‘Je ne voudrais prononcer ces mots’

Abstract

Catherine’s language lesson in Henry V turns on the use of two bawdy French words, foutre and con – or rather, on the English words foot and gown which, when pronounced by the French speakers, sound like the bawdy words. In the courtship scene, Harry and Catherine avoid such words, yet each desires what they signify; both play a linguistic game in which they attempt to achieve what decorum prevents them from naming. Instead of direct and clear expression, this linguistic game involves figurative language and euphemism. A source for the linguistic principles underpinning both scenes is the medieval French fabliau.