Branagh’s Henry V: An Example Of Pluralistic Shakespeare

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that only film can portray truth in today’s image-based society. Instead, the speech ironically implies the realistic nature of film when the Chorus tells the viewer to “Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them, printing their proud hoofs i’th’ receiving earth…” (26-27). That the viewer will eventually see the actual hoofs entails not the interpretive limitation of film, but instead displays its realistic magnificence. Realizing this magnificence, I felt excited to embark on this journey with Shakespeare.
To find this brilliance, I must examine the transformation King Harry undergoes in Branagh’s film. Evidence of reason for Harry to declare war on France exists all through the play. First and foremost, in I.ii., Dauphin, the son of King Charles of France, sends tennis balls as a token of truce—an obvious insult. Furthermore, when Duke Exeter of England visits the French court in II.iv., Dauphin tells him to “Say if my father render fair return it is against my will, ...

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