Henry V Act 3 Scene 1 And 3 Comparison

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Comparison between Act 3 Scenes 1 and 2,3. In scenes 1-3 of Henry V, Shakespeare explores the themes of Unity, Honour, Nation, and courage. In scene 1 Henry is giving an inspiring speech to his soldiers and in scenes 2 and 3 we see the soldiers and their behaviour. This creates a contrast between perception and reality as from Henry’s speech it would appear that all his men are good, motivated, patriotic and noble, whereas in the next section we see the reality and by looking at the soldiers’ dialogue. This dialogue Shakespeare created, allows the audience to clearly see what the men of Henry’s army are like, how dishonourable, disunited, unnationalistic, and cowardly they are. Firstly, one of the main themes explored in these scenes is unity. In scene 1, Henry addresses all the soldiers as “dear friends” which implies that he trusts them all, and throughout the speech he speaks to the whole army as if they were one being, implying that they all are motivated and are united. In contrast to this, scenes 2 and 3 show the men in the army, who are evidently not motived or united. This is suggested when Llweleyn and…show more content…
In scene 1 Henry says “ I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips straining upon the start” this implies that the men have courage as they are eager to risk their lives and fight for him. This contrasts the soldiers’ dialogue when Boy says “would I were in an ale-house” this suggests that he is not courageous and eager to fight as he wishes to be somewhere else. This directly undermines what Henry said previously about the men being keen and rearing to go Furthermore when Nym says “I have not a case of lives” it implies that he does not want to die in the war or give his life in fighting for Henry, which has connotations that he is cowardly. Furthermore the idea of dying for the cause is a level of total commitment something Henry may have expected from his soldiers, and is undercut by
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