Henry V

by William Shakespeare

  50 cast it up give it up/vomit it up

  51 presently at once

  52 mines tunnels dug under besieged places and packed with explosives 54 not i.e. not constructed

  55 disciplines proper procedures

  55 concavities hollowness, depth

  56 th'athversary the adversary; Shakespeare attempts to render his Welsh accent phonetically 56 discuss explain, declare

  57 is digt has digged

  58 countermines passages dug by the besieged defenders as a means of trying to intercept enemies 58 Cheshu Jesus (suggesting Welsh pronunciation)

  58 plow up blow up

  59 directions instructions, plans

  60 order control, organization

  65 in any in

  66 in his beard i.e. to his face

  67 Roman disciplines i.e. traditional military tactics, not so heavily reliant on gunpowder 71 falorous i.e. valorous

  72 expedition quickness of argument; possibly an error for "experience" and "erudition"

  77 gud i.e. good; Jamy's Scottish accent is also rendered phonetically 78 God-den good day/evening

  80 pioneers soldiers employed to dig trenches and tunnels

  80 given o'er finished

  81 la exclamation used as a substitute for an oath

  81 tish 'tis, i.e. it is (MacMorris's Irish pronunciation) 83 give over abandoned, given up

  87 voutsafe vouchsafe, i.e. permit

  87 disputations conversations

  93 sall shall

  93 feith faith

  93 bath both

  94 quit requite, answer

  94 gud leve your good leave, i.e. permission

  94 pick occasion find the opportunity

  95 marry by the Virgin Mary

  98 beseeched besieged

  99 be by

  100 sa' save

  104 mess mass (a common oath)

  104 ere before

  105 lig lie

  107 suerly surely

  107 breff brief

  107 breff ... long i.e. the long and the short of it 107 wad would

  107 full fain very gladly

  108 heard have heard

  108 question discussion, debate

  108 tway two (Scottish dialect)

  109 under your correction i.e. with your permission 111 Ish ... rascal either MacMorris declares that anyone who criticizes the Irish is a villain etc.; or he anticipates the habitual terms of abuse leveled at the Irish 115 peradventure perhaps

  116 use treat

  116 discretion good judgment

  122 will are going to/are determined to

  123 parley trumpet call indicating a ceasefire while negotiation is to take place between the opposing sides 126 required asked for, i.e. available

  Act 3 Scene 3

  3.3 Location: still outside Harfleur

  3.3 gates town gates

  1 resolves answers, determines

  2 latest last

  2 parle ceasefire and negotiation

  2 admit allow, grant

  4 destruction their own ruin

  6 becomes fits, suits

  7 batt'ry bombardment

  8 half-achieved half-conquered

  11 fleshed used to war/eager for bloodshed

  12 liberty ... range shall be allowed total freedom to kill 14 flow'ring flourishing

  15 impious sinful, wicked

  16 prince of fiends i.e. the devil

  17 smirched discolored, filthy

  17 fell cruel, fierce

  18 Enlinked joined, linked

  21 hot lustful/eager/aggressive

  21 violation violence/rape

  22 rein puns on "reign"

  22 hold contain, restrain

  23 career rapid gallop

  24 bootless uselessly

  24 spend waste

  24 vain useless

  25 spoil act of pillaging/booty

  26 precepts legal summons/moral instructions

  26 leviathan biblical sea creature of enormous size

  28 of on

  30 temperate moderate, restrained

  31 O'erblows blows away

  31 contagious noxious, infectious (clouds were thought to harbor disease) 32 heady impulsive, violent

  32 spoil pillaging

  33 look expect

  35 locks hair/guarded chastity

  38 spitted impaled

  38 pikes weapons with long wooden handles and pointed metal heads 39 confused disordered/mingled together

  40 Jewry Judaea (region in southern Palestine, now Israel)/the Jewish people 41 Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen in an attempt to destroy the infant Jesus, King Herod ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two in Bethlehem and surrounding areas (Matthew 2:16-18) 43 guilty in defence i.e. guilty of bringing about this slaughter through persisting in trying to defend the town 44 expectation hopefulness

  45 succours help/reinforcements

  46 Returns replies to

  46 powers troops

  47 raise put an end to

  48 soft compassionate

  49 dispose control, govern/make arrangements for

  58 addressed prepared, directed

  Act 3 Scene 4

  3.4 Location: not specified, but presumably the French royal court, at Rouen, northern France

  1 Alice ... langage "Alice, you have been in England, and you speak the language well"

  2 Un peu, madame "a little, my lady"

  3 Je ... anglais? "I pray you, teach me: I must learn to speak [it]. What do you call the hand in English?"

  5 La ... hand "The hand? It is called 'de hand' "

  5 de mispronunciation of English "the"

  6 De ... doigts? " 'De hand.' And the fingers?"

  7 Les ... fingres "The fingers? By my faith, I forget the fingers; but I will remember. The fingers? I think that they are called 'de fingres.' Yes, 'de fingres' "

  10 La ... ongles? "The hand, 'de hand'; the fingers, 'de fingres.' I think that I am a good pupil. I have learned two English words quickly. What do you call the nails?"

  13 Les ... nails "The nails? We call them 'de nails' "

  14 Ecoutez ... bien "Listen, tell me, if I speak well"

  16 C'est ... anglais "That's well said, my lady. It is very good English"

  17 Dites-moi ... bras "Tell me the English for the arm"

  18 De arm, madame " 'De arm,' my lady"

  19 Et le coude? "And the elbow?"

  21 Je ... present "I shall repeat all of the words that you have taught me so far"

  23 Il ... pense "It is too difficult, my lady, I think"

  24 Excusez-moi, Alice, ecoutez "Pardon me, Alice, listen"

  25 bilbow type of sword/manacle for the ankles

  27 O ... col? "O Lord God, I am forgetting! 'D'elbow.' What do you call the neck?"

  30 nick puns on English slang sense of "vagina"

  30 Et le menton? "And the chin?"

  32 sin given the slang sense of "nick," "sin" takes on a sense of "sexual transgression"

  33 Oui ... d'Angleterre "Yes. Saving your honour, in truth, you pronounce the words as correctly as the natives of England"

  35 Je ... temps "I do not doubt that I shall learn [English], by the grace of God, and in a short space of time"

  37 N'avez ... enseigne? "Have you not already forgotten what I have taught you?"

  38 Non ... promptement "No, I will recite it to you promptly"

  39 mails possible pun on "males"

  42 Sauf ... d'elbow "Saving your honour, 'd'elbow' "

  43 Ainsi ... robe? "So I said, 'd'elbow, de nick' and 'de sin.' What do you call the foot and the gown?"

  45 foot puns on French foutre, i.e. "fuck"

  45 coun "gown," puns on French con, i.e. "cunt"

  46 O ... ensemble "O Lord God! These are words with a wicked sound, corrupting, coarse and lewd, and not for ladies of honour to use: I would not like to utter these words before the gentlemen of France for all the world. Fie! The 'foot' and the 'coun'! Nevertheless, I
will recite my whole lesson once again"

  53 Excellent, madame! "Excellent, my lady!"

  54 C'est ... diner "That's enough for one time. Let us go to dinner."

  Act 3 Scene 5

  1 River Somme just over halfway between Calais and Harfleur

  2 withal with

  5 O Dieu vivant! "O living God!" (French)

  5 sprays offshoots/spurts of semen (refers to the fact that after the Norman Conquest of 1066, many English have some French heritage) 6 emptying ejaculate

  6 luxury lust

  7 scions shoots used for grafting (when a shoot from one plant is fused to the stem of another) 7 stock the plant which receives the graft (here, the English) 8 Spirt sprout

  9 overlook rise above/look down on/ignore/bewitch

  9 grafters i.e. those who have done the grafting/the trees from which the grafted shoot was taken 10 Normans i.e. the English who have French ancestry 10 bastard illegitimate

  11 Mort ... vie! "Death of my life!"

  13 slobb'ry slimy, muddy

  14 nook-shotten crookedly shaped

  14 Albion the island composed of England, Scotland, and Wales 15 Dieu de batailles! "God of battles!"

  15 mettle spirit, temperament, courage

  17 despite contempt, malice

  17 looks pale i.e. barely shines

  18 sodden boiled, stewed

  19 drench drink/dose of medicine

  19 sur-reined overridden

  19 jades worn-out horses

  19 barley broth strong ale

  20 Decoct heat up

  23 roping hanging like ropes

  26 Poor ... lords i.e. while our fields are rich in themselves, they may be called poor if they are owned by such spiritless masters as we are proving to be 28 madams ladies/wives

  29 bred out weakened by generations of breeding

  31 new-store freshly populate

  33 lavoltas ... corantos dances which involve leaping, turning, and running (implying cowardice) 34 our ... heels our only accomplishment is in dancing/running away 35 lofty high born/proficient/high leaping

  36 herald messenger

  37 England the country/King Henry

  39 hie hurry

  47 seats estates/ranks, status

  47 quit absolve/avenge/rid

  48 Bar obstruct

  49 pennons banners, streamers attached to lances

  50 host army

  52 void empty, cough up, sneeze

  52 rheum watery discharge, mucus (here, melted snow)

  54 Rouen town in northern France, capital of Normandy

  56 becomes the great befits kingly greatness

  60 heart courage, spirit

  60 sink cesspit

  61 for achievement in exchange for honor/as the only paltry thing to be achieved 61 his ransom amount that must be paid on his defeat

  62 haste on dispatch with speed

  Act 3 Scene 6

  3.6 Location: the English camp, northern France

  2 bridge historically, this would have been over the River Ternoise, on the way to Calais 3 services military feats

  6 magnanimous of great and generous spirit, nobly valiant

  7 Agamemnon leader of the Greeks at the siege of Troy

  12 pridge bridge (Fluellen's Welsh accent renders "b" as "p") 13 Mark Antony famous Roman general

  13 no estimation reputation/social standing

  17 Aunchient i.e. Ancient, an ensign or bearer of military banners 25 buxom lively, vigorous/pliant

  26 giddy fickle

  26 Fortune's ... blind Fortune was traditionally depicted as a blind woman turning a wheel that raised humans up and cast them down 26 furious cruel/violently turning

  28 rolling restless stone alternative image of Fortune, the possessor of a rolling stone on which humans balanced precariously 29 By your patience i.e. forgive me for interrupting 30 muffler blindfold

  36 moral symbolic figure, allegory

  38 pax disc, usually of gold or silver, bearing an image of the crucifixion, kissed by those taking Communion 41 hemp i.e. rope made of hemp

  42 doom judgment

  45 vital thread thread of life, supposedly spun and cut by the three Fates 46 penny cord cheap rope

  46 reproach blame, disgrace

  47 requite repay (with a bribe)

  48 partly i.e. because it is implied rather than stated/because Pistol's speech is confusing 52 if even if

  55 figo a fig (from old Spanish figo or Italian fico); exclamation of contempt, often accompanied by an obscene gesture known as the fig of Spain, which consisted of thrusting the thumb between the index and middle fingers or into the mouth 59 arrant downright

  59 counterfeit deceptive, feigning

  60 bawd pimp

  60 cutpurse pickpocket

  62 a summer's day i.e. a long day

  63 warrant assure

  64 time is serve there is opportunity

  65 gull fool, dupe/hoaxer

  67 perfect word-perfect

  68 learn you teach/learn (you being emphatic) 69 sconce small fort

  70 convoy armed escort

  70 came off acquitted himself

  71 what ... on i.e. what conditions the enemy insisted on 72 con learn, memorize

  72 the ... war military terminology

  73 trick up adorn, dress up

  73 new-tuned newly invented, fashionable

  74 general's cut same style as the general's

  74 horrid fearful, intimidating

  74 suit outfit, uniform/shout, battle cry

  75 ale-washed drunken

  76 slanders ... age i.e. people who are a disgrace to current times 77 mistook mistaken, misled

  80 hole ... coat i.e. slip in the way he presents himself/chance to expose him 82 from i.e. about

  82 colours military banners or flags

  82 poor shabby, tired, unwell

  87 passages fights

  88 was have i.e. did have

  89 enforced compelled

  92 perdition loss/destruction

  94 never a man no man

  94 like likely

  96 bubukles inflamed swellings

  96 whelks pimples

  96 knobs lumps, swellings

  97 flames o' fire i.e. red streaks or patches

  97 blows i.e. like bellows on a fire

  100 cut off killed

  101 charge command

  102 compelled forcibly taken

  104 lenity gentleness, mercifulness

  105 gamester player/gambler

  106 Tucket trumpet call

  107 habit clothing (French herald's uniform, which wouldbear his king's coat of arms) 108 of from

  110 Unfold reveal, relate

  112 Advantagesuperior position for a military attack/favorable circumstances/greater numbers 113 rebuked repressed, checked

  114 bruise an injury squeeze a boil

  115 upon our cue at the right time for us

  117 sufferance patience, endurance

  118 proportion be proportionate to, compensate for

  120 digested endured

  120 in ... re-answer to pay back in full measure

  120 pettiness weakness, inadequacy

  122 muster roll-call, number of soldiers (or total population) 126 So far i.e. this concludes the message of

  128 quality character/rank/occupation

  133 impeachment hindrance

  133 sooth truth

  135 craft and vantage cunning and military advantage

  145 trunk body

  147 God before with God on our side

  152 tawny yellowish-brown

  163 them i.e. the English soldiers

  Act 3 Scene 7

  3.7 Location: the French camp, near Agincourt

  12 pasterns i.e. hoofs (literally, part of the leg between the fetlock and the hoof) 12 Ch'ha! exclamation of triumph and pride, or onomatopoeic sound of a horse 13 entrails intestines

  13 entrails were hairs i.e. as if he weighed nothing 13 le cheval volant "t
he flying horse"

  14 Pegasus winged horse in classical mythology

  14 chez ... feu "with fiery nostrils"

  16 basest horn lowest part (plays on the sense of "musical instrument lowest in pitch") 17 pipe to charm the hundred-eyed giant Argus asleep

  17 Hermes in classical mythology, Hermes played his

  20 Perseus in classical mythology, the hero who beheaded the gorgon Medusa; from her blood sprang the horse Pegasus 23 jades worn-out horses

  24 absolute perfect

  26 palfreys horses for riding (particularly by women) as opposed to war-horses; a word associated with romantic tales of wandering knights 27 bidding command

  27 countenance appearance/bearing

  31 rising ... lamb i.e. all day long

  31 lodging going to bed, settling down

  31 vary express a set theme in fresh words (rhetorical term) 33 the sands i.e. infinite particles of sand

  36 lay ... functions set aside their business or occupation 41 courser swift horse, charger

  42 bears carries your weight in riding/during sex

  43 Me i.e. only me

  43 prescript prescribed, appropriate

  44 particular personal, private

  46 shrewdly sharply, severely/shrewishly, bad-temperedly

  46 shook your back jolted you/had sex with you

  48 Mine ... bridled i.e. my mistress is a woman, not a horse 49 belike presumably

  49 rode as a horseman/sexually

  50 kern of Ireland Irish foot-soldier/peasant

  50 hose breeches

  51 straight strossers tight trousers (worn by the Irish)/bare skin 52 horsemanship perhaps with a pun on "whores"

  54 foul bogs muddy mires/diseased vaginas/dirty anuses

  56 as lief rather

  56 jade worn-out horse/prostitute (possibly picking up a pun in the dauphin's horse and rendering it "whores") 57 my ... hair implying that the Constable's bewigged mistress does not, as she is bald from syphilis 60 to as

  61 'Le ... bourbier' "The dog is returned to his own vomit, and the washed sow to the mire" (proverbial) 63 use utilize/employ sexually

  64 kin ... purpose relevant

  68 fall i.e. be knocked off

  69 want lack (stars)

  70 many great many

  71 honour honest/noble

  72 Ev'n just

  74 desert what he deserves

  77 faced ... way outfaced, shamed and driven away

  78 about the ears i.e. beating the heads

  80 go to hazard place a bet

  82 hazard risk, danger

  87 eat all he kills implies that he won't kill anyone

  89 foot may play on the sense of "vulva" or on French foutre ("fuck") 89 tread out trample on and erase, i.e. prove wrong (with sexual connotations, to tread being also "to have sex") 90 active energetic/sexually vigorous

  91 Doing having sex

  91 still constantly

  92 did harm hurt, injured/upset anyone

  98 What's who's

  99 he i.e. the dauphin

  101 no hidden virtue i.e. it is obvious/it does not exist 103 lackey servant, who has presumably seen the dauphin's supposed valor in the form of a beating 103 hooded concealed, masked (like a hunting falcon)

  104 bate flutter its wings/abate, diminish

  108 take up counter

  110 Have ... eye I'll strike the very target/tenderest part 112 bolt short blunt arrow suitable for use by a fool/penis 112 soon shot plays on the notion of premature ejaculation 113 shot over overshot the target, i.e. your proverb does not fit the sequence 114 overshot outshot, beaten in archery