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‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...’
Henry V is the final and most celebrated play of Shakespeare’s ‘history plays’. Prince Harry reigns over England after the death of his father King Henry IV, uniting his country with his valiant leadership in the face of war against France. Featuring one of the most rousing and infamous speeches ever written by Shakespeare, Henry V remains one of his most powerful plays.
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More recently critics have questioned the extent to which the play is simply a piece of nationalist propaganda, pointing to the more ambivalent reflections on the cost of war voiced by various characters throughout the play. As one of Henry's soldiers reflects on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, "if the cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make". Henry himself has already been defined as a cunning and rather unsympathetic character in Henry IV Parts One and Two, and his cynical manipulation of patriotism in his pursuit of military glory is incisively undercut by the Irishman Macmorris' poignant question as to "What ish my nation?" This more ambivalent dimension of the play is most effectively captured in Kenneth Branagh's post-Falklands film, Henry V, which portrays a king much more aware of the dreadful consequences of going to war. Branagh's film suggests that Henry V ultimately questions, rather than endorses the glory of going into battle for one's country. --Jerry Brotton
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 192 pages. 6.93x4.33x1.02 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # 0007902328