Honor In King Henry's Speech

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In King Henry’s speech, Shakespeare uses the topic of honor as his main persuasive point. He gets his troops prepared for battle with a speech about fighting and honor. He incorporates this idea into many different examples. Shakespeare feeds images and emotions into the minds of the soldiers to convince them into battle. Henry gives this speech to convince his men to fight the French, even if they are outnumbered in the battle. Although Henry´s troops feel unprepared and overwhelmed for this battle, He takes on the role of the brave king and takes control of the situation. He embraces the moment to prepare them and inspire them, hoping of making this speech, his men will understand why they need to fight. The soldiers are burdened with the thought of a barbaric battle and death. Henry uses his spirit to persuade them that they have a fighting chance. He immortalizes the soldiers. “This story shall the good man teach his son” Although the soldiers may die, their story will go on. The story will pass from generation to generation, from father to son. The soldiers honor will continue forever by fighting in this one battle. No man outside of the army would have done and accomplished what they have today. If they …show more content…

In all, this results in a powerful and eloquent lecture . His men gather around, cheer, and choose to fight. They do not have a feeling of loss and defeat after Henry gives them his powerful speech. “From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered.” Henry states that by fighting in this battle and achieving victory, they will be remembered by the conquest of the battle. The King also makes it clear that the men have a choice of whether to stay or to go, leave and take on another day for certain, or to stay and risk their lives. No one chose to abandon their army, they chose to stay and fight as noble