The YouTube clip that I chose to discuss is one of Shakespeare’s most brilliant and skillful characters, Henry V. This character is known for being a great orator and uses this skill to motivate his troops to conquer France, despite them being vastly outnumbered. He hypes up his men to become prepared for a battle known as The Battle of Agincourt. He rallies his soldiers and delivers a very powerful speech which spawns confidence and strength in his soldiers. I will use Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen to convey how influential and persuasive a speech evokes while comparing it Henry V’s speech in this clip.
To begin with, this clip describes how King Henry V is trying to invade a French castle. He uses speech to motivate his soldiers and uses poetry to celebrate and glorify war. In the Encomium of Helen, Gorgias also uses speech to illustrate the many ways in which Helen of Troy was not responsible for the Trojan War. For example, Gorgias states, “speech is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body. It can stop fear, relieve pain, create joy, and increase pity” (39). This quote can be directly applied to that of Henry V because he relieves the pain and fear from his soldiers as they are about to enter a war between France. Henry was successful in achieving a divine feat because he gets right to the core of what his soldiers fear and uses that to push them into a war in which they were originally reluctant and frightened to enter.
Moreover, Gorgias argues that “sacred incantations with words inject pleasure and reject pain, for in associating with the opinion of the mind, the power of incantation enchants, persuades, and alters it through bewitchment” (40). Henry uses this similar style to persuade his men gain confidence and take control. He tells his men to become carnivores and hunters, inflicting images of cruelty and violence to transform his soldiers into predators. Gorgias illustrates how the persuasion of speech is as strong as the images of the mind. Henry elaborates more on this idea as he begins to invoke more images of nature and natural forces to urge his men in this transformation. He uses the image of wild animals such as a tiger, and natural forces such as the weather so his men can produce unrestrained brutality for battle. He is urging his men to display their masculinity and approach this war with a strong and powerful force. Gorgias also states, “to see the persuasion, when added to speech, indeed molds the mind as it wishes…” (40). Henry definitely uses his speech to control the audience and constructs them to follow his desires. His speech is so incredibly powerful that he mesmerizes his men to listen to each one of his commands. He illustrates how everyone in the battlefield is created equal and that they must prove themselves because they are noble English soldiers. Gorgias also compares the power of speech to drugs. He states, “just as different drugs draw forth different humors from the body…so too with words, some cause pain, others joy, some strike fear, some stir the audience to boldness, some benumb and bewitch the soul with evil persuasion” (40). Henry takes his words and twists and shapes them in ways that enable his men to fight even though they had doubts from the very beginning. He “stirs his audience to boldness” and urges them to accept his challenges. He prevails in his speech which leads his men to win this battle and occupy France.
Works Cited
Gorgias of Leontini. “Encomium of Helen.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.
W.W. Norton & Company; Second Edition. New York, 2001. Pages 38-41) Print.
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