Katherine Sacrifice

The light comedic relief provided by Henry and Katherine’s witty exchange in this passage explores their chemistry whilst providing a positive final act to a bloody tale. It allows the audience to infer whether Henry is continuing to be cold and calculating for he has no reason to ‘woo’ Katharine, having already being promised her in the Treaty of Troyes. Furthermore, it is at this point where we can examine whether Katharine has any motives of her own, unbeknownst to Henry.
Within the final act of the play, Shakespeare highlights Henry’s calculating nature despite his victory at the Battle of Agincourt and his subsequent success in winning Katharine’s hand in marriage via the Treaty of Troyes as a result. However, despite Henry’s victory,

The play itself rarely considers Katharine’s motivations because she is a political pawn in her future husband and her father’s game. Katharine’s willingness to take it upon herself to learn the English language is testament to her ownership of herself. Katharine has little choice in the matter of her own marriage, shown by her acceptance of the situation. However, she can control her ability to speak her husband’s language which may be interpreted as her ensuring she is useful to Henry or even to her father. This ability keeps Henry alert and aware to how much his future wife understands. Her inability to understand the word ‘like’ but her interpretation of all men being ‘full of deceits’ creates an element of surprise for the audience as they become aware of how much Katharine truly understands. Katharine may be lulling Henry into a false sense of security as by the end of the passage, she confirms she has understood Henry’s whole speech to her, despite supposedly being unable to understand ‘like’. Moreover, this revelation of Katharine knowing more than she first let on for the English language could be symbolic for how if Henry wishes to continue to be victorious he will have to actively pay attention to the movements in France and not underestimate any possible