Sep 7, 2008

Henry V | Act IV, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis

Summary
In the play’s shortest scene, the French nobles are found routed and panic-stricken. Their army’s ranks broken and facing certain defeat, they decide to seek death in battle rather than the disgrace they have earned. Bourbon speaks for all in vowing to throw himself on the enemy’s spear when he says, “I’ll to the throng./Let life be short, else shame will be too long.”

Analysis
Despite its brevity, this climactic scene has one moment of special significance. It is the Dauphin’s invocation of Fortune, a mythological goddess who was thought to control...