Henry's Monologue

• The whole Speech is Inspirational 
• Henry Seeps Confidence and Power 
• Aims to praise highly and criticise darkly 
• The Speech belongs to a King 

Translation 

Who’s wishing that? My cousin Westmorland? No, my dear cousin, if we are marked down to die we are enough for our country to lose, and if marked down to live, the fewer the men the greater the share of honour. For the love of God, don’t wish for one man more. By Jove, I’m not interested in gold, nor do I care who eats at my expense. It doesn’t bother me who wears my clothes. Such outward things don’t come into my ambitions. But if it is a sin to long for honour I am the most offending soul alive. No, indeed, my cousin, don’t wish for another man from England. God’s peace, I wouldn’t lose as much honour as the share one man would take from me. No, don’t wish for one more. Rather proclaim to my army, Westmorland, that anyone who doesn’t have the stomach for this fight should leave now. He will be guaranteed free passage and travel money will be put in his purse. We would not like to die with any man who lacks the comradeship to die with us. This day is called the Feast of Crispian. He who outlives this day and gets home safely to reach old age will yearly on its anniversary celebrate with his neighbours and say, “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.” Then he will roll up his sleeve and show his scars and say “I got these wounds on Crispin’s day.” Old men are forgetful, but even if he remembers nothing else he’ll remember, with embroideries, what feats he did that day. Then our names, as familiar in his mouth as household words – Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester – will be remembered in their toasts. This good man will teach his son, and Crispin Crispian will never pass from today until the end of the world without us being remembered: we few; we happy few; we band of brothers! The man who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; however humble he may be, this day will elevate his status. And gentlemen in England, still lying in their beds, will think themselves accursed because they were not here, and be in awe while anyone speaks who fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.’

NOTES:

I decided to look at the whole speech instead of just looking at the shortened version that i say in the play, so that i could get a full understanding of what Henry is saying and everything he is trying to get across in this monologue. I get a deeper understanding from the full monologue, Henry is adamant that he does not want just anybody to fight this war with him, he wants men with fire in their bellies and a hunger for victory if they don't he would much rather them go home. The people who fight with him in this war are part of an elite group, his ‘brothers’ showing the enormous importance of his soldiers. Henry mocks the men that would hide away and states that they will later ‘think themselves accursed’ that they did not fight when Henry and his soldiers return victorious. 

Be A Man

I play Henry in Henry V so the physicality of my character is male, therefore I must change my natural feminine posture to that of a man. In our workshop The first thing we began to look at was the way that men hold themselves in a typical walk. From a general knowledge of how men are I picked up on the fact that men have broader shoulders and smaller waists, this impacts the walk making it stronger in the shoulder and torso, resulting in a more emphasised top half. Exploring the way men are physically was a new and insightful experience for me because I was made to use my body and hold my body in a complete different way to how I normally do. Applying a male physicality to a character that I am playing is a rare occasion as I normally play women, so i don't read that much into their physicality because I know how women stand and how women are in their overall presence, so this activity and role is challenging in the respect that i cant carry any aspects of myself into this character physically. I was made to look at the little things that make men different to women,men have different aspects of their anatomy such as a penis, broader shoulders, taller, bigger feet, shorter hair, no breasts ( maybe pecks), facial hair and body hair. Knowing the general differences allowed me to physicalise this so I began to walk around the space imagining having bigger feet and questioning how that would make me feel, or change my stride, it turned out that this made my walk heavier and more weighted. I would be making sure there was space in between my legs as I would have a penis there, how would that change the way I walked? I walked around the space imagining i had bigger and broader shoulders this changed my physicality as I was more hunched over and took up more space. Embodying all the small ideas helped me to successfully portray and internally believe in my male character.

Recognising the differences between male and female physicality was evident when I was walking around the space. For instance when I walk, I walk lightly, my posture is straight and confident, I evenly distribute my weight between both of my feet and sway my hips slightly.  When walking round the space as a man I realised that I was a lot more heavy when I walked, my posture was a little more slouched, my back became more curved and my head was more relaxed and rested on my neck. The space also feels completely different when you're being either sex, when you're female the space is a lot bigger and you feel smaller, you glide around the space. When you are physicalising a male the space becomes a lot smaller and so you become bigger and you take up more room as you walk around. 

Getting the basis of the male character was useful for the whole class as we can take that foundation and build on it with our own characters personal thoughts and physicality's. For instance my character Henry is a man so will inhabit all the General male  physicality's that we've already explored, but from that I can take away that foundation and start to add things such as the Regal and Wealthy aspect also with time and through more understanding of my character I can personify his thoughts and feelings at particular stages of the play as they will change the way he stands and delivers his speech.