ABSTRACT
William Shakespeare's vision of the perfect Christian prince actually displays a morally dubious character has been a longstanding minority view, now close to a critical commonplace. As Shakespeare's Henry galvanized his troops to victory against great odds, so according to Andrew Gurr, the Chorus has persuaded earlier critics and modern film-makers of Henry's peerless conduct. It has been a triumph of rhetoric over reality. This chapter focuses on a crucial issue superficially supporting the thesis of a morally damaged Henry, his killing of the French prisoners during the battle of Agincourt. It is necessary first to say more about the confusion of our cultural and ethical expectations with those of the early modern world and then to outline something of that superseded moral vision. The implicitly critical picture of Henry sometimes appears to depend upon a slippage between reading characters as images of vice and virtue created for the stage.
