Toolbox



Textual Analysis

[ Go ]

Shakespeare on Stage
Original Shakespeare Company, Comedie of Errors. To Jun. 22, 2013.
Original Shakespeare Company, A Midsommer Night's Dreame (Midsummer Midsommer). To Jun. 21, 2013.
American Shakespeare Center, Return to the Forbidden Planet. To Dec. 1, 2013.
Original Shakespeare Company, As You Like It. To Jun. 23, 2013.
American Shakespeare Center, All's Well That Ends Well. To Nov. 29, 2013.
More Performances…
‌

Henry V, Modern text based on the Quarto

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: James D. Mardock
Not Peer Reviewed
2164.1

[Scene 12]

Enter Clarence, Gloucester, Exeter, [Warwick,] and Salisbury.
2237.1Warwick My lords, the French are very strong.
2245Exeter There is five to one, and yet they all are fresh.
Warwick Of fighting men they have full forty thousand.
Salisbury The odds is all too great. Farewell, kind lords.
2250Brave Clarence, and my lord of Gloucester,
My lord of Warwick, and to all, farewell.
2255Clarence [To Salisbury] Farewell, kind lord. Fight valiantly today.
And yet in truth I do thee wrong,
For thou art made on the true sparks of honor.
Enter King.
Warwick Oh, would we had 2260but ten thousand men now, at this instant, that doth not work in England.
King Henry Who's that, that wishes so, my cousin Warwick? 2275God's will, I would not lose the honor one man would share from me, not for my kingdom.
No, faith, my cousin, wish not one man more.
Rather proclaim it presently through our camp
That he that hath no stomach to this feast,
2280Let him depart. His passport shall be drawn
And crowns for convoy put into his purse.
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the day of Crispin.
He that outlives this day and sees old age
Shall stand a tiptoe when this day is named
And rouse him at the name of Crispin.
2285He that outlives this day and comes safe home
Shall yearly on the vigil feast his friends,
2290And say, "Tomorrow is Saint Crispin's Day."
Then shall we in their flowing bowls
Be newly remembered: Harry the King,
Bedford and Exeter, Clarence and Gloucester,
Warwick and York,
2295Familiar in their mouths as household words.
This story shall the good man tell his son,
And from this day unto the general doom,
But we in it shall be rememberèd.
We few, we happy few, we bond of brothers,
For he today that sheds his blood by mine
2305Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so base,
This day shall gentle his condition.
Then shall he strip his sleeves, and show his scars
2291.1And say, "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed
And hold their manhood cheap while any speak
2310That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Gloucester My gracious lord, the French is in the field.
2315King Henry Why all things are ready if our minds be so.
Warwick Perish the man whose mind is backward now.
King Henry Thou dost not wish more help from England, cousin?
Warwick God's will, my liege, would you and I alone
2320Without more help might fight this battle out.
King Henry Why well said. That doth please me better
Than to wish me one. -- You know your charge,
God be with you all.
Enter the Herald from the French.
2325Herald Once more I come to know of thee, King Henry,
What thou wilt give for ransom.
2335King Henry Who hath sent thee now?
Herald The Constable of France.
King Henry I prithee bear my former answer back:
Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.
Good God, why should they mock good fellows thus?
2340The man that once did sell the lion's skin
While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
A many of our bodies shall no doubt
Find graves within your realm of France:
Though buried in your dunghills, we shall be famed,
For there the sun shall greet them,
And draw up their honors reeking up to heaven,
Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,
2350The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
Mark then abundant valor in our English,
That being dead, like to the bullets crazing,
Breaks forth into a second course of mischief,
Killing in relapse of mortality.
2355Let me speak proudly:
There's not a piece of feather in our camp --
2360Good argument, I hope, we shall not fly --
And time hath worn us into slovenry.
But by the mass, our hearts are in the trim,
And my poor soldiers tell me yet ere night
They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck
2365The gay new clothes o'er your French soldiers' ears
And turn them out of service. If they do this,
As if it please God they shall,
Then shall our ransom soon be levièd.
Save thou thy labor, herald.
2370Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald.
They shall have naught, I swear, but these my bones,
Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,
Will yield them little. Tell the constable.
Herald I shall deliver so.
2375
Exit Herald.
[Enter York.]
York My gracious lord, upon my knee I crave
2380The leading of the vanguard.
King Henry Take it, brave York. -- Come soldiers, let's away,
And as thou pleasest, God, dispose the day.
2383.1
Exeunt.