Shakespeare Sunday: Henry V

Here is the first of my 'Shakespeare Sunday' features, where I take an extract from one of the plays, and write my thoughts. 

'A little touch of Harry in the night...' Henry V, Act IV, Prologue 

Consider the Chorus: An Unreliable Narrator?

O now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruin'd band
Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
Let him cry 'Praise and glory on his head!'
For forth he goes and visits all his host.
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile
And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note
How dread an army hath enrounded him;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watched night,
But freshly looks and over-bears attaint
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty;
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
A largess universal like the sun
His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.

Henry V is the fourth play in the 'Henriad' tetralogy, a sequence of four historical plays which present the lives and legacies of the English monarchs Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V. In this play, Prince Hal has acceded to the throne of England, but is also in pursuit of the throne of France. Centring around the Battle of Agincourt, the play is a tumultuous narrative with rapid changes in setting, full-throttle fight scenes, as well as quieter, more contemplative moments where the morality of war is argued and debated.

Such a play is not only a tremendous task for a playwright, but also a tremendous ask for an audience. In the 'wooden 'O'' of the new Globe Theatre, it was not uncommon for the audience to be unable to see the action unfolding on stage. So how might such an audience be expected to follow this epic story?

Enter Chorus.

The Chorus, as a dramatic device, is seldom seen in Shakespeare's plays, but in Henry V it is used to great effect. In a prologue at the beginning of each act, the Chorus announces what has happened and what is to come, condensing the narrative to the key elements and sometimes filling in on action which has not been staged. The Chorus also alludes to the difficulty of staging such a vast story, apologising for the inadequacy of the stage space and the players, and encouraging the audience to use their imaginations to 'piece out' what is lacking.

After watching the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2015 Henry V again on DVD, I listened to an interview with Oliver Ford Davies (see below), who portrayed the Chorus in this production. I was very interested in one particular insight he gave into the character, which informs the chosen extract above:

'He seems to me a very early example of a modern device - he is the unreliable narrator [...] And so you think, what is Shakespeare up to here? What I think he's up to is that at times, the Chorus gives us the official history. Shakespeare, who was always a subversive writer, shows you that this is not actually what happened.'

So, to take the extract above...

At the beginning of Act IV, the Chorus gives a vivid and immersive description of the evening before the battle - of the night, its sounds, and of the two restless camps, waiting and preparing for the day ahead. Within the English camp, King Henry walks amongst the men, encouraging them by appearing to them fearless, even 'cheerful'. This 'little touch of Harry' is presented as being a soothing, enriching influence on the men, and they are thankful for it. This is the 'official history' - here, the king is graceful and modest, and the English soldiers are loyal and brave.

In the very next scene, this official narrative is unraveled completely. The scenario the Chorus has prepared us for is proven false, as King Henry travels through the camp in disguise, and his presence is met with suspicion and hostility. The English soldiers reveal their discontent in the campaign, and their distrust of the king they follow; these men are quarrelsome in their fearfulness, and spiteful in their homesickness. Even Henry is not what the Chorus promised: rather than being 'cheerful', he appears disheartened; rather than being 'sweet' or 'modest', he desperately and vehemently defends himself.

So why does Shakespeare unravel and subvert the Chorus's idealised fiction, and give us this wholly different truth?

• To allow Shakespeare to present what he believes to be the truth of war: as something neither glorious nor entirely meaningless; as something emotionally and morally complex, which plays on the hearts and minds of all men differently; as something which brings out the worst and the best in people?
• To portray the English (and the king) at their lowest, so their triumph the next day shines all the brighter?
• To reflect how complicated the relationship is between a king and his subjects: something poised between love and hate, devotion and distrust, empathy and disinterest?
• To show Henry as the human he truly is. When he removes his crown and dons a cloak, there is nothing to separate king from commoner. Not recognising 'Harry le Roy' to be their king allows the men to speak their minds freely; in turn, Henry can also vent his fears, express his frustrations, and air his doubts. Both parties benefit from such an exchange: the soldiers are able to voice their opinions before they turn to resentment, while the king receives honest, unflattering counsel from his subjects. We wonder whether the Chorus's scenario would have been as liberating or as healthy for the army, on the eve of battle. 

Focusing now on the final line of the extract above, and the one quoted in the title of this feature: 'a little touch of Harry in the night'. For me, this line resonates more with the actual manner of events than what the Chorus has just described. The 'little touch' implies something vague and insubstantial, a figure who bears a resemblance to the king, but is not entirely him - a figure such as Harry le Roy, we might say. The use of the informal name 'Harry', rather than Henry is more personal, and less regal - it is the man, rather than the king, who visits the soldiers. 'In the night' adds to the veiled nature in which Harry walks the camp, providing the setting by which he obscures his true identity. The Chorus has given us the 'official history', as bold and brave as the King Henry he depicts, but in this line, he pulls up his hood, and introduces us to the Harry we're about to meet. Perhaps he is not so unreliable after all. 

And so King Henry becomes Harry. And Harry, I'd argue, becomes Hal, at least for a moment. The first person he meets when he sets foot in the camp is Pistol, an old acquaintance from his years in the Boar's Head Tavern. If Pistol were to come into vicinity of the king, he would be arrested - being one of Falstaff's company who misled the king in his youth, he would not be permitted near the king's person. But in this scene, it is Harry who comes, disguised, into Pistol's vicinity, and the exchange is almost tender. Pistol expresses both his hate and love for Harry: 'the king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold'; Harry, in turn, forgives Pistol's insults and appears to respect and admire him, commenting that his name 'sorts well with [his] fierceness'. Harry, perhaps for the first time since his coronation day, is confronted with his old life, and in the darkness of the night, even King Henry V feels a little touch of Hal return to him. 

Here is the interview with Oliver Ford Davies, quoted above:

Photo (top) by Keith Pattison, copyright of RSC, found here.