Rating: 
Summary: A popular play in an edition fabulously rich in helps
Review: This play is best known for the St. Crispian's Day "Band of Brothers" speech given by King Henry just before the battle at Agincourt. It is a powerful speech that rallies people at all times and everywhere. Sir Lawrence Olivier made a film version in 1944 during WWII and Kenneth Branagh made another as recently as 1989. You can count on there being more versions. Epecially so when computers can help them make spectacular battle scenes (that aren't really in the play) with less expense.Audiences love this play and they should. There is a lot to like and enjoy. I think upon repeated readings Henry becomes a more equivocal character than he seems at first. And readers of the King Henry IV plays will know him before he became King Henry and know something deeper about his personality. And of course there is the whole bit about the drive to France being sponsored by the Church to avoid confiscation of property by the Crown. Moreover, there is the slaughtering of the French prisoners, and his treatment of Falstaff (who dies offstage in this play). This isn't revisionist stuff, it is right there in the play, but it is easy to miss the first time you are trying to take in the play. In any case, this Arden edition is the one to buy and read from. Why? Because it has the most authoritative text, but that is only the beginning. It also shows variants between the early sources. The notes at the bottom of each page of the play are simply fabulous. The editor includes not only helpful notes explaining what might be obscure in the text of the play, he provides sources Shakespeare probably used such as Holinshed and makes for some very interesting study. There are also some helpful notes on how various scenes have been performed over time. And to make this sound more like an infomercial, you get more! The introduction provides great background material on the play, its sources, and how it has been performed throughout history. After the play, there is a photo reproduction of the first Quarto from 1600 and it is fairly readable. There are also a couple of maps showing the path of the English Army from Harfleur through other towns on its way to Calais and makes clear how they had to pass through Agincourt. There is also a helpful genealogical table so you can see the confusing claims used by Henry and the French nobility to make their claims. And there is a doubling chart so you can see how theater companies can perform all the roles with fewer actors. This is a great edition as are all the plays published by the Arden Shakespeare. The amount of work collected in these volumes is stunning and they will enrich your experience of the plays tremendously. I can't recommend them enough.
Rating:
Summary: I've always loved this play with its wonderful battle scenes
Review: This play more than any others in the histories glorifies Englishmen and England. His characters in this one are larger than life, but each has their own limitations and flaws. The play covers the time of the Battle of Agincourt when the French King Charles was so sure of victory that he sent a messenger to Henry to ask him to give up and to pay a ransom before the battle. On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, the English were outnumbered five to one, Henry's troops were on foreign soil and riddled with disease. The scenes where Henry dons a disguise and goes out amongst his troops to bolster their confidence are great. The English managed to triumph in this battle where all was stacked against them mostly because of Henry's leadership. This is such a sweeping story that it is hard to condense in a few words, the plot of the play, but it is a wonderful example of Shakespeare's skills as a writer.
Rating:
Summary: The Play Is Great, But Henry Is a Boor
Review: What strikes me most is the play's faceted nature. In *Henry V*, Shakespeare is like a jeweler, cutting through the action of war -- the true subject of this play -- to fashion an aesthetic object whose every scene brings out a different aspect of war. It seems to me impossible to maintain that the play has a comforting moral unless one freeze the view upon a single facet. Rotate the jewel, and the thing looks otherwise. (It follows that directors who cut minor scenes are bound to seriously distort the play.) The inspirational character of the "St. Crispin's Day" speech and the cheerful charm of the wooing of the Princess Katharine, for example, cannot be maintained in the mind when surrounding scenes are contemplated. What does the famous paean to honor amount to when scarcely two hundred lines later King Henry cooly orders his men to commit an atrocity? ("Then every soldier kill his prisoners.") How amusing is Katharine's enforced consent when we recall that in III,iii our noble king told the good people of Harfleur: "What is't to me, when you yourselves are cause,/If your pure maidens fall into the hand/Of hot and forcing violation . . . in a moment look to see/The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand/Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters." Henry's pre-battle prayers and post-battle thanks to God are offset by the fact that the very first scene of the play implies that the Archbishop of Canterbury's support for the expedition to France is the result of a deal to sabotage an anticlerical bill in the House of Commons in exchange for funds from the Church to finance the war? Henry is above all a master of conniving and rationalization. Even his praiseworthy attempt to mingle with the common soldiers (the only action that calls forth much praise from the Chorus) is marred by a stupid prank he cannot resist contriving, thereby humiliating a simple soldier named Michael Williams. The king thinks he can make good this indignity by giving Williams money. He is wrong. Frankly, these antics are in poor taste -- though such tastes are part of what makes the young king appealing to many, no doubt. Forcing a kiss from Katharine at the end of the play is much in the same vein. The fact is, the royal Harry is not only a war criminal but also something of a boor, even if he has reformed since his "Prince Hal" days. Do I exaggerate? Read or reread *Henry V* and see if you do not agree.
Rating:
Summary: Profoundly Brilliant!
Review: Written by Shakespeare for Queen Elizabeth I amidst a time of Irish rebellion, Henry V more than adequately serves its intended purpose of galvanizing nationalistic fervor. It proved itself to be an unwavering and unfaltering impetus of patriotism in Shakespeare's day, during WWII, and still today it continues to resonate and reverberate this provocatively telling tale of the most gloriously revered monarch in English history. Henry V's stirring orations prior to the victorious battles of Harfleur("Once more unto the breach") and Agincourt("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers") astonish and inspire me every time I read them. Simply amazing. Having read Henry IV Parts I&II beforehand, I was surprised Shakespeare failed to live up to his word in the Epilogue of Part II in which he promised to "continue the story, with Sir John in it." The continuing follies of the conniving Bardolph, Nym, & Pistol and their ignominious thieving prove to be somewhat of a depricating underplot which nevertheless proves to act as a succinct metaphor for King Harry's "taking" of France. Powerful and vibrant, the character of Henry V evokes passion and unadulterated admiration through his incredible valor & strength of conviction in a time of utter despondency. It is this conviction and passion which transcends time, and moreover, the very pages that Shakespeare's words are written upon. I find it impossible to overstate the absolute and impregnable puissance of Henry V, a play which I undoubtedly rate as the obligatory cream of the crop of Shakespeare's Histories. I recommend reading Henry IV I&II prior to Henry V as well as viewing Kenneth Branagh's masterpiece film subsequent to reading the equally moving work.
Rating:
Summary: Profoundly Brilliant!
Review: Written by Shakespeare for Queen Elizabeth I amidst a time of Irish rebellion, Henry V more than adequately serves its intended purpose of galvanizing nationalistic fervor. It proved itself to be an unwavering and unfaltering impetus of patriotism in Shakespeare's day, during WWII, and still today it continues to resonate and reverberate this provocatively telling tale of the most gloriously revered monarch in English history. Henry V's stirring orations prior to the victorious battles of Harfleur("Once more unto the breach") and Agincourt("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers") astonish and inspire me every time I read them. Simply amazing. Having read Henry IV Parts I&II beforehand, I was surprised Shakespeare failed to live up to his word in the Epilogue of Part II in which he promised to "continue the story, with Sir John in it." The continuing follies of the conniving Bardolph, Nym, & Pistol and their ignominious thieving prove to be somewhat of a depricating underplot which nevertheless proves to act as a succinct metaphor for King Harry's "taking" of France. Powerful and vibrant, the character of Henry V evokes passion and unadulterated admiration through his incredible valor & strength of conviction in a time of utter despondency. It is this conviction and passion which transcends time, and moreover, the very pages that Shakespeare's words are written upon. I find it impossible to overstate the absolute and impregnable puissance of Henry V, a play which I undoubtedly rate as the obligatory cream of the crop of Shakespeare's Histories. I recommend reading Henry IV I&II prior to Henry V as well as viewing Kenneth Branagh's masterpiece film subsequent to reading the equally moving work.
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