King Henry Ethos Pathos Logos

In Greek mythology, Kairos, the youngest child of Zeus, is the god of opportunity and favorable moments. According to the Greeks, he is responsible for providing just the right thing, at just the right time. In Shakespeare’s King Henry V, King Henry finds himself in need of precisely this type of favor as he faces daunting odds. Specifically, what King Henry needs are just the right words and demeanor to inspire his army to fight, despite the unfavorable odds of victory and death. What can King Henry possibly say to get this band of English commoners and criminals to face certain death for the sake of his honor and glory? In response to this precarious moment, King Henry seizes his opportunity to rally his men to battle by giving a rousing

They are ethos―how a speaker attempts to convince an audience of their credibility, pathos―how a speaker attempts to appeal to an audience’s emotions, and logos―how a speaker attempts to appeal to an audience’s reason and logic (Robinson 4). Appropriately enough, King Henry concludes that logos has no place in an argument which demands that its target audience face probable death if they concede to its validation, and therefore excludes it from his famous speech. This is where ethos comes into play though. In Henry the V, it is King Henry’s ethos, or character as a speaker, which is the significant factor which determines the success of the “St Crispin’s Day Speech”. King Henry starts his speech my saying: “If we are marked to die, we are enough…The fewer the men, the greater the honor. God’s will, I pray thee wish not one man more (IV. 3. 21-24).” Here, King Henry’s speech derives its compelling nature from the way the speech illuminates his character as noble and credible within the eyes and hearts of his men. King Henry demonstrates to his men that he himself is not unwilling to die for England’s “cause”, and that such a death is honorable; establishing his character as belonging to a man who will not ask any other man to do that which he is not willing to do himself, to his men. This has an interesting effect on the

Evidence of this type of emotional appeal is found when King Henry tells his men: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile (IV. 3. 61-63).” Here, King Henry is making an appeal to his army’s emotional desire to be associated with the noble King, and the social cachet that association will bring to them back in England if they are victorious. 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