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Essays on king henry iv part 1
Character analysis essay henry v
The strengths and weaknesses of Henry VIII
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Morality of King Henry V Throughout the five act in the play King Henry the V, King Henry shows his morality and character through many actions and decisions. King Henry is the most significant characte1r in the play and is known as the protagonist or hero. Henry uses his intelligence and leadership qualities through out the acts and also displays a sense of maturity from his youth days. We are told in the beginning of the play that King Henry used to be very immature, crazy, and not determined as a teenage boy. King Henry is now developed into a successful and hard working king with lots of charisma. Henry has many tough decisions ahead and uses his brilliant mind to do whatever he needs to do to receive the goal. King Henry displays many different qualities that underly his moral character, to conclude him of being a phenomenal King. The first quality that King Henry displayed was his sense of resolve and determination. Determination seems very important when it comes to getting exactly what you want. Without determination goals are much harder to reach. Henry decides he is set with a goal to rule France. When he sets his mind to this he carefully presents himself as a respectful character but makes it clear that he is unstoppable. King Henry often uses his tactics to pressure enemies into doing something that Henry wants for him or his nation. For example, King Henry threatens the leaders of France in Harfleur by saying that if France does not surrender, the French will be responsible for whatever Henry decided to do. Obviously Henry would decide to create a riot and make war. This shows how determined he is to what he wants for himself and England. If the King did not show as much determination and willingness to threate... ... middle of paper ... ... smarter idea. This act of intelligence kept the peace between France and England which is a very respectable thing to do as a king. King Henry was a determined, intelligent, and well spoken leader. Henry used his language and speeches to motivate his people and soldiers before the war. Henry used his determination to get to his ultimate goal which was taking over the throne of France. Henry used his intelligence to make smart decisions along the way of his journey during the war. King Henry set out a goal in the beginning of the play and by the end did exactly what he said he would do. Even though we learned in the epilogue that his son ended up losing France, that was nothing that King Henry had control over. King Henry’s morality backed him up, and guided him to become the leader and the king he turned out to be. Henry was one to be respected, and looked up to.
Passage Analysis - Act 5 Scene 1, lines 115-138. Shakespeare’s ‘King Henry IV Part I’ centres on a core theme: the conflict between order and disorder. Such conflict is brought to light by the use of many vehicles, including Hal’s inner conflict, the country’s political and social conflict, the conflict between the court world and the tavern world, and the conflicting moral values of characters from each of these worlds. This juxtaposition of certain values exists on many levels, and so is both a strikingly present and an underlying theme throughout the play.
After many failed attempts to obtain a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII took momentous steps that led to "The Reformation," a significant occurrence in the history of religion. Prior to the reformation, all of England's inhabitants including King Henry VIII prescribed to Catholicism. In fact, King Henry VIII was such a strong supporter that he was given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the pope for his efforts in protecting Catholicism against the Protestants. However, all these changed upon the pope's denial of Henry's request for a divorce.
When we look at Henry as a king we have to look in the context of
I side with Loades on this as despite resentment from the nobles, after the Perkin Warbeck imposture there were no more serious uprisings which strongly support the success of Henry’s policies. Whilst most nobles would see his methods as unjust (especially the wide of use bonds and recognisances) Henry succeeded in increasing the crown’s standing at the expense of the nobility, securing his position whilst weakening the nobles. Through most of his policies Henry was successful in limiting the powers of nobility. Henry sought to restrict the noble’s power and yet at the same time needed them to keep order and represent him at local levels, therefore Henry sought not to destroy the nobles but to weaken them enough that they did not pose a threat, he needed a balance of control over the nobles and strong nobility.
However, he didn't listen to the duke of york who desperately wanted a say. This could have been another reason for the outbreak of conflict because the people didn't think he always made the right decision and the duke of York didn't like not being listened to. Another problem was with patronage, as Henry was overgenerous, but only to some people, he would give lots of patronage to Somerset and Suffolk but none to York. This was even worse because he had borrowed from York and instead if paying him back, gave patronage to others. He gave away more and more money and land so that there wasn't much left for important times like war and to make people happy or come onto his side.
After letting the church convince him to go war something changed in henry. His mood changes because he was ready for war after the unexpected gift of tennis balls from the Dauphin. Henry stated whatever happens it’s the will of God. Yes, the childish gift from the Dauphin offends him but instead of conquering France out of anger. The Church influences him to fight with God on his side and God will lead him to victory. As Henry put all his trust in God that demonstrated another characteristic of an ideal Christian king. Regardless of what he might face, he has no fear because he knows that God is with him.
For hundreds of years, those who have read Henry V, or have seen the play performed, have admired Henry V's skills and decisions as a leader. Some assert that Henry V should be glorified and seen as an "ideal Christian king". Rejecting that idea completely, I would like to argue that Henry V should not be seen as the "ideal Christian king", but rather as a classic example of a Machiavellian ruler. If looking at the play superficially, Henry V may seem to be a religious, moral, and merciful ruler; however it was Niccolo Machiavelli himself that stated in his book, The Prince, that a ruler must "appear all mercy, all faith, all honesty, all humanity, [and] all religion" in order to keep control over his subjects (70). In the second act of the play, Henry V very convincingly acts as if he has no clue as to what the conspirators are planning behind his back, only to seconds later reveal he knew about their treacherous plans all along. If he can act as though he knows nothing of the conspirators' plans, what is to say that he acting elsewhere in the play, and only appearing to be a certain way? By delving deeper into the characteristics and behaviors of Henry V, I hope to reveal him to be a true Machiavellian ruler, rather than an "ideal king".
In the first part of the novel, Henry is a youth that is very inexperienced. His motives were impure. He was a very selfish and self-serving character. He enters the war not for the basis of serving his country, but for the attainment of glory and prestige. Henry wants to be a hero. This represents the natural human characteristic of selfishness. Humans have a want and a need to satisfy themselves. This was Henry's main motive throughout the first part of the novel. On more than one occasion Henry is resolved to that natural selfishness of human beings. After Henry realizes that the attainment of glory and heroism has a price on it. That price is by wounds or worse yet, death. Henry then becomes self-serving in the fact that he wants to survive for himself, not the Union army. There is many a time when Henry wants to justify his natural fear of death. He is at a point where he is questioning deserting the battle; in order to justify this, he asks Jim, the tall soldier, if he would run. Jim declared that he'd thought about it. Surely, thought Henry, if his companion ran, it would be alright if he himself ran. During the battle, when Henry actually did take flight, he justified this selfish deed—selfish in the fact that it did not help his regiment hold the Rebs—by natural instinct. He proclaimed to himself that if a squirrel took flight when a rock was thrown at it, it was alright that he ran when his life was on the line.
There is quite a lot of turn around and Henry never uses negative comments. Henry has close relationship with his men, by using a variety of strong terms. Henry's lecture has reference to the superior being to give more assurance. Furthermore King Henry gives divine inspiration to many leaders now days.
Henry V is not a simple one as it has many aspects. By looking into
Henry V, written by William Shakespeare, is by far one of his more historically accurate plays. This play is the life of young King Henry V, who ascended to the throne after his father, Henry IV's death. These times were much different for England, as Henry V was a noble lord whom everyone loved, whereas angry factions haunted his father's reign. Shakespeare portrays a fairly accurate account of the historical Henry V, but certain parts are either inflated"deflated, or conflated to dramatize Henry V as a character suitable for a Renaissance audience.
The first things Henry IV did may include his famous saying “a chicken in every pot on every Sunday” which would show that he planned to fix the suffering of the peasants regarding starvation. Also, Henry would sharply lower taxes on the overburdened peasants. Henry was one of the few kings who genuinely cared for his people, as his statue was not torn down during the French revolution at a much later time. Although, he was greatly helping France, he still needed to find a way to develop a stronger connection and peace between Protestant and Catholics, who were near enemies at the time. One thing he did was converting to Catholicism, which would develop a better relationship with the pope. Another thing he did was appoint a man named Sully to be his chief minister. Sully was a devout protestant, so this decision would create a better relationship between Protestants, Catholics, and the monarchy. As all of this was happening, henry and Sully created a reform called “the Edict of Nantes” which would give more freedom to protestants as they were not accepted as much as Catholics at the time. This reform would have a great impact on his people as it said that it would have toleration to an extent; meaning that this reform will be looked at again in the future. Henry would do t...
... he is jocular, and if he needs to connect with someone he is personable. His ability to do this appears to be innate and Henry’s personality changes flow seamlessly. Despite the composure and ability of Henry to cycle through his personalities and choose the one best suited for certain situations, he is still taken aback sometimes. This is interesting because his composure is never lost. Level-headedness is a characteristic seen throughout all Henry’s and is what aids his cycling of personalities. These characteristics can provide insight on the leaders of today. People with the ability to draw upon their past experiences to connect with and manipulate those around them are described as being charismatic. Numerous eminent people in modern society have been described as possessing this characteristic. These people are men like Martin Luther King Jr and Barack Obama.
in Act I Scene I and has all the qualities of being a great leader. He is able to manage people exceptionally well shown by his unification. of the army as a strong force. Shakespeare shows Henry's physical. Courage is never in doubt as he is a brave responsible soldier who does all that he can to protect his men.
Through high moral character Henry established credibility with the audience through creating a setting that aroused feelings in the people at the convention in order to convince them they had to fight for more than just peace. The goal Henry had when he spoke about war was to be honest with the crowd and point out that they needed to do something now or they would loose not just what he loved, but what they also loved. Henry said “If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending...and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!”. In this quote the tactic of ethics is apparent in that Henry wanted to achieve a personal level of connection with the audience and establish his credibility. By relating losing the war it also meant the lose of their feelings of comfort and contentm...