Activity 1 - Thinking about the Theatre in ‘Henry V’
Henry V (1599) concludes Shakespeare’s long series of plays about English history.
Focusing on the events that lead up to the battle of Agincourt in 1415, during the Hundred
Years War, and its aftermath, Henry V is the final play in the tetralogy which includes
Richard II, and Henry IV parts 1 and 2. Across these four plays, the audience witnesses
Henry’s transformation from the impressionable Prince Hal to the inspirational leader who
defeats the French and is eventually betrothed to the French king’s daughter. In depicting
these events from English history, Shakespeare drew on popular sixteenth-century historical
chronicles, particularly those of Raphael Holinshed.
In this play, the figure ‘Chorus’ appears to deliver the opening Prologue, and reappears
throughout to give a preface to each subsequent act of the play, and then an Epilogue. The
Chorus speaks some of the finest poetry in Henry V, framing each act, and contributing to
the epic tone of the play. Your first task is to read the Prologue – perhaps aloud, and
certainly several times, to familiarise yourself with it. The Prologue is provided in full here,
with some brief explanatory glosses at the end, but you may want to read it in a complete
version of the play.
Enter CHORUS
Oh 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.
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
5
Assume the port of Mars, and at his heels
(Leashed in, like hounds) should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraisèd spirits, that hath dared,
On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth
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So great an object. Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
Oh, pardon: since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million,
And let us, ciphers to this great account,
On your imaginary forces work.
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Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
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Whose high uprearèd and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts.
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance.
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Think when we talk of horses that you see them
Printing their proud hooves i’th’receiving earth,
For ’tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o’er times,
Turning th’accomplishment of many years
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Into an hour-glass. For the which supply
Admit me Chorus to this history,
Who, Prologue-like, your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge our play.
1
6
9
10
11
13
15
16
17
17
21
21
23
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source of inspiration – a classical trope
deportment; posture and appearance
spirits which have not been conjured up like demons
the platform of the stage – either modesty or mock-modesty
ring, arena – a deliberately diminutive portrayal of the theatre
wooden barrels – another kind of ‘wooden O’
a curved number, i.e. zero: the addition of zeros to any number
increases it tenfold each time
attest
vouch for
ciphers
numbers
account
a reckoning – i.e. a sum; a great story
abutting
constructed against each other
fronts
frontiers; the cliffs of Calais and Dover
Piece out
add to
imaginary puissance fictional army
muse
port
unraisèd spirits
unworthy scaffold
cockpit
casques
crooked figure
Close Reading
Paying careful attention to Shakespeare’s use of language in these 34 lines, consider the
following questions:
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How does the Chorus portray the space of the theatre?
What are the challenges of representing a battlefield on the early modern stage?
What are the spatial and temporal limitations of the stage?
How can a play transcend the ‘imperfections’ of the stage?
What kind of relationship does the Chorus establish with the audience?
What are the roles and responsibilities of the audience in participating in the play?
To what extent is the Chorus displaying modesty or false modesty about the theatre
and its limitations?