Henry V Case

In the play Henry V by William Shakespeare, presents us how the king, Henry, looks upon his commoners and how they look upon Henry. In Henry's Twinborn Greatness speech, he describes the relationship between himself and the commoners. The relationship he describes is broken and that one side doesn't understand the other. Henry's ruthlessness has him look worse towards the commoners, but while his commoners look down upon him he is reluctant to stay on his quest, and have his country love him again.

Henry was prominently focused on his quest for winning the war and his concern is how well he leads his soldiers and country and how his country will view his actions. The play proposes that the qualities that make up a good ruler are not necessarily the same as a good person. Henry is shown to be an excellent leader, with his talents of being able to stay focused, his intelligence, and inspiring his men. Henry is presented to connect with his soldiers well, and to raise their hopes to win the Battle of Agincourt, which gives Henry great honor. But being the Great King of England, he could be viewed as unforgivable and immoral. Henry talks about living in peace, but once his mind is set to a quest he going, no matter what is in his way. Shakespeare's portrayal of the king shows the complication between bad and good. As Henry says the amount of responsibility placed on the king separates him from commoners and the standards that are brought up in mind of judging the king. A king is responsible for the well-being of his nation and has to keep his personal feelings and ideas down to a minimum to keep the countries best at mind. The speech that Henry gives occurs inside his head, as to not break away from his king like status.

Henry talks about the commoners in his speech and discusses how they two sides of commoners and the king don't understand each other, and this creates a parallel between the two. In Act 4 scene 1, Henry moves among his soldiers in disguise and listens to what the men have to say about the upcoming battle, the king, and their country. Shakespeare uses this motif in the scene to present that separation that the king and commoners share. As discussed above and what is shown in the text, the commoners look at King Henry a lot differently then he looks at himself. Creating the parallel between the two groups symbolizes how they can get as close as possible but can never cross. For example, in Henry V, they entire play is England going to war with France