Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Henry V

"O for a muse of fire!"

I begin my book reviewing project with Shakespeare's Henry V. As this review will show, I will be giving more stream-of-consciousness rambles than anything else, but whatever...

Henry V, I must start out by saying, is an incredible collection of speeches. We all know and love the St. Crispian's day speech which includes "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." Any of us who are Sherlock Holmes fans know the "Once more unto the breach" speech that concludes, "The game's afoot! / Follow your spirits, and upon this charge / Cry God for England, Harry, and St George!" Henry can inspire soldiers like no other. But then, he can make you want to cry. His speech to Lord Scroop, an ex-best friend, who is involved in an aassasination plot against him is so tragic: "I will weep for thee, / For this revolt of thine, methinks, / is like a second fall of man." *sniff* He can get spitting mad: "Tell the pleasant Dauphin..." He can even put on the charming, bumbling lover if it suits his purpose. (See his speech to Catherine--his only significant non-verse speech in the play.

My mother has always taught Henry V by convincing the students that Henry is a lying politician, and I always promised myself that I would not teach it that way...for no very good reason. Mostly to be different from my mother, I guess. But when I read it to teach, I was really struck by how much acting there is in the play. It emphasizes its play-ness in a way that very few, if any, of Shakespeare's works do.

Take, for example, the Chorus. There is no other Shakespeare play with a chorus. This in itself emphasizes that it is a play. While I grant that in Shakespeare's day, everyone's favorite Romantic opium addict had not coined the phrase "willing suspension of disbelief," you have to ask yourself what the Chorus is talking about if not willing suspension of disbelief. He begs the audience to imagine that the stage really is the field of Agincourt, and the handful of men on the stage really are thousands of soldiers. This, as one student pointed out in discussion, is a good way to pull the audience into the story. But at the same time, it highlights the artificiality of the whole thing. If you had finally immersed yourself in the story to such an extent that you were able to imagine you really saw Agincourt, the Chorus getting up and saying, "I'm so sorry this is so lame, please try to forget it" will make you remember that it is pretty lame.

I have to share a related point that one of my students came out with, and that I thought was utterly brilliant! We were close reading one of Henry's inspirational speeches in class, where Henry tells his men that in peace, modesty is best, but now you need to act tough. He uses a lot of words like "disguise" and "act." He tells them to "put on" the tiger. Not only does he put on different personas himself, he asks his soldiers to do as much. My student said, "I think that Shakspeare is showing how life is like a play." It was brilliant. It doesn't sound so brilliant the way I just put it, but it is such an interesting way to look at Henry V. Shakespeare clearly finds that an interesting idea. See Jacques in As you like it. "All the world's a stage, and the men and women are merely the players . All have their exits and their entrances." And Shakespeare definitely makes snarky allusions to play/reality issues. E.g. Hamlet: "Seems, Mother? Nay I know not seems. It is not alone my inky cloak, mother, or windy suspiration of the breath, or tear in the eye. These are but things a man might play. But I have that within that passes show. These trappings but an outward sign of woe." (I totally butchered that...oh well.) But Henry V is a very interesting case study of how life is like a play.

Which rambles me back to my mom's point about Henry being a consummate politician, and maybe not such a hero to be idolized. Frankly, I don't know whether she'd agree with this or not, but I am inclined to think that Henry is portrayed as an actor, acting out many roles, but that's not a bad thing. It's what we all have to do in this world. As I said to my students, when I'm in front of them, I'm a teacher. When I'm in class, I'm a student. I have to act like a different person in each case. And in neither case should certain personal things come into play. As I learned over the past few weeks, in a class situation you do have to "smile when your heart is breaking" if you're the one in charge. Because what's going on in your life behind the scenes has no bearing on the class. At all. The end. It made me much more sympathetic to Henry, who in front of his men was was all "RA RA! We'll WIN YAY! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!" but when alone was on his knees, begging God not to punish him for his father's sins, and not to allow his Soldiers to be frightened in war. He actually asks God to blind them to the truth of the situation--that they are outnumbered and likely to die--so that they can fight like men. Henry, in my estimation, is being perfectly sincere and honest in his prayer, and he doesn't mind asking God to help his men play a role. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I think Henry is a great actor, and that is part of what makes him a great man. Do I think he's perfect, and do I like him unqualifiedly? No. But I think he is overall a good man who does what he has to in order to be a good king.

There is much more tha could be said on both sides. but I will stop there.

One final thought: Ken Branagh's Henry V is brilliant, in my estimation, because it captures the inconsistency, the foibles, and the actorliness of Henry, while also making him a good man. Olivier's version (which is well worth watching) makes Henry into a larger than life hero. The end. I prefer the more nuanced Henry.

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