Navigating Digital Text, Performance, & Historical Resources
Key Scenes and Speeches from Henry V
Navigating this page:
Clicking the links below will take you to each scene in the Folger Digital Edition of Henry V.Prologue | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
4.0 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 5.2 | Epilogue
Citing This Play Text:
Chicago style citations taken from “Folger Digital Texts: How to Cite.”Footnote/endnote citation:
Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, Rebecca Niles, eds., Henry V (Washington: Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d.), accessed June 17, 2019. www.folgerdigitaltexts.org.
Bibliography citation
Henry V from Folger Digital Texts, ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library. Accessed on June 17, 2019. www.folgerdigitaltexts.org.
Key Scenes:
The Chorus's Prologue to the Text
This speech is important because it opens the play and invites the audience to use their imaginations as they watch the performance. The Chorus is responsible for communicating exposition and scenery changes at the beginning of each act. They function as the audience's window into the world of King Henry V.Julia Koslowsky writes in-depth about the Chorus’s prologues and epilogue in her essay.
All of the Chorus's speeches can be found here.
Salic Law speech (1.2)
Salic Law speech blurb.Mikaela LaFave writes in-depth about the Salic Law speech in her essay.
“Once more unto the breach” speech (3.1)
Once More speech blurbLink to an essay.
Link to speech page.
Henry at the Harfleur Gate speech (3.3)
Harfleur gate blurbLink to an essay.
Katherine/Alice French scene (3.4)
This scene is entirely written in French. Princess Katherine is learning English from her lady-in-waiting in preparation for Henry V taking over France, her homeland. For Katherine, this means marriage to a foreign king. The scene's true meaning can be lost on a reader versus a play-attender. Seeing the play performed adds a physical understanding to what Katherine and Alice are talking about.Link to an essay (Dr. Jacobson?).
St. Crispin's Day speech (4.3)
St. Crispin blurbLink to an essay.
The St. Crispin's Day speech can be found here.
Pistol and Monsieur Le Fer French/English scene (4.4)
This scene between English soldier Pistol and French soldier Le Fer is key in demonstrating language barriers in the time of Henry V. Pistol hilariously misunderstands Le Fer, but the scene becomes much more important when the reader thinks about Henry V, who does not speak French, conquering France.Charlène Cruxent writes in-depth about Pistol and Monsieur Le Fer's interaction in her essay.
Fluellen and Pistol Leek scene (5.1)
Leek sceneLink to an essay.
Henry and Katherine courting scene (5.2)
courting scene blurbLink to an essay.