Henry V

The Chorus describes the night before battle, as the two armies wait in their camps for daybreak. Campfires burn and the sounds of horses and armorers travel in the night air. The English know they are outnumbered: They wait “like sacrifices” while the French are “confident and overlusty” (4.Prologue.18). The Chorus describes how King Henry, the “royal captain” walks quietly among the waiting soldiers with no sign of fear and dread. He “[b]ids them good morrow with a modest smile // And calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen” (4.Prologue.33-34). His men are comforted and their fear “thaw[s].”

King Henry admits to Gloucester and Clarence that the English are “in great danger” (4.1.1) but that “the greater therefore should our courage be” (4.1.2). The elderly soldier Sir Thomas Erpingham is present and exchanges words of courage and gallantry with the King. Henry asks for Erpingham’s cloak and puts it on, sending the advisors away and asking for some time alone. Pistol enters and asks Henry who he is: Henry pretends to be a gentleman called Harry le Roy. Pistol praises the King, without knowing who Harry is. Henry says he is a Welshman (the Tudors were originally a Welsh family). Pistol asks if Harry knows Fluellen and insults Fluellen.