Henry the Fifth has become synonymous with English patriotism. A dashing young king achieves a stunning military victory against all odds, stirring his men to impossible valour through sheer rhetorical force. The phrases have become legendary: ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’; ‘Cry "God for Harry, England, and Saint George!" ’; ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.’ Whereas all Shakespeare’s other history plays of the 1590s portray an England riven by faction and anxiety over rightful succession to the throne, here the nation seems united and all-conquering. Perhaps no other Shakespeare play has such a simple plot: King Harry makes his claim for France, thwarts a small conspiracy, sets sail, takes Harfleur, wins the battle of Agincourt and marries the defeated king’s daughter. The cast consists almost entirely of his loyal army and his French enemies, among whom the dauphin in particular is parodied as a kind of poor man’s Hotspur. Yet, as so often with Shakespeare, a wealth of reservations are held within that ‘almost’.2 Henry IV ended with an epilogue promising a continuation of the story ‘with Sir John in it’: the fat knight’s absence casts a shadow across the king’s triumphs.

The Life of Henry the Fifth is Shakespeare’s most famous “war play”; it includes the storied English victory over the French at Agincourt. Some of it glorifies war, especially the choruses and Henry’s speeches urging his troops into battle. But we also hear bishops conniving for war to postpone a bill that would tax the church, and soldiers expecting to reap profits from the conflict. Even in the speeches of Henry and his nobles, there are many chilling references to the human cost of war.

William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564—23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of around 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.