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dragonzfaerie) wrote2009-10-25 08:41 am
dragonzfaerie) wrote2009-10-25 08:41 am
St. Crispn's Day
On this St. Crispin's Day, I write a little blog post about Henry V:
This speech is very moving, very effective, but how sincere is it? I want Henry to be the Good guy as much as the next person (perhaps more in some cases), but how much are we really allowed to see that. In this speech, indeed in all of Henry's dialog in Henry V we are not given any indication that he is anything but sincere. However, I recently had the opportunity to see Henry IV Part I. There we see a very difference person in the form of Prince Hal. Hal is a young man only interested in drinking and hanging out with a fat, old knight named Falstaff. Hal confides in the audience during one of his soliloquies that he is infact only playing the part of a truant son in order to make himself look better when he finally reforms. This is our Henry V. This is the man who broke Falstaff's heart and he is the one who call all men present this "band of brothers." This is an uplifting speech for a battlefield of men certain of their doom. But when viewing all of the Henry IV/Henry V plays together is difficult to trust his motives.
Ultimately it is up to a director to decide how sinister Hal/Henry really is. In the production I saw, Hal (Played my Luke Eddy) seemed to truly be having fun while he had the chance free of responsibility and ready to step up to the plate when his father needed him. Indeed, several times throughout the later part of the play Henry IV would say something about his amazement at his son's feats and Hal responded with amazement at how low his father's opinion of him had fallen. This Hal could quite easily grow up to be a Henry V that would deliver this St. Crispin's Day speech and mean every word of it.
And frankly, I think that having a corrupt politician for a Henry would uncomfortable.
Anyway. For this Saint Cripsin's Day I have a few uses of this speech in modern media. The first is Due South, a Canadian Cop show from the mid 90's. About a minute in is where their version of the speech begins. (sorry I couldn't cut if for you). The second is a scene from the movie Renaissance Man, in which one of the character is told to recite Shakespeare and this is what he comes up with.
This speech is very moving, very effective, but how sincere is it? I want Henry to be the Good guy as much as the next person (perhaps more in some cases), but how much are we really allowed to see that. In this speech, indeed in all of Henry's dialog in Henry V we are not given any indication that he is anything but sincere. However, I recently had the opportunity to see Henry IV Part I. There we see a very difference person in the form of Prince Hal. Hal is a young man only interested in drinking and hanging out with a fat, old knight named Falstaff. Hal confides in the audience during one of his soliloquies that he is infact only playing the part of a truant son in order to make himself look better when he finally reforms. This is our Henry V. This is the man who broke Falstaff's heart and he is the one who call all men present this "band of brothers." This is an uplifting speech for a battlefield of men certain of their doom. But when viewing all of the Henry IV/Henry V plays together is difficult to trust his motives.
Ultimately it is up to a director to decide how sinister Hal/Henry really is. In the production I saw, Hal (Played my Luke Eddy) seemed to truly be having fun while he had the chance free of responsibility and ready to step up to the plate when his father needed him. Indeed, several times throughout the later part of the play Henry IV would say something about his amazement at his son's feats and Hal responded with amazement at how low his father's opinion of him had fallen. This Hal could quite easily grow up to be a Henry V that would deliver this St. Crispin's Day speech and mean every word of it.
And frankly, I think that having a corrupt politician for a Henry would uncomfortable.
Anyway. For this Saint Cripsin's Day I have a few uses of this speech in modern media. The first is Due South, a Canadian Cop show from the mid 90's. About a minute in is where their version of the speech begins. (sorry I couldn't cut if for you). The second is a scene from the movie Renaissance Man, in which one of the character is told to recite Shakespeare and this is what he comes up with.
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(Anonymous) 2013-04-26 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)