Henry V was written about 400 years ago. At its centre lies Agincourt, fought about 185 years earlier, as remote for Shakespeare and his audience as Waterloo is for us today.
The RSC production at the Barbican succeeds in showing war, warts and all. There is a scene early on in which the casus belli is explained to the young king. It needs to be a just war but the details bore him. It reminds us of the Blair governmemt’s convoluted rationale for the invasion of Iraq. Henry V, familiar to Shakespeare’s audience as the playboy Prince Hal in Henry IV parts one and two, is now put to the test as a leader. He does well, first at the siege of Harfleur (“once more unto the breach”) then at Agincourt where his St. Crispin’s Day speech inspires his heavily outnumbered and somewhat demoralised army. In this production it conjures up Churchill’s speeches in the war and Nelson’s exhortation before Trafalgar.
An important part of the play is depictions of leadership and fighting against the odds. The film version made in 1944, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, emphasises this. Reflect now on a leader who was not inspirational and allowed defeat to be snatched from the jaws of victory.
James II on the eve of the Boyne is far from confident. On the day of the battle his nerve fails him and he leaves the field, running away to safety. His lack of leadership lost him a battle that could have been won. It also lost him his throne. Had he won, William and his Protestant army would have retreated to Ulster and then, probably, left Ireland. Might Ireland then have become a unified Catholic nation? Most of the population (Catholics) were Jacobite and James had promised that the Irish parliament in Dublin would have home rule.
The Greeks and Romans knew the power of oratory. Shakespeare certainly did. (Incidentally, the title of this post is from Julius Caesar, written two years after Henry V.) Some politicians can lead and inspire today but there are too many James IIs. It is pathetic seeing MPs reading out their questions at PMQs. Will the speeches today in the House of Commons influence or alter our opinions about Syria? Will they stir us to a collective consensus on what is the best course for this country to take? Let’s see but I think you know the answer.
Interesting re James II at the Battle of the Boyne where one of my ancestors commanded ( think) James’s cavalry and of whom there is a very large and splendid portrait at Plowden. My cousin found his commission in box which didn’t seem to have been unlocked since the 19th century. He and his wife joined James in exile in Paris and, at some stage, returned to English society, presumably for a fee.
Is there a good account of the Battle of the Boyne?
Francis
I have not come across a good account of the battle, in which the Bellews played a small part, and I’d like to be pointed to one.
Small thing… You are little unkind about the UK Parliament. I think in every really big debate that I have watched ((thank you, Parliament Channel) I have heard the nation argue things through as best it may. Iraq, Syria, The EU referendum, the Chilcot Inquiry… all cases in point.
You are right, in the event Hilary Benn spoke well and I said as much subsequently in The No Brigade, posted on 4th December 2015.