Henry V – Act One “The breath no sooner left his father’s body, but his wildness, mortified in him, seem’d to die too…”

Henry V – Act One “The breath no sooner left his father’s body, but his wildness, mortified in him, seem’d to die too…”

I like to believe the mythology that the first play performed at the Globe Theatre was ‘Henry V’. The story is believed to have gone something like this. Richard Burbage’s father, James Burbage had built The Theatre in 1576 on Curtain Road in Shoreditch. The Theatre was a 1200 to 1500 seater amphitheatre-style Elizabethan playhouse and James Burbage had signed a 21year lease for the site at Shoreditch. The owner of the land, Giles Allen claimed at the end of 1596, that since the lease had expired, the land and the building on it reverted back to him in terms of ownership. The matter had been referred to lawyers throughout 1598. On the rainy morning of December 28^th 1598, carpenter Peter Street along with the half a dozen laborers and the shareholders of the Lord Chamberlain’s men including Richard Burbage, Cuthbert Burbage, John Heminges, William Shakespeare, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope and William Kempe, began dismantling The Theatre to take the timber to a riverside warehouse Street had by the River Thames in Bridewell. This was in preparation for using the timber for a new theatre with a new design. This theatre was to be built on a new site at Maiden Lane Southwark when the weather was a bit drier. Early in spring of 1599 The Theatre’s beams were raised again to build the new theatre which could accommodate an audience of 2000 people. This theatre was to be called the Globe Theatre.

Shakespeare had had great success with the trilogy of ‘Richard II’, ‘Henry IV Part 1’ and ‘Henry IV Part 2’ and now it was time to deliver on the finale of these history plays with the most anticipated and most well-known of these histories, ‘The Chronicle History of Henry the Fifth’. Shakespeare probably had written speeches for the play and scribbled plot ideas for a couple of years now, but with his 15 % ownership in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and bills to pay on the new Globe Theatre and back in Stratford, he and the company needed a success. Elizabethan audiences had met the wild, undisciplined Prince Hal but now it was time for them to meet King Henry V as he embarked on a quest to reunite all of England on his conquests and trials on the battlefields of France.

“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention,

A kingdom for a stage, princes to act

And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!”

It is a stirring moment in theatre to hear The Chorus’ first words in the Prologue of ‘Henry V’. “O for a Muse of fire…” Unlike a Greek Chorus, The Chorus in this play is more like the medieval chorus of a single actor. The scene is set and The Chorus fires our “imaginary forces” asking us to see “within this wooden O” and imagine two mighty monarchs, thousands of soldiers, great battles, and the sound of thousands of “proud hoofs”. The stage is set for the actors and the audience to embark on a great journey through history and their own imaginations.

We start with political maneuverings. The Church big boys in the persons of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely seemed worried about a bill that the new king King Henry V has put forward which would see the government appropriate considerable church property and assets. The Church is portrayed as filled with greed and corruption. What’s more, these two heads of the Church in England seem to resent Henry V using money to fund almshouses, feed the poor and supplement his treasury for other projects. However, they do admire the new King Henry V and marvel at the great changes that have happened to him since his father’s death. Still, they are not willing to give up their riches. They come up with a plan to encourage the king to pursue a war against France and even advocate the Church contribute a considerable sum towards the army. They mention that King Henry V is about to meet with a French delegation and they hope that these dealings play right into their hands.

The audience now sees for the first time since his brief crowning at the end of ‘Henry IV Part 2’, the new King Henry V. Before meeting with the French delegation, King Henry V talks to the Archbishop of Canterbury and asks him to explain what claims he, King Henry V, might have to the throne of France. This speech is as much to remind the audience of the complicated arguments for the English throne’s claim on France. In short, Canterbury explains that through a French law, known as the Salic Law, a throne cannot be inherited through the maternal line. He explains that the law itself is ridiculous since Salique was originally part of Germany anyway. English kings can inherit the crown on the maternal side. Under English law, because King Henry V’s great-great-grandmother was the French princess and the daughter of the King of France, the Archbishop of Canterbury explains that King Henry V has a claim to parts of France but that he must fight for it.

Everyone seems to want King Henry to invade but he is worried that when he leaves for France, rebels in Scotland would then cross the border and England would be left defenseless. Canterbury uses religious analogies but finally puts forward that three quarters of the army should be left to defend England and only a quarter should go with Henry to invade France. King Henry V agrees.

The French ambassadors are invited in, to represent the concerns of and bring a gift from the Dauphin (the heir to the French throne and the son of the king of France). The Dauphin insults King Henry V and says, “…you savour too much of your youth…” inferring that Henry is too young to rule and act responsibly. The Dauphin compounds these insults through giving King Henry V a gift of a treasure box filled with tennis balls. Although deeply offended, King Henry V thanks the Dauphin for his gift and pleasantness and rises to the challenge and maintains that he will conquer France and “… strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.” King Henry V ends with his own message and warnings for the Dauphin:

“His jest will savour but of shallow wit,

When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.”