Henry V: the Chorus and The Audience

Summary

Most critical readings of Henry V embody certain fixed and possibly erroneous assumptions about the role of the Chorus. It is usual to associate the play as a whole, and the Chorus in particular, with an exuberant, guns and drums and trumpets type of performance, such a performance as would have tickled the fancy of the groundlings and would have stimulated irresistible patriotic fervour in the breasts of all beholders. Some critics like Henry V for this reason, others dislike it for the same reason; but the uncomplicated heroic strain is generally recognised. There are a few dissenting voices, but the dominant note that runs through criticism of the play is that it is essentially a crude and unreflective piece, well suited to the gross appetites of the jingoistic mob, in which the Chorus, an unavoidable concomitant of the epic mode, plays the mindless part of public cheerleader.