That Will Shakespeare is a very naughty boy!

Amongst the ever increasing pile of detritus on my desk I came across a copy of Henry V.  God knows what it was doing there but, anyway, I opened it up at random and came across a superb example of old Will's sly humour.  Act III.i is, of course, set outside the walls of Harfleur with King Henry giving his magnificent and rightly famous patriotic speech to his, er, brave soldiers:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!

And so, on and gloriously on until the next scene shifts to the actual "noblest English", a bunch of what today we would call 'squaddies'.

BARDOLPH
On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!
NYM
Pray thee, corporal, stay: the knocks are too hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives: the humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-song of it.
PISTOL
The plain-song is most just: for humours do abound: Knocks go and come; God's vassals drop and die; And sword and shield, In bloody field, Doth win immortal fame.
BOY
Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.

At this point, enter the irascible Capt. Fluellen who with some angry curses drives the men forward and only the boy remains alone on stage and offers this summary of his 'comrades':

BOY

As young as I am, I have observed these three swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they three, though they would serve me, could not be man to me; for indeed three such antics do not amount to a man. For Bardolph, he is white-livered and red-faced; by the means whereof a' faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol, he hath a killing tongue and a quiet sword; by the means whereof a' breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym, he hath heard that men of few words are the best men; and therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest a' should be thought a coward: but his few bad words are matched with as few good deeds; for a' never broke any man's head but his own, and that was against a post when he was drunk.

They will steal anything, and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for three half pence. Nym and Bardolph are sworn brothers in filching, and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel: I knew by that piece of service the men would carry coals. They would have me as familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or their handkerchers: which makes much against my manhood, if I should take from another's pocket to put into mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs.

I must leave them, and seek some better service: their villainy goes against my weak stomach, and therefore I must cast it up.

There, a perfect example of Shakespeare's beady but realistic eye.

 

 

Comments

[AussieD]

I love Henry V especially as played by Kenneth Branagh.

One of my favourite DVDs. When SWBO, daughter and grand daughters are at the Ballet it is time for an evening of Henry V, The Lion in Winter, The Light Horsemen or Zulu, a cold Guiness, my two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels on my lap and a few nibbles. Almost as good as standing watch on a still moonlit night.

Life doesn't get much better.

[Whitewall]

AussieD, I like your choice in DVDs, especially "The Lion in Winter".

The Shakespeare quoted above reminds me of what a long dead friend once said after a few too many...'just once I would like to be shot at by an educated man'.

[Kevin B]

David, it's a shame you're not a great fan of opera as there are a couple of Shakespeare plays that have been turned into operas available on BBC iPlayer for the next two or three weeks.

One is Otello, the great Verdi's take on Shakespeare's Othello which has the excellent tenor Jonas Kaufman in the title role and a really nasty Iago. Definitely worth a watch.

The other is a brand new version of Hamlet by Brett Dean, some Australian guy, which is an interesting take on the play, but, for me at least, musically uninspiring. Mind you, I'm not a fan anything composed after the first world war.

You should definitely give Otello a try, (that is if you can get tech support to log you on to iPlayer).

[David Duff]

Kevin, I'm grateful for the info but, alas, as I have mentioned before, apart from Mozart's naughty and cynical efforts, and perhaps certain individual arias, opera leaves me cold. My bad, I know!