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Henry V

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's Henry V (c. 1599) is the culminating play of his second history tetralogy, dramatizing the young king's campaign in France and his victory against overwhelming odds at Agincourt in 1415. Framed by a Chorus who begs the audience to “piece out our imperfections with your thoughts,” it moves between stirring rhetoric — the “band of brothers” speech before battle — and the sober human costs of war. It is at once a patriotic epic and a searching meditation on kingship, conquest, and the gap between royal ideals and their price.

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Contents

1. Prologue
2. Act I
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
3. Act II
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
4. Act III
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
   6. Scene VI
   7. Scene VII
5. Act IV
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
   6. Scene VI
   7. Scene VII
   8. Scene VIII
6. Act V
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
7. Epilogue