The Revelation of the Masterpiece - Henry V: Great, Wise, Terrifying

In the first part of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Prince Harry once described himself as the sun obscured by floating clouds. At the beginning of Henry V, he claimed to be the "radiant" sun when he ascended to the throne. A courtier said to him, "Never before has a king been loved and feared by his subjects as His Majesty has been. ”

Henry V was indeed infinitely admired by his subjects. The Archbishop of Canterbury described: "Listening to him preach the holy doctrine, you can't help but be humble, privately hoping that the emperor will become a priest; listening to him discuss the affairs of the country, you will say that this knowledge is his life's work; listen to him talk about the art of war, then you hear the terrible war turn into soft music." Whenever any national event came into his hands, the unsolvable knot was untied—as if he were untying his garter belt. As soon as he opened his mouth, the air, the unruly naughty boy, fell silent; and the people pricked up their ears and listened to his wonderful exaltation with wordless exclamation. "It is not difficult to see that Henry V was a very charismatic king.

Henry V declared himself: "I am not a tyrant, but a Christian king, and all impermanent moods and angers are controlled by reason." He practiced benevolent government, believing that "when 'benevolence' and 'brutality' compete for the royal cause, it is always the kind and pleasant 'benevolence' who wins it first." Even many of his father's original enemies "had long forgotten their old hatreds, were content to obey, and were loyal to him with duty and enthusiasm." Ordinary people also called the king "a good old man, and his heart is golden", and even claimed that "I kissed his muddy shoes, and I loved this baby from my heart and eyes". Henry V, who had a crush on his old friend Falstaff at the end of Henry IV (Part II), now has the fervent support of the people with his superb skill.

Many commentators believe that Shakespeare made Henry V the ideal ruler. In fact, Henry V focuses on one thing Henry V did, that is, to attack France. In this case, we see both Henry V's extraordinary leadership qualities and his extremely terrifying side.

The conquest of France was originally Henry V's personal ambition, he wanted to compete with his French brother for the right to inherit, but he succeeded in turning this private desire into a great cause that the people of England were passionately pursuing. He called out, "Go to France!" Go over there and do something, and the glory will belong to me and you. ...... Go, my dear fellow citizens, and put our great army in the palm of God's hand. Send troops right away. Raise the battle flag and go to the sea with joy; if you do not claim the title of emperor in France, you will not be the king of England. ”

The people, who had long admired him, immediately answered his call. "Now, the youth of all England, whose hearts are burning like fire, have removed the brocade robes from the banquet and put them in the closet - now it is popular to wear a military uniform! Boiling in every boy's chest is the ambition to win glory for the country. They sold their cattle and sheep to buy horses, and to add wings to their feet, like the angels of England, so that they might follow the holy kings of the man. "Their fiery hearts, leaving behind their flesh that were guarding England, had already flown to the barracks in the French position."

After the war broke out, Henry V was also very good at encouraging people's courageous sacrifice spirit: "Rush, rush, your noblest Englishmen, in your veins, flow with the blood of your battle-hardened ancestors!" In this area, your ancestors, one by one, are heroes of the world, fighting from morning to night, until they can no longer find their opponents, and then they collect their own sword blades. Don't humiliate your mothers; now, show your courage to prove that it is indeed them—the people you call fathers, who gave birth to you! Set an example for those who don't have the guts and teach them how to fight! And you, good peasants, you have grown up from the land of England, and here you will show you the skills of the athletes of the motherland. Let us swear that you are truly English—I have no doubt about that; for neither of you is the kind of person who humiliates himself and is short-sighted, and all of you have a majestic glint in your eyes. How can this remark not make people feel enthusiastic and desperate? Just like in those days, words such as "make up your mind and are not afraid of sacrifice..." and "Countless revolutionary martyrs have sacrificed in front of us, let us feel sad when we think of them..." and so on, have also made the blood of all Chinese youth boil.

In the famous Battle of Agincourt, the French army was five times more powerful than the British army, but the latter won a great victory. With extraordinary imagination, Shakespeare played the main reason for the British victory in the play. Henry V gave a lengthy speech before the war that inspired the heroism of the soldiers. He transformed a war of aggression into a great feat of immense nobility, of which the participants were infinitely proud: "If anyone does not have the courage to fight this battle, he is left behind, and we issue him a pass and put the travel expenses needed along the way into his pocket." We don't want to die with such a person - he is afraid to die with all of us. Today's day is called 'Crispin', and anyone who has passed today's level and can return home safely and unharmed will be awe-struck whenever he mentions this day; whenever he hears the name 'Crispin', his spirit will be lifted. Whoever spends this day today, in the future, will come to old age, and every year on the eve of the Crispin Festival, he will put wine to invite his neighbors and say: 'Tomorrow is St. Crispin's Day!' Then he rolled up his sleeves, showed them his scars, and said, 'These scars were all made on Crispin's Day.' The old man has a bad memory, but even if he forgets everything, he will remember very clearly the heroic deeds he did on that day. ...... And Crispin's Day, from today until the end of the world, will never pass casually, and we who act in this festival will never be forgotten. We, a few, a lucky few, we are a team of brothers - for today he is bleeding with me, he is my good brothers; no matter how humble he is, this day will bring him the status of a gentleman. And the gentleman of England, who is now lying in bed, will later complain about his fate, regret how it is not his turn to come here; and in the future, whenever he hears anyone who has fought with us on St. Crispin's Day, he will look ashamed and feel that he is not good enough to be a big husband. Shakespeare's invented speech became a mobilization speech for some real battles in later generations, and it is said to have appeared on the website of the US military on the way to Iraq.

In the play, a junior officer with a slight ability to think independently privately argues that if the war is "not famous", then the king who "leads these ordinary people to the road of death is a deep sin". Henry V heard this and refuted him eloquently. The main point of his theory is: "Every subject has the duty to serve the country, but the soul of each subject belongs to himself." "So the king is not responsible for the death of the soldiers. Those who died in war "once upon a time committed sins against God" were therefore duly punished. In Henry IV (Part II), when Henry V was Prince Harry, he used the superb debating skills he had learned from Falstaff. It can also be seen from his words that in the era of royal despotism, "loyalty to the country" is equivalent to loyalty to the king.

After England defeated France, his subjects admired Henry V's wise leadership, but he attributed both credit and glory to God, "declaring in public that whoever boasts of victory or deprives him of the glory that should have belonged only to God will be punished by death." This increased the people's worship of him. He was praised: "He has no vanity, no pride in his eyes; he has given up his triumph and given glory to God." When his class returned to the dynasty, the crowded subjects put on their grand clothes and welcomed the "great king" who returned home victoriously.

Shakespeare portrays a king who is extremely good at fooling the masses, and the extraordinary talent of flickering is also the horror of this king. He could even make the masses willingly die for him. In addition, Henry V had creepy terrorist rhetoric.

After being teased by the Crown Prince of France, Henry V said to the French envoys: "For the sake of this joke he made today, thousands of women will become widows and never see their husbands again; he makes fun of me today, and tomorrow he can 'laugh' at the collapse of the castle, 'laugh' at the mother's children--some have not yet been conceived, some have not yet been born, and they all have reason to curse the prince for being too frivolous." ...... Go back safely now and tell the Crown Prince how stupid this joke is, and how many people have cried for a laugh or two." At the beginning of the war, he asked his envoys to convey to the French Emperor: "If we can march forward, we must advance; if our way is blocked, we will make your black land stained with your red blood."

Henry V, in exhorting the governor of the city to surrender, said: "This time it is our last negotiation, so accept our greatest grace as soon as possible; otherwise, you will be like those who seek their own death, and Hugh will blame us for being too vicious and ruthless." By virtue of the fact that I am a soldier—a title that best suits me in my mind—once I have launched another siege, I will not give up until the half-destroyed city of Havro is buried under the ashes. Then all the doors of mercy will be closed. ...... Your bright and delicate girls, your thriving babies, like flowers and grass, fell under the scythe. ...... In front of me, there was still the cool and gentle benevolent wind blowing away the heavy dark clouds condensed by evil thoughts, murderous qi, and viciousness. Otherwise, hey, in the blink of an eye, the lawless soldier will run out of blood, no matter what the screams in his ears, and the hair that drags your girlfriend out. How honorable your father and elder were, but they gave a handful of silver beards, noble foreheads, and they had to hit the wall! Your naked babies, held high above the tip of a gun, and below, mad mothers screaming in the air, screaming like the Jewish women of Herod's Holocaust. How do you answer? Are you willing to surrender and avoid this tragedy, or are you obsessed with it and kill yourself? ”

These threatening words show that Henry V resembled today's terrorists by brutally killing civilians in retaliation for his enemies. In practice, Henry V was also not soft-hearted. At the end of the war, he brutally ordered "every soldier to kill all their captives." This war waged by Henry V brought tens of thousands of French people to the battlefield.

This fully shows that Henry V's "benevolent government" is only his wrist to win people's hearts. In fact, he has become extremely fierce and cruel. His former playmate Bardorff stole a communion box from French territory and was hanged. He declared unmoved that whoever committed such a crime would be sentenced to the same death penalty.

Bardolph was an accomplice of Falstaff. The latter does not appear in Henry V, but is mentioned as dying of typhoid fever. But Shakespeare didn't want the audience to forget him. Just after Henry V ordered all the prisoners of war to be killed, an officer commented that Alexander the Roman Emperor "had killed his friend Clette because he was drunk", while Henry V and his friend Falstaff had cut off "because he was sober and sensible". This is reminiscent of Prince Harry, who did not become Henry V, who was once close to Falstaff and was called the latter's "little lamb". At that time, he was not so cruel.

Henry V once claimed that his mighty light could blind the eyes of the Crown Prince of France. His own subjects were actually blinded by the light.