King Henry’s Competence as a Ruler in Henry V - Literature Essay Samples

â€Å"King Henry’s Competence as a Ruler in Henry V†Often remembered for his wild and boyish characteristics, King Henry assures his fellow English and those who oppose him that he has evolved from Prince Hal into a competent king. Although some of Henry’s actions in battle carry immoral implications, he defines a â€Å"competent† king as one who fully exercises the responsibilities of a ruler, as seen by his response to the Dauphin’s claim that Henry is still only a youth. Henry’s composed demeanor and well-devised rhetoric when speaking to various characters reveals that he is confident in his abilities as a ruler. Therefore, Henry’s rhetoric serves to convince the other characters and the audience, rather than himself, that he is capable of holding the throne of England, as he has grown from his past as Prince Hal and will â€Å"show [his] sail of greatness† upon the â€Å"throne of France† (I.ii.275-276).Upon receivin g the Dauphin’s gift of tennis balls, which symbolizes Henry’s image as a mere sportsman without governing capability, Henry responds with clever and serious rhetoric. The Dauphin’s insults do not dismantle Henry’s demeanor, revealing just how much the English King has matured: Henry says that he is â€Å"glad the Dauphin is so pleasant† and grateful for the Dauphin’s â€Å"present† and â€Å"pains† (I.ii.260-261). As Henry converts the imagery of a tennis game to that of a war, his words and attitude become very stern; he states that England â€Å"will in France, by God’s grace, play a set† and â€Å"strike [King Charles’] crown into the hazard† (I.ii.263-264). Henry acknowledges the Dauphin’s references to the wild Prince Hal by arguing that he never valued his position in England. Henry does assert, however, that he has made use of his boyish past.â€Å"To be like a king,† Henry stat es, he will â€Å"show [his] sail of greatness,† and the Dauphin’s mockery will â€Å"mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down† and leave the unborn cursing the Dauphin’s ridicule. (I.ii.275-288) Henry’s rhetorical tactics carry a weight of severity that is somewhat masked by his earlier word play. As he compares war to a tennis match, Henry seems to be casually voicing threats, but, toward the end of his speech, he uses rhetorical manipulation to pin the cause of the impending war on the mockery of the Dauphin. The audience already knows that Henry has made the decision to wage war on France prior to his speaking with the ambassador, but Henry makes it seem as if the Dauphin’s insults have caused him to declare war. Henry’s manipulation also makes it seem as if he is quick to anger, thus providing the image of a serious ruler who is capable of overtaking the French empire. The primary function of the rhetorical manipulation, h owever, is to convince the Dauphin and France that Henry is a competent ruler; he could have simply stated that he has declared war, but his tactics place responsibility on the Dauphin, revealing hasty and clever decision-making.In his argument with Michael Williams, Henry’s rhetoric serves to justify his duties as king and to convince his soldiers that a competent ruler is not responsible for his soldiers’ deaths. Williams states that King Henry is responsible for the ungraceful deaths of his soldiers because those who die, since they were led in battle by Henry, could not disobey orders for they are the king’s subjects. Henry objects with a set of analogies that focus on the structure of people dying in the process of following the orders of a superior. Henry argues that a king’s duties do not require him â€Å"to answer [the] endings of his soldiers,† just as the father and masters â€Å"purpose not their [subjects] death / when they purpose th eir services† (IV.i.151-154). Although a soldier, son and servant are subjects to their superiors, Henry argues that a king demands the service of his men but does not order them to die.Henry’s rejection of responsibility does not serve to demean his power as king, but to assert that those who die in battle are suffering God’s vengeance due to their own personal sins. A king, Henry argues, is not more â€Å"guilty of [his soldiers’] / damnation that he was before guilty of those impieties / for which [his soldiers] are now visited† because those who die should be prepared for God’s justice. (IV.i.169-171) By arguing that â€Å"every subject’s duty / is the king’s, but every subject’s soul is his own,† Henry transfers the responsibility of death back to the soldiers. (IV.i.171-172) In addressing the soldiers’ souls, Henry targets their most intrinsic parts; the soldiers are essentially forced to clear their c onsciences before battle in fear of suffering an unpromising afterlife. Henry is again clever in his rhetorical manipulation because the soldiers are both obligated to follow their king and also left with the responsibility of their own deaths. If a man dies without repenting his sins, he is deserving due to his lack of faith, and if he dies after he has repented, it is to his advantage for his conscience is clear before the judgment of God. If a soldier were to live after clearing his conscience, Henry argues, it would mean he has been blessed by God for his preparation, and should therefore advise others to prepare for death. Henry’s logic and manipulation convince the audience that he is a capable ruler by avoiding his soldiers’ claims of conviction, and therefore avoiding the negativity of death produced by war. By transferring responsibility from himself to his soldiers, Henry creates a system that encourages his soldiers’ obedience while also making their fate strictly a product of repentance and God’s will.After his argument with Williams and Bates, Henry expresses, in a soliloquy, how he is burdened with the lives of all his people. The responsibilities placed upon Henry only bring him grief, for the only compensation he gains in being king is a ceremony, which holds no value for Henry. In an attempt to find value in his ceremonies, Henry addresses â€Å"Ceremony† directly by asking for its worth and why he should admire it. Henry states that Ceremony only provides â€Å"place, degree and form,† things which merely instill fear in others through â€Å"poisoned flattery† (IV.i.236-243). Henry does not find satisfaction in the fame and glory that kingship supposedly brings because all that is produced from Ceremony is superficial and meaningless. Since Henry sees that Ceremony as all that separates him from an ordinary man, he argues that the lone reward of Ceremony cannot even cure him of sickness, thus s tripping him of immunity to a danger common to all living beings. Henry’s reference to sickness places him on a level equal to his people, thereby underlining Ceremony’s fundamental uselessness. This rhetorical tactic proves effective because Ceremony is inanimate and therefore cannot object to Henry’s argument. As Henry refutes each supposed benefit of Ceremony, his argument accumulates with clear reasoning, which later aids in convincing the audience of his competence as king. Henry even goes so far as to argue that all the material possessions of Ceremony fail to provide him the peace of mind of a slave – who, after all, endures gruesome treatment day and night only to labor until he dies. A slave has the pleasure of being â€Å"a member of the country’s peace,† while Henry is burdened with the constant maintenance of that peace. (IV.i.273)These lamentations notwithstanding, however, Henry embraces his responsibilities as king and continu es into battle. Rhetorically, Henry’s words are honest, for no other characters are present on stage. This allows for the audience to first sympathize with Henry, and then realize that he is indeed a competent ruler because he rejects the materialistic and superficial qualities of ceremony that serve as the only supposed benefit of being a king. Without the presence of other characters, the audience cannot help but view Henry’s lament as genuine because, if Henry rejects Ceremony, his motivation to rule must lie solely in a desire to preserve the safety of England.Assuming the throne of England provides Henry with an overwhelming task in itself, but his immature past as Prince Hal introduces an additional obstacle for him to surpass as king. Henry’s manipulative rhetoric in placing the consequence of war on the mockery of the Dauphin constructs Henry’s image as a competent ruler to the French because he employs initiative and responsibility in not only de fending his character but in his willingness to take action. Henry’s rhetorical ability to manipulate his soldiers into following his orders and assuming responsibility for their deaths proves to the audience that he is capable of leading an army without the conviction produced by death. Henry’s humble rejection of â€Å"Ceremony† finalizes his attempt to prove his competence as a king to the audience. Not only is Henry disinterested in his only reward for being king, he accepts the responsibility of protecting England and marches forward into battle.

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All Quiet On The Western Front - 850 Words

The First World War was a war of many firsts. Not only was it the first true contemporary war, but it was also the first war that introduced new forms of industrial warfare, which resulted in many repercussions. One of these repercussions was the development of shell-shock or neurosis as a result of war in soldiers returning from the battle front. In â€Å"All Quiet on the Western Front† by Enrich Maria Remarque the psychological effect of industrial warfare on soldiers was depicted as a paradoxical combination of exhilaration on the battlefront as well as a deep state of numbness and melancholy. Foremost, it is imperative to note that many soldiers fighting in WWI were around the age of 20 if not younger. This is crucial when the fact that many studies have shown the human brain does not fully develop until the age of 25 is considered. This means that many of the soldiers were still immature and gravely unprepared for the horrors of war. Being thrown into the war requires the m to mature quickly and leave their youth behind. Remarque depicts this in his piece where he states, â€Å"We are youth not youth any longer†¦The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in war† (Remarque 46). Nonetheless, the only thing they believed in betrayed them in the end. With the innovation of new forms of weaponry in warfare such as mustard gas, tanks, planes, machine guns, etc. andShow MoreRelatedAll Quiet of the Western Front756 Words   |  3 PagesPlot Summary: All Quiet on the Western Front Written by Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front is the tale of a young man by the name of Paul. Paul who is nineteen years old gathers several of his friends from school and together they voluntarily join the army fighting for the Axis alliance. 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World War I was supposed to be about nationalism and the propaganda forced upon the soldiers to feel superiority over other countries, but Paul helps to prove otherwise, as his story tells what is was like to be at the front, and how tough it was to be a soldier. â€Å"All Quiet on the Western Front† portrays war as it was actually experienced, replacing the romantic picture of glory and

Dylan Thomas The Life And Work Essay Example For Students

Dylan Thomas The Life And Work Essay Dylan ThomasThe Life and WorkOne: I am a Welshman;two: I am a drunkard;three: I am a lover of the human race,especially of women. A quote by one of the best-known British poets of the mid-20th century, he is remembered for his highly original, obscure poems, his amusing prose tales and plays, and his turbulent, well-publicized personal life. His name, Dylan Thomas. Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914 in Swansea, Glamorganshire (Wales). He was educated at Swansea Grammar School and spent most of his childhood writing poetry and bunking school. His father was the senior English Literature Master at Dylan’s school, but not even his father could prevent him from skipping school and writing poetry. It has been said that Dylan had an extremely wild imagination and that it was â€Å"Freed† by him playing in a near by park as a young boy. His ambition from those early imaginative years was to be a great poet like Keates and the other great poets before him. Although his poetry was described as obscure even from the early days of his life, he had a very specific style of writing poetry. He wrote about his surroundings in the beautiful welsh countryside and little town that he grew up in. Before the publishing of Thomas first book in 1934, he worked as a reporter between 1931-1932, for The South Wales Daily Post, in Swansea. T hen he worked as a free-lance writer from 1933 at this time he also took part in the local theatre and expressed his acting skills. One of his first plays was a part in the Merchant Of Venice and it was said whilst he was involved in the theatre he spent most of his free time in the nearby pub-this was supposadely the beginning of his life long drinking problem. Thomas first book, 18 Poems was published as the result of a prize. Thomas was only 19 when this volume of poetry was released. He wrote nearly 30 poems in late 1933 and early 1934, of which 13 were published in this volume. Between May and October 1934, he completed another five for inclusion in the book. The Thomas poems first appeared in the Sunday Referee in 1933 in a feature column called the Poets Corner, edited by Victor Neuburg and Runia Sheila MacLeod. Neuburg began to award prizes to poets whose work was judged to be the finest printed in the column over a period of six months. The prize was that the Sunday Referee would publish the winning poets work in book form. Dylan Thomas became the second recipient of the prize, which he won for the second of seven poems he published in Poets Corner, the poem, The Force that through the Grass Fuse Drives the Flower. The editors had some difficulty getting Thomas manuscript accepted by a publisher, until David Archer of the Parton Boo kshop agree d to have the book printed. Five hundred copies were printed, but only 250 were bound and issued in December 1934. The remaining half, constituting the second issue, were bound and put on sale on February 21, 1936. It was praised by few because it was so obscure. In 1934 he went to live in London for a while and loved living the bohemian life style but he always came back to the welsh countryside where he would be inspired to write great poetry. His favourite place as a child and an adult to return to was his Aunts farm in the west of the welsh countryside called â€Å"Fern Hill†. This was to be the inspiration for one of his greatest poems of his career. Fern Hill is a wonderfully crafted description of how Thomas’ childhood imagination runBibliographywww.dylanthomas.comPoetry Essays