Was Henry portrayed as a Christian ideal king or a tyrant?
Was Henry portrayed as a Christian ideal king or a tyrant?
a christian ideal king i'm fairly sure of - he has such strong religious beliefs, quite unflawed in his actions (with the exception being the slaughter of the french prisoners) - shakespeare cleverly allows Henry to avoid being blamed for various things - like the start of the war which he blames the Dauphin for starting
It is true that Henry does have a religious side, but isn't this due to his father's divorce from the church. Henry feels he has to pay God compensation for his father's unreligious conduct.
At Agincourt, the French plan was to reserve a third line specifically to attack the baggage train. As the archers took prisoners to the rear, Henry saw this line forming and realized that this line was not going to join the melee in the center. He ordered the prisoners to be killed. I am not certain if they allowed noblemen to live for ransom, but it is a fact that he ordered the prisoners killed. This done seem bloodthirsty, and may very well have been, but he did not have much time to think about morality. He personally fought off 18 individual French knights and stood over his wounded brother, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Maintenance of prisoners is a diffcult task, and once this responsibilty was removed, the battle was quickly won. (Now Edward III's killing of the prisoners at Halidon Hill...THAT was vindictive)
In actuality, Henry did not kill the French noblemen that were captured. Although the French killed all of the English boys, Henry didn't kill the noblemen. Henry said he would, which prevented a third force of Frenchmen to come to the battle. He used the noblemen as a bluff, we cannot tell if he would have killed them or not.
Nooooooooo
In my opinion, Henry is a very relegious, & his relegious belifes are of two kinds:
1- He frequently accepts that all his plans are dependent on the approval of GOD, we can see that in the early part of the play.
2- His need to accept the role of GOD in any success that he has, & refuse to accept his own achivements & to attribute them all to GOD.
Last edited by May*; 06-01-2006 at 05:33 AM.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote