Author Archives: Rikki

Like Petruchio in his war on Kate’s inner shrew, Henry V employs an “us v. them” tactic in an unexpected way. In addition to the requisite French bashing, Henry rouses the troops in the opening of scene 3 by inviting them into his noble circle. He talks about their fathers’ honor and valor insisting “there is none of you so mean and base that hath not noble lustre in your eyes” (3.1.29-30). Neither the emotional push nor pull of these arguments are unique. When at war, the enemy is vilified and the soldier is glorified. What is interesting about Henry’s speech, and also very relevant today, is the secondary other that Henry creates. It is not enough for the “us v. them” scenario to encompass one body of “them.” There are also the “men of grosser blood” who stand across the sand line (3.1.24).  Who is Henry talking about? Despite his grand linguistic gestures, the men whom he addresses in this speech are at the very bottom of the totem pole. This speech is not for his horsed noblemen but for the common foot soldier. There are no men of grosser blood. Henry creates a social fallacy to further manipulate his soldiers’ emotions.

Consider the stance of the poor white southern anti-abolitionist in the nineteenth century. For someone who didn’t actually own slaves and therefor had no economic stake in slavery, an anti-abolitionist stance is purely emotional. No group of people wants to see themselves as being the bottom of the social hierarchy and so they push another group beneath themselves. In the case of Henry’s soldiers, the social implications are far less disturbing as the men of grosser blood are an imaginary group of people, but the attitude is the same. Henry smoothly uses a complex model of “us v. them” to accomplish his aims, without actually alienating any English people.