The Appalling Leadership of King Henry V :: European Literature

In Henry V, the actions of King Henry portray him as an appalling leader. Among Henry's many negative traits, he allows himself to be influenced by people who have anterior motives. This is problematic because the decisions might not be the best decisions for the country, or neighboring countries. The bishops convinced Henry to take over France because they would be able to save land for the Church. Henry doesn't have the ability to accept responsibility for his actions, placing the blame on others. Before Henry begins to take over a French village, he tells the governor to surrender or risk having English troops terrorize civilians. This way, if the governor declines, it would be the governor's fault for the atrocities that would occur. Henry has gotten his troops to go along with the take over by manipulating them. He tells the soldiers that what they're doing is noble, and that they should be proud. In fact, they're attacking another country in order to conquer it. Henry's charac ter comes off as coldhearted and careless. Henry shows ruthlessness towards civilians, threatening them with atrocities. He's careless with his soldiers, thoughtlessly allowing their executions, or playing hurtful games with them. France' takeover is mostly due to Henry's accepting advice from the bishops who had a motive for their judgment. In Act 1, Scene 1, Henry is promised a large sum of money by the Church to help fund his takeover of France. In order for Henry to receive the money he would have to vote against a certain bill that the bishops, Ely and Canterbury find obstructive to the Church. Soon, Henry goes to Ely and Canterbury to help him decide whether it's alright for him to take over France under Salic law. Clearly, Ely, and Canterbury would have a good reason to suggest Henry take France since he would have to accept the Church's money, and thus vote against the bill. Canterbury tells Henry he should pursue the take over arguing that it is illegal for France to use the Salic law since it originated in Germany. As well, he argues that the manner in which previous French kings have claimed the throne would have been in violation of the law. So with this argument Henry decides to go ahead with taki ng over France. The problem is that Henry's decision was motivated by a goal of the Church. A decision that holds thousands of lives at stake is decided on so one group of people could benefit.