Social Positions Explored In Shakespeare's Henry V

5. Social Positions Explored in Shakespeare’s Henry V Shakespeare’s Henry V explores the relationship and variations of thought between nobility and commoners. Throughout the play, Shakespeare describes multiple instances that depict the vast divide between the King and the lower class. Harry perceives himself as a man whose “cause [is] just, and his quarrel honourable” (IV.i.121); however, his subjects are hesitant to admit they believe this as well. Shakespeare identifies what it is that makes the King so different from commoners by putting them in a similar situation and describing the various reactions. The disparity between the two positions is also demonstrated in the responsibilities each one assumes according to their social rank.
In this passage, a servant boy negatively comments on the people he is serving: Nim, Bardolph, and Pistol, which also reflects his view as a commoner on the King. This particular section of the speech focuses on what it is to be a man and in the eyes of the boy –and by extension the people–, these three, as well as King Harry are not men, for they are not honourable. The boy is servant to these three men however, he obviously does not respect “such/ antics” (III.ii.29-30) nor does he think them to be men because, as described later in the soliloquy, it is Nim and Bardolph’s “filching” (II.ii.42) that makes them less manly; this reflects the commoners’ thoughts on Harry, whose actions and goals could also be perceived as stealing. The boy continues: it offends his “manhood if [he]/ should take from another’s pocket and put into [his own], for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs.” (III.ii.45-47).This correlation returns the notion that the common people do not necessarily agree with Harry’s justification for the war. This sentiment is later echoed by another member of the lower class, Williams: upon Harry, in disguise, telling Williams he would be happy to die in battle because the King’s “cause [is] just and his quarrel honourable” (IV.i.121), Williams replies “That’s more than we know” (IV.i.123) insinuating the commoner’s doubt in Harry’s claim to
This is evident in Harry’s transformation from the frivolous youth of 1 Henry IV to the disciplined leader in Henry V. In 1 Henry IV Harry enjoys his time with Falstaff, Bardolph, Nim, and Poins; in Henry V, upon hearing the news of Bardolph’s hanging for stealing comments “we would have all such offender so cut off” (III.vi.98). Harry’s ascent to the throne forced on him the responsibility of keeping stability and enforcing laws within the kingdom. Shakespeare uses this event to exhibit a monarch’s duty to put aside personal feelings for the greater good of the country. In this case, the greater good is winning the war: “For when lenity and cruelty play for a / kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner.” (III.vi.102-103). Harry has no visible emotion after hearing the news of his former friend’s sentence. Harry seems to understand that it is his responsibilities to his position that prevent him from being just a normal man: “his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man” (IV.i.102). The King’s soliloquy at the end of act IV, scene i, resonates with the same sense of understanding. Harry laments his position of responsibility as a “hard condition” (IV.i.215) and recognizes the only thing Kings have “that privates have not [...]/ [...] [is] ceremony” (IV.i.220-221). The soldier Williams states that some of the