Various messages are created and relayed to the intended audience with the aim of evoking certain emotions or actions among those audiences. Depending on the type of message and the method used to relay it, different messages evoke different reactions and emotions among audiences. Certain authors use persuasion to relay and deliver their messages through certain charismatic characters in an effort to evoke certain emotions or actions among the audiences. In a similar manner, the clip from Henry V is meant to evoke something from his people as he gives one of history’s greatest motivational speeches. The speech is also a representation of the Feudal system of the time in which the play containing Henry the fifth’s speech. The aim of this essay, therefore, is to describe what the clip from Henry V evokes from his people, as well as how the speech is a representation of the feudal system of the time.
Henry V gave a speech that is deemed as one of history’s greatest motivational speeches as he aimed at motivating his much smaller army to fight against the larger French army. Therefore, one of the things that Henry V wanted to evoke in his people is courage. In his speech, Henry V speaks of brotherhood, honor, as well as glory, all which are meant to inspire his men to be courageous so as to fight the highly skilled French army. When Henry V asks his downcast men, “will you shed blood with me today,” he demonstrates the intention to evoke courage and a fighting spirit among his men in the Battle of Agincourt (Shakespeare, 2012). King Henry also tries to evoke honor among his men by describing his value for honor, in an effort to have them strive to get honored for fighting for their country and the English. In his expression of value for honor, which he also tries to evoke among his men, King Henry V says, “But if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive (Shakespeare, 2012).” He tries to persuade his men not to pass the opportunity to be honored for their participation in the Battle of Agincourt by evoking courage to stand up and take arms to fight the French.
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Henry V in his speech also tries to evoke the spirit of heroism as his speech entices his men to imagine how their contribution would go down in history as heroic. Owing to the fact that the English army is outnumbered, King Henry V makes his army know how much their courage and participation in the battle would be seen as heroic and courageous, thus evoking the same form his men. This is depicted when Henry the fifth says, “And we see there is plenty of honor to go around for the few of us (Shakespeare, 2012).” Henry V only wants those men who are courageous enough to take up arms and fight despite being outnumbered y the French army, which is depicted as one of the ways in which he evokes courage and the spirit of heroism among his downcast men.
The speech is a representation of the Feudal system of the time since it shows how leadership played an important role in how battles were fought and won at the time. Despite being outnumbered, the leadership and great speech from leaders such as King Henry V evoke courage and a spirit of heroism, which motivate his men to fight. The feudal system was characterized by persuasion and the personalization of the situation, which was honest, thus making establishing trust and courage (Burne, 2014). For instance, Henry V addresses his men personally by calling them “dear friends,” which was an important aspect of the time’s feudal system as a king needed his men to trust and demonstrate honor as it facilitated victory in battles.
References
Burne, A. H. (2014). The Agincourt war: A military history of the latter part of the Hundred Years War from 1369 to 1453 .
Shakespeare, W. (2012). Henry V . Dover Publications.
