Act I, Scene i. A dialogue between the heads of the church unfolds a general view of the political condition of England and France. The responsibility for war is shown to lie with the king's spiritual advisers. It is clear that the king has outgrown the 'hydraheaded wilfulness' of his younger days and has ripened into a man with an intense consciousness of all that is involved in kingship.

Act I, Scene ii, 1-233. The seriousness and political sagacity of Henry are revealed in his discussion with the church authorities. He will act only when satisfied that his cause is right. Convinced that great public issues are at stake, he resolves to conquer France or die in the attempt. In this high heroic temper he calls in the French ambassadors.

II. THE COMPLICATION, RISING Action, or GROWTH (TYING OF THE KNOT)

Act I, Scene ii, 234–310. With the entry of the French ambassadors the long complication, or rising action, of the play begins. The message from the Dauphin and the present of the tennis-balls show that the English king is still regarded in France as a madcap prince not to be taken seriously. Henry's reply shows his sense of dignity and his power of decisive action.

Act II, Prologue. Chorus, after describing the English preparations for war and the alarm of the French, gives warning of a conspiracy against the life of Henry.

Act II, Scene i. This scene of broad comedy introduces Nym, Pistol, and Bardolph. The humorous dialogue acts as a dramatic relief after the tension of the preceding scenes and gives a touch of realism to the action.

Act II, Scene ii. Heroism is seen against a background of treason. The conspirators are led on, step by step, to condemn themselves. In lines 12-78 is an excellent example of ‘ dramatic irony.' “The audience know (lines 6-7) that the conspiracy has been revealed to Henry, while the conspirators imagine that it is still a secret.” — Verity.

or worse in proportion as — while of course representing correctly the facts of the play—they bring out more or less of what ministers to our sense of design."— Moulton.

Act II, Scene iii. As Nym, Bardolph, and Pistol make ready for the wars, the hostess tells of the death of Falstaff, the king's former boon companion. Here the broad comedy of the play is shot through with exquisite tenderness and connected vitally with the heroic dignity of the main action.

Act II, Scene iv. As the French king and his court discuss an English invasion, and the Dauphin sneers at Henry as "a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth," Exeter, as ambassador from England, enters and demands the surrender of the crown of France on pain of war.

Act III, Prologue. Chorus appeals to the audience to see with the eye of imagination Henry's passage to Harfleur and the opening of the siege.

Act III, Scene i. Henry makes a spirited appeal to the patriotism of his soldiers.

Act III, Scene ii. The comic interest is widened by the inclusion of a Welshman, an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scot. National humors and oddities of dialect give dramatic relief and supply realistic life to the representation.

Act III, Scene iii. The governor yields Harfleur, but the approach of winter and disease among his troops determine Henry to march his forces to Calais.

Act III, Scene iv. The French princess takes a lesson in English. The scene gives humorous relief of an unusual kind and prepares for the re-entry of Katharine in the dénouement.

Act III, Scene v. The French authorities learn of the enfeebled and famished condition to which the English army is reduced, and in a spirit of self-confidence and overweening contempt they determine to send Montjoy, the chief herald, with a message of defiance to Henry.1

Act III, Scene vi. The scene opens with a humorous dialogue between Gower, Fluellen, and Pistol. Henry refuses to pardon Bardolph, convicted of robbing a church, and immediately on the

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1 Moulton makes this the turning-point of the action. See Character-Development in Henry V," New Shakspere Society

Transactions, 1880-1886.

announcement by the king of his stand on the enforcement of discipline, the French herald appears and delivers his message of defiance.

Act III, Scene vii. This scene in the French camp, with the idle boasting of the leaders emphasized, is in sharp dramatic contrast to that which precedes and that which follows.

Act IV, Prologue. Chorus describes the rival armies encamped a short distance apart on the night before the battle of Agincourt.

Act IV, Scene i. Henry's superb courage rises to its height when his fortunes seem at the lowest ebb. He moves about heartening every one, from the nobles to the common soldiers. Tenderness marks the episode with Erpingham; humor and dramatic irony' distinguish the interviews with Bates, Court, and Williams. Pistol's rant and bluster come as effective dramatic relief in this great scene. Act IV, Scene ii. The French leaders receive the call to battle in a spirit of boastful self-confidence.,

Act IV, Scene iii, 1–128. With Henry's inspection of his forces, the delivery of his superb speech of courage and patriotism, and the final rejection of the French terms of surrender presented by Montjoy, the complication, or rising action, of the play is complete.

III. THE CLIMax, Crisis, or TURNING POINT (THE KNOT Tied) Act IV, Scene iii, 129–132. Everything depends on the result of a single engagement. Henry orders his soldiers to advance, and the battle of Agincourt is joined.

IV. THE RESOLUTION, FALLING ACTION, OR CONSEQUENCE (THE UNTYING OF THE KNOT)

Act IV, Scene iv. The resolution, or falling action, begins with a broad comedy scene in which Pistol, with impudent bluster, wins advantage over a French gentleman soldier.

Act IV, Scene v. The French princes recognize that all is lost, and their only hope is that they may die in honor.

Act IV, Scene vi.

Exeter tells Henry of the gallant deaths of Suffolk and York. Henry orders the French prisoners to be put to death.

Act IV, Scene vii. An amusing dialogue between Fluellen and Gower deals with Henry's order about the French prisoners. Henry in anger at the French for continuing to fight repeats his order. Montjoy again appears before the king, now as a humble suppliant for leave to the French to bury their dead. Humorous relief is afforded by a comic quarrel between Fluellen and Williams, provoked by the king.

Act IV, Scene viii. The comic quarrel ends happily, and after a dignified recital of the English losses in the battle, Henry gives thanks for the victory.

Act V, Prologue. Chorus pictures Henry's return to England, bridges a gap of nearly five years, and brings before the audience 'Harry's back-return again to France."

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Act V, Scene i. The comic portion of the play closes appropriately by Fluellen's forcing Pistol to eat the leek.

V. Dénouement, Catastrophe, OR CONCLUSION (THE KNOT UNTIED)

Act V, Scene ii. After a conference between Henry and the French court, the princes of France and the English commissioners retire to settle the final terms of peace, and the stage is left clear for Henry to make court to Katharine. "It is in harmony with the spirit of the play and with the character of Henry that it should close with no ostentatious heroics, but with the half-jocular, wholeearnest wooing of the French princess by the English king.”. Dowden.

VI. MANAGEMENT OF TIME AND PLACE

1. Historic Time. A period of six years is covered by the events of the play. On April 10, 1413, Henry was crowned; in the following Lent he appears to have received the Dauphin's gift of tennis-balls; and on April 30, 1414, the Parliament met at Leicester. Here begins the historical time of the play. It closes with May 20 (or May 21), 1420, when Henry was formally betrothed to Katharine.

2. Dramatic Time. "The historical drama," says Bulwer Lytton, "is the concentration of historical events." In King Henry the Fifth the happenings of six years are represented as the occurrences of nine (at most ten) days with intervals, distributed over the acts and scenes as follows1: Ist day, I, i, ii. Interval. 2d day, II, i. Interval. 3d day, II, ii, iii. Interval. 4th day, II, iv. Interval. (Here, probably, comes III, iv.) 5th day, III, i-iii. Interval. 6th day, III, v. Interval. 7th day, III, vi. Interval. 8th day, III, vii; IV, i-viii. Interval. (Here, probably, comes V, i.) 9th day, V, ii. The five years between 1415 and 1420 pass between the 8th day and the 9th.

3. Place. In Quartos and Folios are very few stage directions as to place. In King Henry the Fifth the only one is in III, i (Actus Secundus in Folios), where we read Enter the King . . . Scaling Ladders at Harflew. The speeches of Chorus give valuable help in determining locality. These and the internal evidence point to Shakespeare's tendency towards concentration and centralization in localities as well as in historical happenings. For example, according to Holinshed the events described in the first scene took place at Leicester, but there is little doubt that London was where Shakespeare placed them. "In the absence of clear evidence to the contrary we may generally assume that Shakespeare's scenes are laid in London." Boswell-Stone.

1 P. A. Daniel in Transactions of New Shakspere Society, 18771879.