Henry
In Act II, Scene 7, the French leaders speak in prose as they are gossiping and boosting. They frequently use irreligious oaths and make indecent jokes. They make foul comparisons when they are speaking regarding the English ‘carrion’ (IV.2.38), meaning dead meat.
King Henry speaks in prose when he is in disguise and talking to the soldiers as he is presenting himself as a regular man. He also uses prose when he is speaking to Katherine, on the contrary this is to emphasis that he is a plain-spoken soldier and lacks fancy and extravagant words with which to court her. Speaking in blank verse and elevated language would have made Henry appear like a gratified conqueror somewhat than a suitor, exceptionally when the princess has little English.
The verse is normally in lines of ten syllables. These are acknowledged as iambic pentameters and are based on a pattern of five pairs of syllables, each pair being made up of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. An example of this verse is;
‘For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne’er bile,’ (IV.3.61-2)
This is the fundamental pattern however Shakespeare does not stick severely to this as it would become obvious and monotonous. Occasionally he uses a pair of rhyming lines; this is recognized as a rhyming couplet. This feature is often used to mark and signal the end of a scene.
We consider prose to be our everyday speech. This can fluctuate a great deal. When Henry is in disguise and is speaking to the soldiers, he talks in prose but still it is rich and well-structured.
Fluellen speaks in humorous version of Welsh-English, using stock phrases like ‘look you’ (for example III.2.100). His speech is further contrived by his selection of vocabulary and his wish to deliberate military theory.
Macmorris and Davy also speak in humorous versions of their dialects.
...
View Full Essay