Henry V 933the kingdom. In act 1, Bishops Ely and Canterbury
reassure us that Henry has transformed. Canterbury
claims, “The courses of his youth promised it not. /
The breath no sooner left his father’s body / But that
his wildness mortified in him, / Seemed to die too”
(1.1.25–28). Despite this transformation, his lack
of earlier responsibility results in France not taking
his claim to their throne seriously. The Dauphin
(French prince) claims, for instance, that there is no
reason to fear England because it is ruled by “a vain,
giddy, shallow, humorous youth” (2.4.28).
However, despite the transformation from shal-
low youth to imperial monarch, Henry consistently
assigns responsibility for his actions to others. For
instance, when the French give him a gift of ten-
nis balls in response to his claim to the throne, he
reacts to the insult by saying that the French have
not realized the use he made of his “wilder days”
and instructs the messenger to tell the Dauphin
that “this mock of his / Hath turned his balls to
gunstones, and his soul / Shall stand sore charged
for the wasteful vengeance / That shall fly from
them” (1.2.281–284). Despite the fact that Henry
will be the invader, he shifts the responsibility onto
the French. Similarly, at the siege of Harfleur, Henry
shifts responsibility to both the French governors of
the city and his own English soldiers. Arguing that
the French should surrender, Henry tells him, “Take
pity of your town and your people / Whiles yet my
soldiers are in my command / Whiles yet the cool
and temperate wind of grace / Overblows the filthy
and contagious clouds of heady murder, spoil, and
villainy” (3.3.105–109). Henry undermines his own
responsibility by claiming that he will not be able to
control his soldiers from committing atrocities if the
French do not surrender soon.
Responsibility is explored not just in the earthly
realm but in the heavenly one as well. On the eve of
the Battle of Agincourt, Henry dresses as a common
soldier and goes out among the troops, seeming to
gauge their morale. One of the soldiers asserts that
their duty to the king absolves them of any sin com-
mitted in executing that duty. Specifically, he claims
that “If his cause be wrong, our obedience to the
King wipes the crime of it out of us” (4.1.125–127).
Another soldier immediately continues, “But if the
cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy
reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms
and heads chopped off in battle shall join together
in the latter day” (4.1.128–131). To which Henry
counters, “The King is not bound to answer the
particular endings of his soldiers” and “Every sub-
ject’s duty is the King’s, but every subject’s soul is
his own” (4.1.146–147, 164–165). Thus, Henry feels
that his responsibility extends only to commanding
the soldiers rather than being responsible for their
salvation. Interestingly, he does not address the issue
or take responsibility for the justness of the cause.
Alone at the end of this scene, Henry ponders
the burden of responsibility that comes with king-
ship. After the soldiers depart, he comments to him-
self, “Upon the King. / ‘Let us our lives, our souls,
our debts, our care-full wives, / Our children, and
our sins, lay on the King.’ / We must bear all. O hard
condition, / Twin-born with greatness” (4.1.212–
216). He finishes the speech by commenting that
the peasant realizes “what watch the King keeps to
maintain the peace” (4.1.265). Here Henry struggles
under the burden of responsibility and realizes that
this responsibility as king can be rhetorically shifted
but never actually avoided.
Christopher L. MorrowSocIaL cLaSS in Henry V
Both Renaissance England and the 15th century
(when the play is set) maintained strict hierarchal
class systems consisting basically of upper and lower
classes. Social mobility or moving to a higher class
was difficult, in part because of the belief that every-
one had a defined societal role. Bishop Canterbury
reminds readers of this belief early in the play, tell-
ing Henry and the English nobles, “Therefore doth
heaven divide / The state of man in divers[e] func-
tions, / . . . / where some like magistrates correct at
home; Other like merchants venture trade abroad; /
Others like soldiers, armed in their stings, / Make
boot upon the summer’s velvet buds” (1.2.183–184,
191–194). By raising the issue explicitly, Shake-
speare prepares his audiences to consider social class
as one of the issues explored in this play.
Social classes are variously represented in the
play, with Henry and his fellow nobles representing
the upper class and common soldiers representing
the lower classes. Henry’s transformation from wild