To set the scene, some background: After successfully besieging and taking the French town of Harfleur, (“Once more unto the breech”) Henry V is leading his men across France to Calais and ships back to England. Henry and his men are exhausted, supplies are running low, the troops are malnourished and sick with typhus and it has been raining for days on end. Henry has just ordered that one of his boyhood friends be hung for stealing, when a herald (Montjoy) of the French King arrives:
MONTJOY
Thus says my king: Say thou to Harry of England:
Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep: advantage
is a better soldier than rashness. Tell him we
could have rebuked him at Harfleur, but that we
thought not good to bruise an injury till it were
full ripe: now we speak upon our cue, and our voice
is imperial: England shall repent his folly, see
his weakness, and admire our sufferance. Bid him
therefore consider of his ransom; which must
proportion the losses we have borne, the subjects we
have lost, the disgrace we have digested; which in
weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under.
For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the
effusion of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too
faint a number; and for our disgrace, his own
person, kneeling at our feet, but a weak and
worthless satisfaction. To this add defiance: and
tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his
followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far
my king and master; so much my office.
KING HENRY V
What is thy name? I know thy quality.
MONTJOY
Montjoy.
KING HENRY V
Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back.
And tell thy king I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment: for, to say the sooth,
Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,
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;
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk,
My army but a weak and sickly guard;
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself and such another neighbour
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.
Go bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour: 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.
Henry V Act 3 Scene 6
________________________________________________________
Why? Well Henry V is an exciting play, it has battles and intrigues and some of Shakespeare’s best use of language, it shows the young Hal coming into his own as monarch and realising he has to put aside the friends of his youth and become the leader of his country.
Why this speech and not ‘Once more unto the breech’ or ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers’? I think this speech exemplifies British culture and the British people more than any other (and I say British because all are represented in Harry’s camp, Welsh, Scots, English and Irish). It’s the never give in, never say die spirit, The Duke of Wellington knew it, Winston knew it and Old Will knew it back in 1599. King Henry has just been told that the might of the French army is marching against him and his sickly, outnumbered army. Does he give in and offer terms?, no, he threatens back.
And tell thy king I do not seek him now; But could be willing to march on to Calais
He then even manages to insult the French, by suggesting even his weak and sickly crew are an even match for a similar amount of Frenchman, when before they were worth three, but he blames this on the French ‘air’ which it seems causes people to brag. Double zing, take that. Next I think comes the most important part of the speech where it concerns our culture. The British do not like being told what to do and they especially don’t like bullies, Napoleon found that out and so did Hitler. Yet even right up to the end Henry gives them a chance to back down,
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd, We shall your tawny ground with your red blood Discolour:
There to me is the crux of it and it gives me some hope, the British people have been pushed and pushed, bullied and beat down by those that would deny our heritage and dilute our culture, how they must hate plays like this that celebrate what a great nation we once were. But I think the time is coming when we start to push back and then we will tell them.
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it:
.
MONTJOY
Thus says my king: Say thou to Harry of England:
Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep: advantage
is a better soldier than rashness. Tell him we
could have rebuked him at Harfleur, but that we
thought not good to bruise an injury till it were
full ripe: now we speak upon our cue, and our voice
is imperial: England shall repent his folly, see
his weakness, and admire our sufferance. Bid him
therefore consider of his ransom; which must
proportion the losses we have borne, the subjects we
have lost, the disgrace we have digested; which in
weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under.
For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the
effusion of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too
faint a number; and for our disgrace, his own
person, kneeling at our feet, but a weak and
worthless satisfaction. To this add defiance: and
tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his
followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far
my king and master; so much my office.
KING HENRY V
What is thy name? I know thy quality.
MONTJOY
Montjoy.
KING HENRY V
Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back.
And tell thy king I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment: for, to say the sooth,
Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,
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;
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk,
My army but a weak and sickly guard;
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself and such another neighbour
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.
Go bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour: 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.
Henry V Act 3 Scene 6
________________________________________________________
Why? Well Henry V is an exciting play, it has battles and intrigues and some of Shakespeare’s best use of language, it shows the young Hal coming into his own as monarch and realising he has to put aside the friends of his youth and become the leader of his country.
Why this speech and not ‘Once more unto the breech’ or ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers’? I think this speech exemplifies British culture and the British people more than any other (and I say British because all are represented in Harry’s camp, Welsh, Scots, English and Irish). It’s the never give in, never say die spirit, The Duke of Wellington knew it, Winston knew it and Old Will knew it back in 1599. King Henry has just been told that the might of the French army is marching against him and his sickly, outnumbered army. Does he give in and offer terms?, no, he threatens back.
And tell thy king I do not seek him now; But could be willing to march on to Calais
He then even manages to insult the French, by suggesting even his weak and sickly crew are an even match for a similar amount of Frenchman, when before they were worth three, but he blames this on the French ‘air’ which it seems causes people to brag. Double zing, take that. Next I think comes the most important part of the speech where it concerns our culture. The British do not like being told what to do and they especially don’t like bullies, Napoleon found that out and so did Hitler. Yet even right up to the end Henry gives them a chance to back down,
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd, We shall your tawny ground with your red blood Discolour:
There to me is the crux of it and it gives me some hope, the British people have been pushed and pushed, bullied and beat down by those that would deny our heritage and dilute our culture, how they must hate plays like this that celebrate what a great nation we once were. But I think the time is coming when we start to push back and then we will tell them.
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it:
.
"We few, we happy few" is my circle's only semi-reverential toast here in Castle City. but with good reason.
ReplyDeleteAfter Zulu's final attack, this Henry V scene is what I watch on YouTube after chucking-out time. There go my pretensions to culture, but I have to say in my defence that I wrote a political philosophy account of the play for my Shakespeare finals exam, so maybe I gave at the adolescence...
And yes; it's all there - the bulldog breed, by Jingo, never say die, the Dunkirk spirit, the Blitz defiance.
We need so much to revive this feeling and preserve it, as it has been stolen, corrupted, or destroyed by the jokers...
Thanks for taking part in Culture Wars day.
Or week..
I couldn't say about the British, but the English certainly have a reputation abroad for militarism and pugnacity. In the 'piping' times of peace, that can be a drawback, but when push comes to shove, that kind of grit is beyond price.
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