# of Words: 336

Composed around 1599, Henry V is the last play in William Shakespeare' second tetralogy, a set of history plays which contains Richard II, Henry Part 1, and Henry IV Part two. In the previous works, Shakespeare portrays Henry's days as a crazy and reckless adolescent. In Henry V, "Wild Prince Hal" has long since grown up into a competent king who's determined to invade France and lay claim to the French throne.

Though written about the early 1400s, for countless years audiences have discovered this bit of historical fiction pertinent to their own wars. When the play was first performed in 1599, the portrayal of Henry V's military campaign could have made Shakespeare's original Elizabethan audience to think about their own shaky political situation. Back in Ireland, the Earl of Tyrone had lately started a rebellion (1594-1603) and Queen Elizabeth I has lately delivered her Beloved go-to man, the Earl of Essex, to squash the uprising (which did not exactly work out as planned)

Throughout World War II, Laurence Olivier's dramatic reading of this was broadcast on the radio and, according to scholar Marjorie Garber, it soon "became a patriotic call to arms to get embattled Britain" (Shakespeare After All). In other words, Shakespeare's words helped to pump up the British to fight against Hitler, which is fairly impressive, would not you say? Two years following his radio broadcast, Olivier directed and starred in a movie adaptation which adopted the identical patriotic tone. The passage has also been quoted in countless political speeches, movies, and literary works. (It even moved the name of Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers, that was afterwards turned into a TV miniseries about WWII soldiers).

It isn't merely the St. Crispin's Day speech that audiences remember. As a complete, Shakespeare's play has given rise to endless debates about the contrasts between Henry V's military campaign and contemporary warfare. Back in 1989, Kenneth Branagh's movie adaptation of Henry V underscored the dreadful realties of war and called into question Henry's justification for invading a foreign state.

Related Papers

Daisy Miller Henry James

Despite all of this wonderful greatness, the novella was originally refused for publication. (Keep this in mind the next time you go on a job interview.) The difficulty was, the American writer believed the story would rage American readers. Instead, James had to sell the story to the English, who had been thrilled by the charm and humor of their latest import. According to the writer, editor, and writer William Dean Howells, English readers were allegedly divided between "Daisy Millerites and......Read More

Easter, 1916 W.B. Yeats

W.B. Yeats's "Easter, 1916" is all about a historical event known as the Easter Uprising, that occurred in Ireland on Easter of (you have it) 1916. Basically, the British promised the Irish that they would give them free rule over their nation in 1914. But then just a small scuffle known as World War Ibroke out, and also the English totally backed down on their promise, telling the Irish that they'd get around to the entire home-rule thing when the war was finished. Well, a few Irish people did......Read More

Angels In America Tony Kushner

Ever since the introduction of the monster megahit Angels in America, Kushner has been one of the most widely admired playwrights on the planet. Angels investigates the AIDS epidemic in the gay community in the 1980s. It was known as by theater critic Frank Rich of the New York Times "a radial rethinking of American political play." This revolutionary bit of theater basically won every award a play could potentially triumph: a Pulitzer, a Tony, a Drama Desk, a New York Critics Circle -- the......Read More

Related Topics