Henry V Character Analysis

Henry V is a play that is rooted in war which displays the battle between France and England. The play is centred around King Henry V and the tactics he uses to succeed in overthrowing or winning the war against France.King Henry V uses persuasion to try to convince the French and the Britain’s that he is atoning for the sin his father had committed.The posters above would be used to discuss the ways in which the theme of Leadership, War and Appearance versus Reality pervades or is prominent in the play.
In realtion to the first poster with King Henry V, wearing the crown on his head , this helps to showcase the theme of leadership which is prevalent throughout the entire play.For instance, the incident where he punishes his own friend Bardolph

This scene is also important mostly where it illustrates why King Henry V was so depressed and melancholy because he was disgusted about the sin and devious act his father committed in order to achieve the crown. Henry feels ashamed and is willing to do as much as possible to prove to the people that he is not like his father in his ruling and shameful ways but he is worthy enough to be wearing the crown. Henry V disguise through the use of a cloak also help to showcase the differences in the class positions in the society. For instance, the people they speak to King Henry V who is disguised very straightforward and open but if they saw the King in real they would have been more hesitant to say what they wanted. This third poster is very symbolic in the play since it helps us to distinguish the type of respect and authority the subjects have for the King as opposed to a common man. The entire disguise scene brings out the theme Appearance versus Reality and how easily people changes their opinions about people. Henry is awakened by the different viewpoints and in fact enjoys some of the people’s honesty. Through the use of the cloak Henry finds out everything about warfare and how big and powerful France army of soldiers are in terms of how their soldiers outnumbers England’s soldiers by far. Barbara H. Traister claimed, “Henry’s double identities are most obvious in IV.I, when he borrows Thomas Erpingham’s cloak in order to walk around his army as a private man, leaving behind his public identity as monarch, but staunchly defending his public role with his private voice.” However, to a great extent this is clearly visible in the play where King Henry V disguised using the cloak and questioned different people such as Pistol, Gower and Fluellen and asked them their thoughts about the