Henry V and the performance of war

Fraser, Scott

Abstract

The chapter serves to highlight an aspect of the play which is often overlooked in criticism: the importance of the performance of the siege of Harfleur as part of a narrative and image pattern which runs formally throughout the Folio text of Henry V. I look closely at the way the siege is presented as a means of understanding its importance to the formal construction of the text. What that construction says about the performance of warfare should help us understand the divergence in critical and directorial opinion about henry as king, and the play as a whole.

• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2008
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 71-83
• Book Title: Shakespeare and war
• ISBN: 978-0230-20508-6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230228276
• Keywords: Shakespeare, history, war, performance
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1008371
• Publisher URL: http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/10.1057/9780230228276