ABSTRACT
After discussing translation, including the context of William Painter, Roger Ascham, Thomas North, John Florio, Richard Hakluyt, Samuel Purchas and others in the Renaissance and figures in subsequent times, such as John Dryden, Matthew Arnold and Erza Pound, this chapter examines the relation between French and English and the role of translation in Shakespeare’s Henry V, especially related to Nym, Pistol, the Boy, Henry V, Katharine and other characters. This chapter shows the importance of language learning and translation and places Shakespeare’s representation of those themes in this play in the context of politics, war and courtship, the Renaissance and after.
