53 pages • 1 hour read
William ShakespeareHenry V
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1599A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act VChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act V, Prologue (Chorus) Summary
The Chorus announces that King Henry is travelling to Calais and then on to London. The people of England are jubilant that the soldiers have come home unharmed. They praise their King and line the streets to celebrate. The peace treaty is to be negotiated between England and France.
Act V, Scene 1 Summary
Fluellen and Gower in France while the peace negotiations are held. Gower asks the Welshman Fluellen why he wears a leek (a national symbol of Wales) even though St. Davy’s Day (the day of the patron saint of Wales, St. David) has long passed. Fluellen explains, with typical longwindedness, that Pistol insulted him on St. David’s Day by suggesting that he eat his leek. Pistol appears and Fluellen launches himself at the soldier, beating him with a cudgel until he agrees to Fluellen’s demand that he eat the leek that has been worn on Fluellen’s hat for some time. After Pistol has eaten the leek, Fluellen gives him a small sum of money to make up for his wounds. Fluellen exits and Pistol swears revenge against the Welsh Captain. Gower tells the “counterfeit, cowardly” (5.1.66) Pistol that he was at fault. He accuses Pistol of underestimating Fluellen because of his Welsh style of speaking. Once he is alone, Pistol becomes serious and embittered. He has heard that his wife has died while he has been in France. Fortune has abandoned him and he intends to go back to England and thieve for his living. He resolves to tell people that the wounds Fluellen gave him are battle wounds from the “Gallia wars” (i.e., Gallic; French).
Act V, Scene 2 Summary
King Henry arrives at the French court. A meeting has been arranged between King Henry, King Charles, and Queen Isabel and courtiers on either side. Princess Katherine and her maid Alice are also there. The two sides intend to negotiate peace: They greet each other with courtesy and trust that today peace will be agreed for their countries. Burgundy, the chief negotiator, addresses the kings. Henry plans to allow Charles to remain as the King of France but will be his heir. He also has other “just demands” (5.2.71) that he plans to make: His first wish is to take Princess Katherine as his wife. The King and Queen of France and the courtiers on both sides exit to discuss the detail of the treaty, leaving Henry and Katherine together, with Alice as a chaperone and (not very effective) translator.
Henry woos Katherine. He asks if she likes and can love him. She partly does not understand and partly pretends not to. She talks to her maid in asides, which Henry understands quite well. Henry says he is glad they don’t speak the same language because he is a “plain King” (i.e., plain-speaking) and his wooing would not be fit for her. As he talks, Henry plays on the idea that he is a rough, normal man, a “plain soldier,” but his language is eloquent and his rhetoric is clever and humorous. Henry occasionally speaks French but very brokenly. In English, he swears that he loves her, calling her “Kate.” He asks if she will marry and she says it is for her father to decide, and if it pleases Charles, it will “content” her. Henry is pleased and tries to kiss her hand. Katherine demurs, saying that is beneath the King to kiss the hand of an “indigne serviteur” (“unworthy servant”). At this, Henry says he will kiss her lips. Katherine demurs again and Alice translates, with Henry’s help, that it is not the custom in France for maidens to kiss before they are married. It is increasingly apparent that Henry speaks and understands French quite well. He says that they are above national customs; it is for them to set the rules. They kiss. He says that her kiss is “sugar” and more persuasive than all the skill of the French negotiators.
The French nobles return. Henry swaps jokes with the Duke of Burgundy about Katherine’s readiness for marriage. Henry asks and receives permission to marry Katherine. The courtiers and the kings confirm that all the articles of the peace treaty have been agreed. Queen Isabel blesses the marriage. King Henry vows that all the oaths will be taken on his wedding day, and will be kept.
Act V, Epilogue (Chorus) Summary
The Chorus returns for a final time. In a brief speech, the Chorus asks the patience of the audience, who has heard the story of “mighty men” told in a “little room.” He refers to King Henry’s son who will become King Henry VI and eventually lose the French throne and plunge England back into war.
Act V Analysis
In Act V, Fluellen is shown being underestimated by Pistol. After their combustive interactions, Gower suggests that Pistol underestimates Fluellen due to Fluellen’s Welsh accent, another way in which the play explores Language as a Tool for Identity. Pistol’s discriminatory presumptions about Fluellen cause him to be humiliated, Gower suggests. The humiliation of Pistol is an analogy for the plot of the play as a whole, as it mirrors the relationship between the Dauphin and Henry. The Dauphin makes the mistake of mocking Henry, believing that Henry has not matured since his wayward youth. This mockery provides a personal focus for Henry’s considered invasion of France, making the battle an allegory for a duel. Though Henry has a much smaller army, he humiliates the Dauphin. Fluellen’s forcing the arrogant, foolish Pistol to eat a leek is a mirror to King Henry’s forcing the Dauphin to regret his gift of tennis balls. Like Henry’s being humble in victory and refusing to mock his enemy, Fluellen is merciful. He gives Pistol a financial reward, an echo of Henry’s own gift to the embarrassed Williams.
Pistol is given his own moment of pathos, however. Following his humiliation at the hands of Fluellen, he pulls out a letter and announces to the audience that his wife is dead. The Hostess whom he married earlier in the play has fallen sick while he has been away in France. Of the group that first met in the tavern where Falstaff lay dying, the majority are now dead. Falstaff’s former page was killed by the French army during a violent attack on the English camp. Bardolph and Nym were executed by their own side for looting the French town of Harfleur. The Hostess is dead. Even their beloved Falstaff is dead. Now, Pistol is all alone. He has no one left; his friends, his wife, and his fellow soldiers have died or abandoned him. For all the pomp and celebration surrounding Henry’s victory, not every Englishman is happy. Amid the nationalist delight in Henry’s victory, the play takes a moment to acknowledge the real, sincere dread and sadness that is brought about by war. Pistol is not a likeable man but, while everyone else celebrates, all he can do is suffer. This brief pang of sadness creates an air of sympathy around an otherwise unsympathetic figure.
Henry’s interactions with other people give him the opportunity to show different facets of his kingship. Whereas King Charles was prepared to give away his daughter to Henry without asking her, Henry makes a point of asking Katherine permission. He proposes to her and makes a strident effort to charm her, even though he does not speak her language. His beseeching, sincere attitude and determination to seek her consent to the marriage goes above and beyond what the society expects of men in this era. Though Henry treats Katherine with respect and wins her hand, he is not immune to chauvinism. After their conversation, he blends his sincere desire to make Katherine love him with bawdy jokes with the French nobles. When in the company of women, he seeks consent and offers sincerity. When in the company of men, he makes sexual jokes and plays the role of king. Neither of these are the true Henry. Instead, the real Henry emerges as a blend of all these characters, creating a multi-layered king who inspires and charms those around him by switching his personality to appeal to their sympathies. This charisma and willingness to mediate his behavior in accordance with his company have brought great success to England. As the Chorus notes, however, this success cannot last. Henry’s successor will lack his emotional intelligence and his charm, plunging England and France back into war. Just as Pistol’s news tempered the audience’s condemnation of his character, the Chorus’s ominous warning tempers the optimistic note on which the play ends, creating an air of nostalgia.
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By William Shakespeare
