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Title: Henry V by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0-671-72265-4 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.87 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: We Few, We Happy Few
Comment: On D-Day British officers read Henry's famous words to their men as they approached the beach. When Churchill needed material for his famous "Few" speech, his thoughts turned to the pages of Henry V. From "once more into the breach" to "we happy few, we band of brothers" this play resonates with Shakespeare's paen to England's warrior king. Oh, you'll be a bit confused at the start if you haven't read Henry IV parts 1 and 2, but this is primarily the story of Henry V's victory at Agincourt. Whether the play glorifies war or just Henry you will have to decide. There is much food for thought here for the perceptive reader. But then Shakespeare is always provocative.
Rating: 5
Summary: "...in that small most greatly lived this star of England."
Comment: How does one review Shakespeare? Well, I shall try... A history buff (more specifically, a medieval history buff) I am probably the only person who enjoys Shakespeare's history plays above all others (except "Macbeth"--always excepting "Macbeth"). After that intriguing (and sly!) introduction, the action of the play dies down for a bit, until Harry arrives in France and takes it by storm. THEN the play unfurls itself into what turns out to be Shakespeare's greatest tribute to England and literature and history's greatest tribute to "that star of England," Henry V, surely one of England's greatest monarchs. The star of three plays, Harry also stands out as one of Shakespeare's most interesting and fully-realized characters. If you are familiar with the Henry IV plays, it is fascinating to discover how Harry's past adventures (and misadventures) have contributed to make him the man he proves himself to be in "Henry V." This is truly one of Shakespeare's best plays, and Harry's "Saint Crispin's Day Speech" is one of the most inspirational and well-crafted speeches in literature, I think. (Hamlet's speeches were always so convoluted!)
Rating: 5
Summary: Shakespeare is a damned liar!
Comment: I just have to share this with everybody...
Henry was not the nice "Welshman to the core" of this play. After Agincourt, he ordered "the slaughter of all disarmed prisoners, noble or otherwise, and his foot soldiers watched, deeply shocked as two hundred archers stabbled, clubbed, or burned the captives to death."
Coupled with the fact that Henry didn't smile once during his victorious progress through London...I must conclude that the historical guy was an evil hardass.
The Duke of York was not stabbed to death, and did not dramatically barf blood like in the Kenneth Branagh film. "He was a big man and very overweight, and it is reported that he either suffocated to death in his armor or suffered a heart attack in the press of the fighting."
So the next time you read Shakespeare, especially this play or, my favorite ahistorical pro-Lancastrian history twister, Richard III....just remember.... Shakespeare is a damned liar. :-)
Thanks to Alison Weir for the information in "The Wars of the Roses".
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Title: HENRY IV PART 1 by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722638 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1994 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: RICHARD III by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722840 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: RICHARD II by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722832 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Othello by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722816 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1993 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: The TEMPEST by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722905 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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