At first glance, Henry V seems to be one of Shakespeare’s simpler plays. It is often interpreted as straightforward patriotic propaganda. Laurence Olivier treated it more or less this way in his brilliant 1944 film version. But the play contains many elements that don’t fit into this interpretation. I’m more inclined to see it as a study of how a charismatic figure can delude others and himself, using various techniques of manipulation. Shakespeare was always aware of these techniques. Marc Antony’s speech to the plebs in Julius Caesar is practically a textbook on how to manipulate a crowd. Henry uses similar methods to keep his war in France rolling, and Shakespear ironically points out the end results for the ordinary men who are caught up in his ambitions. He does this very subtly, however. The play also contains the ancestor of all those American World War II movie scenes where the infantry platoon has a guy from Texas, a guy from Iowa, a guy from New England, and a guy from Brooklyn, each with his accent and comic shtick. In this case, it’s Gower (English), Fluellen (Welsh), Macmorris (Irish) and Jamy (Scottish) each playing out their ethnic stereotypes which, apparently, have remained unchanged for the last five hundred years.
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