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Henry V's Opaqueness

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In Shakespeare's Henry V, King Henry V possesses a unique set of character traits. Because of his strong sense of leadership, Henry V is able to hide his true feelings in order to be a strong and powerful king; his ability to disguise his own individual character for the sake of the kingship earned Henry V the title of "The Opaque King." Henry V uses his opaqueness as a quality of versatility in order to lead his men to victory against the French.
During act IV, Henry V has successfully lead his troops in an invasion of France. However, their biggest battle is yet to come, and the odds of the English winning their upcoming battle seem bleak at best. Not only do the French have more troops, but they also have the upper hand due to the battle's taking place in France’s territory. King Henry sees these odds and decides to disguise himself as a fellow fighter to assess …show more content…

He talks to several members of his army, but comes across one man in particular, Williams, who is overtly doubtful of the King's intentions and ability to win the upcoming battle. When Henry (disguised) tells Williams the King claimed he would not be taken for ransom, Williams says, "Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheerfully; but when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed and we ne'er the wiser"(IV.i.143-145). Rather than exposing his true feelings here, Henry V decides to confront this man at a move suiting time. He disguises his true feelings of anguish and isolation and expresses them privately in a monologue (IV.i.229-282). Because he was able to disguise his body, approach his men discreetly, hear their private thoughts while putting his own aside, and asses his men's feelings from a civilian and kingly point of view, he was able to fully evaluate the prognosis of the following battle. However, Henry V continues to use this emotionally

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In conclusion, King Henry V uses his capabilities to make all of his men feel valued and equal to motivate his men to succeed throughout the battle. Therefore, he makes them feel noteworthy by giving out a very dominant speech to give his men the boldness to even participate in this fight. And also by making sure that everyone is aware that if they aren’t being heroic, then they should depart from the group before the battle

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Rather than use his ethos to fortify a logical reason as to why the army should rise to the occasion and tenaciously fight the French―a daunting task in of itself, King Henry chooses to use it to validate appeals against their emotions. This is an effective strategy because it appeals to the troop’s sense of identity and their self-interests on an emotional level by validating their desire for glory and social status, which helps King Henry’s argument because it gives his troops a compelling and self-serving reason to enthusiastically engage in battle with the French, despite it likely resulting in their death (CITE SOMETHING!). It is important to note the rhetorical effect this appeal has regarding the army’s feelings towards the upcoming battle―it replaces their fears of

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