogburn 472)? He presents himself as "Harry le Roy" to Pistol, who is vowing to fight Fluellen. Fluellen and Gower pass by, and Henry decides Fluellen is a bit weird but okay.

Henry chances upon three soldiers: John Bates, Alexander Court, and Michael Williams -- the stuff England is made of. These genuine men speculate about the King and Henry gives a long prose speech against the logic of holding the king responsible: a speech amounting to "squirming sophistry" (Goddard I 242). Williams knows the grisly consequences will befall only the commoners and wonders if the cause for the war is just. Asimov dismisses Williams as "gloomy" and someone "who even dares to wonder openly" about the justice of the cause for which they are fighting (Asimov 492). Asimov focuses on the style of the encounter, with the King answering Williams "so vigorously that it comes to a quarrel" (Asimov 493), without addressing the content of the debate. "The King was willing to put the responsibility on an archbishop but he is unwilling to let his soldiers put the responsibility on a king" (Goddard I 242). Williams and Henry agree to meet after the battle, if they live, and duel. They'll wear each other's glove so they can recognize each other.

Then alone, Henry delivers a deep democratic speech about Ceremony -- which all sounds good but doesn't tend to translate into his deeds. When Erpingham returns, Henry tells him that he has had Richard II's body newly interred and made other show of penance for his father's usurpation. Queen Elizabeth had said at some unknown time, "To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is a pleasure to them that bear it" (qtd. in Ogburn and Ogburn 730).

This scene is used to show Henry as simple, modest, democratic -- if this were Henry. Under the cover of night and costume, he becomes almost the old Hal. He had to disguise himself to become king; now he must disguise himself to become a man. He was willing to put responsibility for war on an Archbishop but is unwilling to let soldiers put responsibility on a king: his speech is more "squirming sophistry" (Goddard I 242). The soldiers, on the other hand, are the stuff England is made of. They have the courage of hopelessness.

Regarding Henry's supposed penance regarding Richard II, "The best gloss on these lines is suggested by Claudius in Hamlet, when he, kneeling, strives to pray for forgiveness":

... but O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be, since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder--
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
(qtd. in Goddard 245)

SCENE ii

The French are still overconfident and talking about their horses.

SCENE iii

Here's the gloriously ludicrous St. Crispin's Day speech. "His speeches before Harfleur and at Agincourt have become the most admired pieces of war rhetoric in the language" (Wells 155) -- by half-wits. The English are outnumbered roughly five to one, but Henry sees that as mathematically for the greater glory of each of them (and by logical extension, even fewer English would be even better, and Westmoreland afterwards follows this through by wishing it were only he and the King fighting on the English side). Then comes the rousing anticipation of how in the future everyone will look back on St. Crispin's Day and ask about the wounds you received today: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" (IV.iii.60).

"He is very stirred; so are we; but neither we nor he believes a word he says. The common soldiers fighting with their monarch are not going to become gentlemen, let alone nobles, and 'the ending of the world' is a rather grand evocation for an imperialist land grab that did not long survive Henry V's death, as Shakespeare's audience knew too well" (Bloom 320).

More penetrating still, who in hell ever heard of St. Crispin's Day?! What a joke! St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers, or maybe two brothers hiding out in the eighth century as shoemakers before being beheaded (Asimov 495)! How arbitrary can you get?

On the battlefield, somehow Pistol has captured a French soldier. He rants and misinterprets French words until the Boy helps translate a ransom deal. The Boy reports that both Bardolph and Nym are hanged now, the latter presumably for desertion (Asimov 498), and he worries about his own fate since only boys are left guarding the equipment. SCENE v The French realize they are faring poorly. SCENE vi The touching deaths of Suffolk and York, who have played no real parts in the drama, are reported by Exeter. Immediate;y afterwards, apparently due to an alarum, Henry orders that his soldiers kill all their prisoners. These "polar reversals" are chilling (Goddard I 249). And the issue of Henry's ordering the prisoners killed may make him a war criminal (Sutherland 108-116).

SCENE vii

This odd scene includes some arguing between Fluellen and Gower about whether Henry is Welsh or not and which region he's from, all "among the still-smoking corpses of the 'poys' -- including Pistol's young friend of whom we have grown rather fond" (Sutherland 113).

Fluellen reflects on Alexander the Great, or the Big, or as his accent renders it, Alexander the Pig. Interestingly, this symbol of insatiable lust for blood and conquest Fluellen matches up with Henry, albeit in spurious ways. He proceeds "by the same comparative method exemplified in Plutarch's Parallel Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans" (Garber 405). "One great conqueror or "pig" is much like another" (Bloom 323).

This scene functions as "Shakespeare's last judgment on the rejection of Falstaff" (Goddard I 249). The Alexander / Henry parallels suggest rage-aholism. At least Alexander had the excuse of being drunk when he killed his friend; what was Henry's? A moment later Henry enters and insists he was always in his right mind -- he was never angry until he came to France. So, ironically, he's finally responsible.

When Henry enters, he seems horrified by the slaughter of the boys and announces, "we'll cut the throats of those we have, / And not a man of them that we shall take / Shall taste our mercy" (IV.vii.63-65). But they already cut their prisoners' throats supposedly -- who's left? And the reasoning for this brutality looks like ex post facto justification (Sutherland 113). "Surely, 'worthily' is the wrong adjective. The King might much better have done it 'sorrowfully' or 'regretfully' or even 'wrathfully.' 'Worthily' sounds sarcastic" (Asimov 501).

It turns out that Henry doesn't even know the name of the castle nearby this fateful battle. Only then does he dub this the Battle of Agincourt. Then that rascally Henry pulls a switcheroo and gives Fluellen the glove so that Williams will pick a fight with him. A reference to Henry's battle with John, Duke of Alençon (IV.vii.156), ignores the part about Henry having been beaten down and saved only by his guard. He yanked a glove from the Duke at that moment? (Asimov 505).

At any rate, despite the fact that the English commoners won the war for Henry, "instead of expressing gratitude to the Bateses and Courts and Williamses of his army of yeomen, Henry characteristically attributes his triumph wholly to God.... It ends by looking less like giving thanks to God for the victory than like putting the responsibility on God" (Goddard I 255).

SCENE viii

Williams recognizes the glove and strikes Fluellen. The King and others arrive and the trick is revealed. Clearly Henry will not make good his vow, despite how honorable Williams comes off in this scene, rejecting a pay-off pressed upon him. "Here is a man who has no price" (Goddard I 254).

This scene with Williams poses the question: which is greater, man or king? Henry compounds his honor for crowns, just as his father had done for the English crown. After Williams leaves, Henry is concerned only with the nobles who have died. It's clear (and historical) that he owes victory to the common soldiers, but he thanks God, and "To give God the credit is to give God the responsibility" (Sutherland 123). Henry seems to confuse Mars with God anyway.

The rah-rah view is that Agincourt represents a dashing hero leading his army with indomitable courage against a foe overwhelmingly outnumbering them. But is there evidence of Henry's part in battle in Act IV (Goddard I 256).? The impression that this is a model hero leading his army of "brothers" is an impression from Chorus and from Henry's rhetoric. We almost do see things that are not there. But it really seems as if Henry saw the war at vantage point instead of being in the battle (Goddard I 257). Unlike his Shrewsbury involvement, Henry apparently did not come to the aid of York! Henry is growing more like his father, like Henry IV at Shrewsbury (Goddard I 258). The Olivier film version is memorable in making Henry V an active participant, but it's not Shakespeare. This Agincourt act consists of Pistol (!) capturing a French gentleman; the French lamenting their shame; Henry weeping at the deaths of York and Suffolk, and ordering soldiers to kill all prisoners; Fluellen comparing Henry to Alexander; and Henry breaking his word of honor with Williams (Henry offers money which Williams rejects). That's it.