King Henry V's Private Life

Does King Henry V successfully separate his public role from his private life?

William Shakespeare’s Classic play ‘Henry V’ follows a young foolish King Henry V that is overlooked and belittled by many who disapprove of his worthiness, as the play evolves we see him grow as both a king and a man. I intend to look at how successfully King Henry V manages to separate his public and private life through three key scenes.

The first time we really see King Henry become a king, is when he discovers three nobles he thought he could trust, one of whom being his childhood best friend have betrayed him in a way unforgivable to either Henry or the law, Henry shows no reluctance to send them to their death “Arrest them,” but it is obvious he only does

We see Henry grow through this scene and we begin to see what kind of man Henry really is and that although he may have to act as a barbaric king who has no mercy in reality he is a humane man with worthy morals. He is trying to convince the locals to give up their town after hours of fighting; Henry makes a daunting speech claiming that he “will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur till her ashes she lie buried” declaring that if they do not surrender he will kill their fathers, rape their woman and spike their children “your naked infants spitted upon pikes” at this point in the play, we have discovered Henry as a man of religion and good morals and it is a surprise to see Henry with such a bestial speech. As a reader you soon realise that in fact he was merely bluffing and had no real intention of carrying out such inhumane acts “Use mercy to them all for us” he says after securing Harfleur. We have begun to see Henry’s morals and how these affect his choices as king as other kings may have shown no mercy and carried out the actions Henry

All night he was camp fire hopping reassuring all the soldiers that the battle they were about to fight wasn’t ultimately suicidal, transferring the little bit of hope he held to his soldiers, leaving him with nothing but his own thoughts and with that’s his doubts and uncertainty’s, we hear his deepest thoughts and although he has accepted his role as king he wished he could be a common man because if he was he wouldn’t be holding all the guilt of leading his army into a battle that at this point he thinks will kill his friends and fellow soldiers “Must kings neglect what private men enjoy, and what have kings that privates have not to “ After we see all of his insecurities and that he too has come to the realisation that he and his men may live not one other day he must go reassure an army of men who don’t only doubt themselves but also their king that they must fight and that they can win “ the fewer men, the greater share of honour” by saying this this almost states that he is confident in their chances. In this speech is not only convincing his army but also himself he uses this speech to unite his army in a way unthought-of of at the time,