Oct 10, 2008

Henry V | Act IV, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis

Summary
As if echoing Grandpre’s speech, the English officers prepare for death by bidding one another good-bye. Then Henry delivers a speech about the honor of dying for one’s country. Suiting his remarks to the occasion, he says the coming battle will become a national holiday celebrating “St. Crispin.” (In Catholic theology, October 25 was a feast day for two Roman brothers, Crispinus and Crispianus, who were the patron saints of shoemakers.) And in a famous passage, Henry addresses the men—outnumbered five to one by the French—as

We few, we happy...