Early Modern Perspectives on Honor and Arms

By: Garrett Smith

HR: Works cited, citation from syllabus, modern version of the play online for comparison and understanding, reviewed by Writing Center Cadet: Annika Tice.

Word Count: 721

 

 

Garrett Smith

Colonel Miller

ERH-321WX-02

22 September 2018

 

King Henry V- Early Modern Perspectives in England on Honor and Arms

Part 1      

During the Medieval Period, war was viewed as the ultimate proving ground for honor. For a Knight, fighting and spilling blood in combat was the epitome of chivalry and knighthood. “Better to die in battle than to live in shame”, was a frequently espoused ideology (319). At the time of King Henry’s reign, honor to the family name was paramount, often coming second to loyalty to the Crown. Honor was first and foremost owed to the family name, this sense of honor dictated that conduct yourself admirably in combat and that if someone challenged your character that you address it accordingly. This makes for an interesting contrast with the English views on civic order and rebellion. Whereas the Crown wholeheartedly believed in the King as “vice-regent” to God, there was also another belief that noble rebellion to the King could be sanctioned if the Honor of one’s family was at stake (320).

Honor operated in two realities, that of the court and that of the battlefield. As the medieval period progressed, honor became less of a battlefield accolade and more of an indicator of political prowess in the Queen’s Court. Knights began to lose political and social standing as the political landscape of the Court and England changed. The domestic need for more professionals such as lawyers, craftsmen, and bureaucrats and the military status of the Knights began to decline (321). To offset their growing antiquatedness a series of mock combat trials were held. These served the dual purpose of allowing the Knights a way to regain honor and also allowed the Crown a method of checking the nobility to her own will. In this manner the Knights had to win competition and earn the favor of the Crown in order to hold political power (321).

Part 2

In the play Henry desires to conquest France, as a man of nobility and honor this would be one of the highest signs of chivalry that he could partake in. This is further reinforced by the fact that he sees the throne as his right and as such a just cause backed by the church.

Interestingly, Henry V breaks from the typical notion of honor as an individual thing and instead makes it very communal. Just a short time earlier in Henry IV we see many contrasts between the Prince and Hotspur and ultimately this culminates in single combat between the two. This differs in Henry IV, while we still see a contrast of character and attitude between the Dauphine and the King, there are no epic individual fights. We instead see grand battles play out over castles and fields between two great armies, one outnumbered hopelessly. We get to follow the King on his advance through the castle of Harfleur, and then to the final battle of Agincourt, both of these scenes heavily emphasize the honor of the King’s armies. They fight weary and outnumbered, but they always prevail.

This idea of honor of the family and honor as a mass construct and not an individual one is particularly espoused in the King’s speech to his soldiers outside the breached wall to Harlfeur.

“On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!” (III, I, 17-18)

Or,

“Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call’d fathers did beget you” (III, I, 22-23)

Or,

“For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes” (III, I, 29-30)

In the first quote Henry calls on the soldier’s pride as Englishmen and the fierceness of their bloodline. In doing so he drives them to fight harder and fiercer as the honor of England rests with them. In the second quote Henry appeals to the familial sense of honor and the pride that affixed to a name. He tells them to prove they are the sons of their brave fathers and not their mother’s bastard child, through their deeds in battle. Finally, Henry claims that none of them are worthless, they all carry nobility just by having the honor of fighting for their country and for family. His call to arms was particularly effective as he was able to rally his troops and take the city. By fulfilling their King’s wishes all those who fought there elevated themselves in status and honor above those who were not by his side.

 

Works Cited:

Shakespeare, William. The first Part of King Henry the Fourth: Texts and Contexts. Ed. Barbara Hodgdon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 1997.

Shakespeare, William. King Henry V. Ed. Claire McEachern. The Pelican Shakespeare Series. Penguin, 1999.