Henry V Villain

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The Villain One of Shakespeare’s series of Henry plays, Henry V chronicles the titular character’s conquest of the country ‘cross the channel from his own kingdom. Beloved by England for its heroic description of the famed ruler, Shakespeare’s play is highly regarded and often listed with his other masterworks. However, one striking difference separates it from other scripts: its altogether lack of an obvious antagonist. While Much Ado About Nothing had Don Jon and Macbeth had, well, Macbeth, Henry V possess no such villain to oppose the protagonist, King Henry. Nevertheless, if one dares to explore the story further, a couple characters come into consideration for the position of villain. On the one side is the King of France, who is certainly made out to be in the wrong. Opposite him is none other than the golden boy himself, Henry. Despite the general appearance of Henry, there may be more underneath the surface. Before considering the hero of the story, first ponder the villainy of the French King. From nearly the beginning of the play, this foreign ruler is made out to be wrongly in power and a generally bad guy. Early on, the Bishop of Canterbury arrives at King Henry’s castle to convince the king that he is the rightful ruler of France due to the conquest of his ancestors. However, this claim is quite shoddy and the argument behind it is poor. Indeed, the Bishop is …show more content…

Turns out, similar to Macbeth, the villain is the title character. Unlike Macbeth, the antagonist in Henry V is much less obvious and on the surface is even portrayed as the hero and a model Christian king. Nevertheless, all the aforementioned attributes ascribed to Henry testify to His Majesty’s villainy. Oddly enough, despite the tone of the play, Shakespeare cleverly alludes, mostly via the Chorus, that Henry was not the role model most believed him to be. While a couple of characters are far from noble, none of them equate the true villainy of King Henry

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