Henry V scenes (1 point)

1.2

Archbishop and Exeter’s justification of Henry’s claim to the throne

• note: Henry fears that if he leaves to go to war with France, the Scotts will invade unprotected England

  • need to represent Catholic history as evil (Scots are extreme reformists)

    • English victim complex

3.1

“once more unto the breach” — the English have reached Harfleur

• “once more” — they’ve been trying this for a while (this happens a lot where Henry says “one more time” again and again)

• nationalistic fervor

• note: how quickly the English have gotten to Harfleur

3.2 — exchanges between British captains

first: Pistol and Bardolfe attempt to avoid the battle

second: Fluellen and McMorris argument

• Fluellen dislikes MacMorris because he’s incompetent (he set up the mines, then blames everyone else)

• then, Fluellen says “not many of your nation”

  • this offends MacMorris

    • M is Irish, F is Welsh, so there’s some sort of (partially) fictionalized hierarchy placing Irish below Welsh

    • Which is ironic, considering it’s an exchange between two “British” captains

3.4

why is Katherine learning English?

• to recite it in front of the Lords of France — because she’s supposed to prepare to get married off to Henry (just in case)

4.1

see other flashcard set & “reading notes and questions” printout

4.6

Henry commits war crimes

• Henry’s worried that the French prisoners will overtake his ranks if the French send out another battalion, so he orders all of their throats to be cut (war crime, big no-no)

• then later, the French come over and slaughter the young boy attendants who were watching over the camp (also a war crime)

  • so, Gower says that this was Henry’s reason for killing the prisoners (covering up for him)

• then, Henry threatens to kill the prisoners as an intimidation tactic

  • but at this point they’re already dead

  • Is this part of Gower’s ploy to excuse Henry’s original war crime?

epilogue

• again, false modesty

• but then, leaves off on a bad note

  • Henry does, leaving the kingdom to his infant son (Henry VI), and France is once again lost