Band of Brothers: Kinship in Henry V

First off, you must know that the internet in my apartment is ridiculously unreliable, despite my router's name, Ole Reliable. Sometimes certain sites work and others don't. For example, the library page was being extremely non-responsive. Luckily, YouTube was not, so I got to listen to the St. Crispin's day speech while I waited. I'm in love. That's all there is to it.

Love ya man.

But seriously, it ties in. I read an article titled "Polysemic Brotherhoods in Henry V." If you're wondering what polysemic means, I did too. It has to do with the ambiguity of a word that creates multiple meanings. Christopher Dowd, the lovely man who wrote the article, points out that the different meanings and implications of brotherhood highlight conflict.

First off, brotherhood was interesting in Shakespeare's time. The older brother inherits everything, and the second son gets. . . hosed? (for lack of a better word right now). With the strong feelings that would create, you wouldn't think calling a friend your brother would be a compliment. It's similar to the royal "family" in general. Henry calls the French court his brothers/sisters/cousins, despite his negative feelings.

But then, in the St. Crispin's day speech, Henry claims his soldiers as his brothers.

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:

There's no rivalry here. Even those who are a little vile become gentled to him. Henry's been searching for what to call his troops, and as they prepare to die together, he settles upon this kinship bond.

So the conclusion? It's complicated. But it mirrors real brotherhood, and even the relationship of subjects to the crown. Sometimes brothers seem to simultaneously hate and love each other. Sometimes the subject is caught between his individualism and his nationalism.