Summary: Act III, Prologue
The Chorus describes the magnificence with which King
Henry sails from England to France. We learn that Henry lands with
a large fleet of warships at Harfleur, a port city on the northern
coast of France. There, the English army attacks the city with terrifying
force. The alarmed King Charles offers King Henry a compromise:
he will not give him the crown of France, but he will give him some
small dukedoms—that is, small sub-regions within France—as well
as the hand of his daughter, Catherine, in marriage. But Henry rejects
the offer, and the siege continues.
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Act III, Prologue →
Summary: Act III, scene i
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril
wide,
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof….
(See Important Quotations Explained)
In the midst of the siege, King Henry appears to rally
his soldiers. He delivers a powerful speech, conjuring up the memory
of the Englishmen’s warlike ancestors and appealing to soldiers,
noblemen, and commoners alike.
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Act III, scene i →
Summary: Act III, scene ii
The scene shifts to Nim, Bardolph, Pistol, and the boy.
Their conversation reveals that reception of the king’s speech is
rather mixed. Bardolph appears eager for the fight, but Nim, Pistol,
and the boy are less happy about the idea of facing death. They
wish they were safe back in London, drinking ale.
A superior officer notices the men loitering, and he
beats them with a sword until they rush back into the fight. The
officer, also in the service of King Henry, is a Welsh captain named
Fluellen. The grown men run off, but the boy remains behind for
a few moments to muse on the folly and hypocrisy of Nim, Bardolph,
and Pistol. He declares that they are all cowards; he has learned
this much in the time he has been serving them. He says that they
want him to start learning to pick pockets and become a thief like
them, but that such an idea is an affront to his manhood. He decides
he must leave them and start looking for a better job.
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Act III, scene ii →
Analysis: Act III, Prologue and scenes i–ii
King Henry’s famous speech before the walls of Harfleur,
which takes up all of Act III, scene i, is one of the most celebrated
passages in the entire play. From his opening plea of “Once more
unto the breach, dear friends, once more,” Henry unifies his men
for his cause (III.i.1). The whole of the
stirring passage uses the techniques of poetry to celebrate and
glorify war. In particular, Henry invokes images and metaphors from
nature—of wild animals like the tiger and of natural forces like
the weather—to urge his men to shift into a state of nearly uncontrolled
ferocity for battle. His command to his men to “imitate the action
of the tiger. / Stiffen the sinews, conjure up the blood, / Disguise
fair nature with hard-favoured rage” is a call to arms, a call for
his men to display their masculinity (III.i.5–8).
In his speech, Henry also uses two other inspirational
tactics. First, he invokes English patriotism, calling upon “you,
good yeomen, / Whose limbs were made in England,” to “show us here
/ The mettle of your pasture; let us swear / That you are worth
your breeding” (III.i.25–28).
Henry’s exploitation of patriotism is a two-part process: he exalts
all things English and then compels his soldiers to prove that they
are worthy Englishmen. In so doing, and in reminding his men of
their warlike ancestors and great historical battles, he attempts
to rouse nationalist fervor among his men and a sense of pride in
them about their glorious heritage. Second, Henry takes a nontraditional
democratic stance, expressing an egalitarian view of soldiering
by saying that every soldier is as good as a nobleman: “For there
is none of you so mean and base / That hath not noble lustre in
your eyes” (III.i.29–30).
With these words, Henry endows his men with an elevated stature,
which he hopes will compel them to act in an elevated manner.
