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Summary Of King Henry V Speech

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In the middle of the siege of Harfleur, when the English were severely and harshly outnumbered, and the French were against them Henry V gave his second famously motivational speech that helped the English soldiers to get back in the war and win the battle. King Henry V’s speeches that were used in the war, had been played in day to day speeches, as it has been played on Allied ships crossing the English Channel to Normandy during WWII. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Let pry through the portage of the head Like the brass cannon; let the brow overwhelm it As fearfully as doth a galled rock O’erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill’d with the wild and wasteful ocean Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit To his full height. On, on, you noblest English. Whose blood gets from fathers of war-proof! Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, Have in these parts from morn till even fought And sheathed their swords for lack of argument: Shakespeare's use of chorus gives the play a significant atmosphere.

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