The Myth Structure and Rituality of 'Henry V'

Abstract

As he planned his series of plays on the Lancastrian kings, Shakespeare surely realized at the outset that the climactic work, his dramatization of Henry V's 'exploits and mighty enterprises' (I. 2. 121), would call for quite a different approach.' The result was a bold experiment that succeeded, fully transcending the special constraints of the material. For certain attributes of the Henry V legend did in fact comprise a set of artistic givens which decided the playwright on a method of storytelling unique to Henry V: the use of a presenter-narrator, the Chorus, in so dominating a fashion as to alter its traditional function. The deeper implications of this metadramatic technique will be examined later in this essay. But I would first delve into those qualities of his subject matter that focused Shakespeare's perceptions and put him in effect under an unusual obligation, leading him to adopt the presentational strategy that he did. One obvious factor was his noteworthy protagonist, the larger-than-life culture hero who epitomized the ideal king, one whom the dramatist could ringingly portray as 'the young Phoebus' (iii. Chorus 6), 'aJove' (11.4. Ioo), a man 'full of grace and fair regard' (I. I. 22), 'the mirror of all Christian Kings' (ii. Chorus 6), and 'this star of England [. . .] in the very May-morn of his youth' (Epilogue 6; 1.2. 120). Here indeed was right subject matter to challenge any would-be author to meet the exalted expectancies of heroical poetry which the admired Sir Philip Sidney had told his countrymen was not only a kind, but the best and most accomplished kind of Poetry. For as the image of each action stirreth and instructeth the mind, so the lofty image of such worthies [Achilles, Cyrus, Aeneas, etc.] most inflameth the mind with desire to be worthy, and informs with counsel how to be worthy.2