Fire answers fire, and through their palyDefinitionpale / dim flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd face;
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear, and from the tents
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.
The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,
The confident and over-lusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice;
...The poor condemned English,
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires
Sit patiently and inly ruminate
The morning's danger...
O now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruin'd band
Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
Let him cry 'Praise and glory on his head!'
For forth he goes and visits all his host,
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile
And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note
How dread an army hath enrounded him...
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
A largess universal like the sunImageryHenry is compared to the sun, a symbol of royalty and divinity, shedding warmth on all regardless of rank.
His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.
Exit.
Scene 1
The English camp at Agincourt. Enter KING HENRY V, BEDFORD, and GLOUCESTER.
King Henry V
Gloucester, 'tis true that we are in great danger;
The greater therefore should our courage be.
...Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas. Brothers both,
Commend me to the princes in our camp;
Do my good morrow to them, and anon
Desire them all to my pavilion.
Gloucester
We shall, my liege.
Exeunt Gloucester and Bedford. Enter PISTOL.
Pistol
Qui va la?
King Henry V
A friend.
Pistol
Discuss unto me; art thou officer?
Or art thou base, common and popular?
King Henry V
I am a gentleman of a company.
...
Pistol
My name is Pistol call'd.
King Henry V
It sorts well with your fierceness.
Exit Pistol. Enter FLUELLEN and GOWER.
Fluellen
So! in the name of Jesu Christ, speak lower...
Exeunt Gower and Fluellen. Enter three soldiers, JOHN BATES, ALEXANDER COURT, and MICHAEL WILLIAMS.
Court
Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which
breaks yonder?
Bates
I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire
the approach of day.
Williams
We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think
we shall never see the end of it. Who goes there?
King Henry V
A friend...
Bates
He may show what outward courage he will; but I
believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish
himself in Thames up to the neck...
King Henry V
I think he would not wish himself any where but where he is.
Bates
Then I would he were here alone; so should he be
sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives saved.
King Henry V
Methinks I could not die any where so contented as
in the king's company; his cause being just and his
quarrel honorable.
Williams
That's more than we know.
Bates
Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we know
enough, if we know we are the king's subjects: if
his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes
the crime of it out of us.
Williams
But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath
a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and
arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join
together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at
such a place;' some swearing, some crying for a
surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind
them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their
children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die
well that die in a battle; for how can they
charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is
their argument? Now, if these men do not die well,
it will be a black matter for the king that led
them to it; whom to disobey were against all
proportion of subjection.
King Henry V
So, if a son that is by his father sent about
merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the
imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should
be imposed upon his father that sent him...
Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his ownThematic AnalysisHenry argues against total responsibility. While the King commands their bodies in war, he cannot be responsible for the state of their souls or their personal sins..
Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as
every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of
his conscience: and dying so, death is to him
advantage; or not dying, the time was blessedly
lost wherein such preparation was gained.
Williams
'Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill upon
his own head, the king is not to answer it.
...
Exit Soldiers.
King Henry V
Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,
Our children and our sins lay on the king!
We must bear all. O hard condition,
Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath
Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel
But his own wringing! What infinite heart's-ease
Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy!
And what have kings, that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
...Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play'st so subtly with a king's repose;
I am a king that find thee, and I know
'Tis not the balmDefinitionconsecrated oil used in coronation, the sceptre and the ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
The farced title running 'fore 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...
Enter ERPINGHAM.
Erpingham
My lord, your nobles, jealous of your absence,
Seek through your camp to find you.
King Henry V
Good old knight,
Collect them all together at my tent:
I'll be before thee.
Exit Erpingham.
King Henry V
O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, O Lord,
O, not to-day, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown!
I Richard's body have interred new;
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood...
Exit.
Scene 3
The English camp. Enter GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, ERPINGHAM, with all his host: SALISBURY and WESTMORELAND.
Westmoreland
O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
King Henry V
What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
...
This day is call'd the feast of CrispianDefinitionSt. Crispin's Day (October 25th):
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his conditionDefinitionraise his social rank to that of a gentleman:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Enter MONTJOY.
Montjoy
Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,
If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,
Before thy most assured overthrow...
King Henry V
Who hath sent thee now?
Montjoy
The Constable of France.
King Henry V
I pray thee, bear my former answer back:
Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.
Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus?
The man that once did sell the lion's skin
While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
...Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald:
They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;
Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,
Shall yield them little, tell the constable.
Exit Montjoy.
Scenes 4-8 (The Battle)
Various parts of the field.
Fluellen
Kill the poys and the luggage! 'tis expressly
against the law of arms: 'tis as arrant a piece of
knavery, mark you now, as can be offer'd; in your
conscience, now, is it not?
Gower
'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive; and the
cowardly rascals that ran from the battle ha' done
this slaughter: besides, they have burned and
carried away all that was in the king's tent;
wherefore the king, most worthily, hath caused every
soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. O, 'tis a
gallant king!
Fluellen
Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, Captain Gower. What
call you the town's name where Alexander the Pig was born!
...If you look in the maps of the 'orld, I warrant
you sall find, in the comparisons between Macedon
and Monmouth, that the situations, look you, is
both alike.
Enter KING HENRY V and MONTJOY.
King Henry V
I tell thee truly, herald,
I know not if the day be ours or no;
For yet a many of your horsemen peer
And gallop o'er the field.
Montjoy
The day is yours.
King Henry V
Praised be God, and not our strength, for it!
What is this castle call'd that stands hard by?
Montjoy
They call it Agincourt.
King Henry V
Then call we this the field of Agincourt,
Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.
Enter an English Herald with papers.
King Henry V
Where is the number of our English dead?
Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk,
Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire:
None else of name; and of all other men
But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here;
And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
Ascribe we all! When, without stratagem,
But in plain shock and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss
On one part and on the other? Take it, God,
For it is none but thine!
...
Do we all holy rites;
Let there be sung 'Non nobis'Definition"Non nobis, Domine" (Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory). Psalm 115. and 'Te Deum;'
The dead with charity enclosed in clay:
And then to Calais; and to England then;
Where ne'er from France arrived more happy men.
Exeunt.
Critical Frameworks & Sources
The analysis notes in this act rely on the following historical and thematic concepts:
The "Little Touch of Harry": The Prologue emphasizes the King's personal connection to his men. This scene establishes the "Band of Brothers" motif, suggesting a unifying nationalism that transcends class structure (at least for the duration of the war).
The Soldier's Debate: Scene 1 presents a remarkably democratic moment where common soldiers question the morality of the King's war. Henry's response ("Every subject's soul is his own") is a crucial theological defense of the separation between political duty and spiritual salvation.
Agincourt Miracles: The casualty counts (10,000 French vs. 29 English) are historically debated but dramatically essential. Shakespeare attributes the victory entirely to God ("Non nobis"), reinforcing Henry's piety and divine right.