The Moral of Henry V

Peter J. Leithart, October 14, 2006

Much of the moral and political import of Shakespeare's Henry V is left to the audience's or reader's judgment. Is Henry a "pig" or is he the mirror of Christian kings? Is his invasion of France fair or foul? Shakespeare doesn't show his hand, or not much; and one is tempted to say that Henry's invasion is, like the day that opens Macbeth, foul and fair.

Aaron Hill, an eighteenth century adapter of Shakespeare wanted to make the moral obvious, so he appended a prologue and changed the final lines. His prologue reads:

No barren Tale t'amuse, our Scene imparts:
But points Example at your kindling Hearts.
Mark, in their Dauphin, to our King oppos'd,
The diffe'rent Genius of the Realms disclos'd:
There, the French Levity - vain, -boastful, -loud:
Dancing, in Death, -gay, wanton, fierce, and proud.
Here, with a silent Fire, a temper'd Heat!
Calmly resolved, out English Bosoms beat.
Art is too poor, to raise the Dead, tis true:
But Nature does it, by their Worth, in You!
Your Blood, that warm'd their Veins, still flows, the same:
Still feeds your Valour, and supports their Fame.
Oh! let it waste no more, in Civil Jarr:
But flow, for glorious Fame, in foreign War.

After that kind of jingoist opening, the audience is no doubt as fired to fight Frenchmen as Henry's own men after his Crispin's Day speech. At least we know: France is full of vice; England of virtue; and my goodness shouldn't Virtue just cross the Channel and trounce Vice? And why stop at the Channel? If France is full of vice, surely Africa, India, the South Sea islands must be cesspools as well, just waiting to be cleared by virtuous Englishmen.

The ending of Hill's play also dramatically alters the tone of the original. Shakespeare's play ends with a grim, de-crescending reminder of the loss of France and the bloody Wars of the Roses that occurred in the reign of Henry's successor. Hill turns it into another patriotic rallying cry for service to the State:

Thus have our Arms, triumphany, purchas'd Fame,
And warlike England boasts a dreadful Name;
O! that the bright Example might inspire!
And teach my Country not to waste her Fire!
But, shunning Faction, and Domestic Hate,
Bend All her Vigour, to advance her State.