TOEFL Listening Practice: Lecture10

Okay a little off topic! Now we know Henry the 5th’s background. Let’s look at how Shakespeare approached his play. Shakespeare actually relied pretty heavily on historical sources. The accuracy of such sources is another question which we won’t go into; what we’re interested in here is that Shakespeare wanted to be seen as getting his facts right.
So Shakespeare conformed closely to historical texts, in particular, Chronicle, a work by Holinshead, the second edition of which was published in 1586. We can assume this because there are many similarities between the two. Some of these are what we call episodic, that is, the stories match up.

For example, Holinshead described an incident in which three men conspired to kill Henry, but were all apprehended. This incident is present in Act II, Scene II of Shakespeare’s play. The play also includes a number of details from the Chronicle, including the number of soldiers killed and prisoners taken at the battle of Agincourt. At one point, Shakespeare practically uses the same words. Here is an example: At one part in the play, Henry says to Mountjoy about the French that he shall tawny ground with red blood discolour. Compare this to what we see in the Chronicle where Holinshead writes that Henry intends to die the tawny ground with red blood.

The Chronicle appears to be Shakespeare’s main source, but not the only one. Another likely source is Halle’s The Union of Two Families of Lancaster and York, where Shakespeare would have found details of certain parliamentary bills dating back the time of Henry the 4th. And, although not extremely significant within the play, the accurate reference to these bills shows Shakespeare’s attention to detail.

But a play can’t be written on historical sources alone. Shakespeare had to add a sense of drama to make the play interesting, and who better than Shakespeare to do that? One of the main elements he used was character-building, and not just of Henry himself, but also the minor characters like Scroop, Cambridge, and Grey, who were each depicted with their own personalities and goals within a scene in the play.

But Henry, of course, is the main character of interest, and we see several interesting sides to his personality as the play progresses. One is a depiction of Henry the 5th as a great man. Shakespeare portrays this by giving Henry rousing speeches that would have stirred up the audience in the same way as Henry the V would have boosted morale among his armies. Here’s an example: “when the blast of war blows in our ears, stiffen the sinews, conjure up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage.” Henry’s words epitomize honour and glory. You can imagine that, said by a good actor, they would actually sound really powerful.

But we also see other sides of Henry too, particularly his inner conflicts. His indecision with regards to whether to appear merciful or merciless. He shows no mercy to his betrayers, nor to his French prisoners. However, at the siege of Harflew, Henry shows mercy to those who surrendered. We also see the weight of kingship weighing heavily on Henry’s shoulders. Of course this is a dramatic device – as we have no evidence to suggest that Henry felt any such thing, but it makes for good theater.