Henry V - Questions for Post-Screening Discussion

Hi, class,
 

Please finish reading Henry V (Acts III - V). We will complete our viewing of the film on Wednesday, and I will return your papers. Here are a few questions to think about for our discussion after we finish watching the film.

1) As we have seen in the film thus far, King Henry V is much different from the “Prince Hal” character we saw in the flashbacks (carousing, drinking, hanging with the “low-life” commoners—Falstaff, Bardolph, Pistol, etc.). He now wears the mantle of “King,” although his past is a cause for concern by the Church, and is thrown into his face by the Dauphin, who mocks Henry with the tennis balls. Henry discards his old friends, and is blamed for the death of Falstaff. Is his rejection of his past a necessary evil, as he now must be responsible for the kingdom, or should he have maintained his true friendships (if, indeed you think they were true friendships)?

2) Henry delivers two soliloquies in Act IV, Scene I. In the first (“Upon the king!”), he speaks about the burdens of being king. In the second (“O God of battles! Steel my soldiers’ hearts;”), he prays for his men to remain brave for the upcoming battle and begs God not to hold his father’s sins against him. We will discuss these scenes.

3) “Aristotle taught that a speaker’s ability to persuade an audience is based on how well the speaker appeals to that audience in three different areas: logos, ethos, and pathos. Considered together, these appeals form what later rhetoricians have called the rhetorical triangle.”* In Act IV, Scene III, Henry delivers a speech to his men (known as the St. Crispin’s Day speech) right before they head into battle. Identify the lines in Henry’s speech which you think fit the three types of appeals in the rhetorical triangle. *Definition courtesy of Indiana University

4) Below is a definition of the term, “Machiavellian,” followed by quotes from Niccolo Machiavelli’s 16th century political treatise, The Prince. Read the quotes and be ready to discuss whether you think Henry V is a Machiavellian character (much like Richard III). Or, make an argument that, although he certainly may utilize some Machiavellian aspects, he is not a true Machiavel, in the sense that Richard III was.

Machiavellian: a) being or acting in accordance with the principles of government analyzed in Machiavelli’s The Prince, in which political expediency is placed above morality and the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler is described. b) characterized by subtle or unscrupulous cunning, deception, expediency, or dishonesty.

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”

“He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.”

“It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.”

“To understand the nature of the people one must be a prince, and to understand the nature of the prince, one must be of the people.”

“Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.”

“War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.”

“Severities should be dealt out all at once, so that their suddenness may give less offense; benefits ought to be handed ought drop by drop, so that they may be relished the more.”

“Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.”

“War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.”

“The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.”