Looking Back on Hal

I wanted to take a quick look at this week in review to make some notes about the play I read, Henry the Fifth.  In case you're short on time, here's a brief list of what I'll include in this post:

• My overall impression of the play
• A critical look at one of the scenes in comparison to the Ewe lamb parable in 2nd book of Samuel in the Bible
• A list of activities that I completed during my study of the play this week.

My Overall Impression
With that as a roadmap, I'll begin with my overall impression of the play: I really enjoyed it.  It seemed to me that this would be an action/adventure type play from the time period.  King Henry is the hero, he's honest, brave, intelligent, respects his people--the ideal leader.  His army is stuck in a tight spot, outnumbered 5 to 1, and he gives a classic pre-game pep talk to boost morale and lead them to victory.  (Sorry for the spoiler.)  And, like any good action/adventure film, there was some good comedy as well.  For my first reading of one of Shakespeare's histories, this was definitely a success.

A Critical Look

I also wanted to take a critical look at Act 2, scene 2 in the play.  In this scene, three men (Grey, Cambridge, and Scroop) are brought before the king to be sentenced.  While the three men are with him, Henry describes another criminal and asks how the man should be sentenced.  Each of the men reply with relatively little mercy, but then seem shocked when Henry pronounces a similarly harsh sentence for them.  He says, "The mercy that was quick in us but late by your own counsel is suppressed and killed.  You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy, for your own reasons turn into your bosoms."  Knowing that Shakespeare borrowed a lot of his story ideas from other sources, I remembered the story of Nathan and King David, found in 2 Samuel chapter 12.  David has recently murdered Uriah so that he can marry Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan visits David to share a parable.  In the parable, one man (representing David) takes advantage of another man (representing Uriah) who is much less fortunate.  After hearing the parable, David immediately becomes angry, claiming that the first man should be killed--only to have Nathan point out that he is the first man.  

Since Shakespeare's scene from Henry V, follows a similar story, I wanted to look into the implications of the similarities.  Henry, like the prophet Nathan, wisely chastises men who have sinned.  In this case, Shakespeare is not only portraying Henry as a great leader, but also makes him out to be a prophet.  If we consider the parable of the talents told by Jesus Christ in the New Testament (which has a very similar moral), then Henry is even comparable Christ.  I was able to appreciate this scene not only because I recognized its probable origins in the Bible, but also because of the potentially symbolic meaning that it gives to Henry's character.

My List of Activities

Finally, I just wanted to make a quick list of the different study techniques I used during the week, since I didn't have a chance to list very many in previous posts.  Here are some things I did this week to engage Henry V:

• I read a chapter from Shakespeare and Modern Culture about Henry V, which analyzed Henry as an exemplar to be used in teaching business skills, and also made comparisons to between Henry and modern politics
• I read an article from Harvard Business Review that analyzed Henry V for its potential lessons on leadership in business settings
• I spent time searching on the internet for articles and websites connecting Shakespeare and Business, and found a site called "Movers and Shakespeares" which is a company that actually uses Shakespeare plays to conduct business consulting
• I read the Sparknotes.com summaries of the play
• I read the complete play from our Bevington book