King Henry V

By: Shakespeare, William

Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare. It tells the story of King Henry V of England, focusing on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War. Before the Battle of Agincourt, victory looks uncertain, and the young king's heroic character emerges in his decision to wander around the English camp at night, in disguise, so as to comfort his soldiers and determine what they really think of him. He agonizes about the moral burden of being king, noting that a king is only a man. Before the battle, Henry rallies his troops with the famous St Crispin's Day Speech, referring to "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1984304399
• ISBN13: 9781984304391
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Henry V, a play by William Shakespeare.

AKA “King Henry V” for many books Some books are annotated, others have footnotes with translation from Shakesphere’s time to now. 30 years ago, I read the play and then let it slip from my repertoire. So now it is new again. I started with “A Brief Guide to William Shakespeare without the Boring bits” commentary by Peter Aykroyd, and then worked my way through three film versions. Now, finally, I am reading the play to see what I missed. The BBC is more complete and closer in verbiage to the original play versions. In Lawrence Olivia’s movie version, they were forced to cut out much of the play because of time constraints, and because of the time of the production, Henry V could not look like a tyrant, and they had to justify the war so it would coincide with the WWII war effort. However, Kenneth Branagh, making his directing debut, pulled out all the stops with his version of the film. He may have missed a few lines here and there, but he replaced them with visuals and innuendos. This story is based on prior works, but can stand alone very well, as what history of Henry is needed is mentioned in the play. Henry V was a sort of playboy (probably by cunning design) as a youth, and when becoming king, has decided to acquire France, which is his heritage. In the process, he must prove his ability to understand and lead people. One of his first tests is to detect treachery and remove it. The films leave out a lot of the information that makes this story complete and interesting. I must say the Kindle version helps you move along with text-to-speak; without it, you will find yourself constantly looking at the dictionary the first time through. The second time through it runs much smoother, but people look at you funning when you use terms like puissant. Two-thirds of the words came up in the online Kindle dictionary; the rest had to rely on other online dictionaries. In any event, as usual, I found many daily quotes had come from this play: We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother If you do not come away with any other wisdom, remember, if you are traveling through France, keep an eye on your luggage.