I couldn’t help but notice that Shakespear must have been influenced by Niccolo Machiavelli and The Prince or else he must have had his own hand in at courtiership.
The Prince mentions that the only way to truely hear what people think about you is never directly. A subject will never openly tell thier liege how they feel about certain things.
This being said Henry V took a peek into Machiavelli’s play book and he was disguised when he talked to his men. When he was revealed the soldier said that he would have never said any of the things he said if the King was not there. That was the exact reason why Henry V had to do this. There was no circumventing it and there is nothing like hearing things for yourself.
It just goes to show how shrewd a leader Henry V was shown to be. Alot of people in class didnt seem to approve of him disgusing himself, but I thought it was brilliant. It really is one of the few ways a King can get authentic information from his subjects. I remember some people raising the point that Henry V only talked to two people when he was disguised implying that it was done in a self pittying manner – but it makes sense taking into consideration the constraints of it being a play. If it were a novel instead, I’m sure they would have mentioned him talking to more people. In terms of production, two people was enough to convey what he was doing