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minervacasterly · 4 years

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HENRY V is one of my favorite English medieval monarchs and he has been played by handsome actors like Tom Hiddleston, Kenneth Branagh, Laurence Olivier and now TImothee Chalamet, but was he really as compassionate, scholarly, and fair as he’s depicted in those films?

One of the things I always say is that if you are going to go all mushy or admire one historical character from this period, then you must also take the bad with the good. You can't have it one way. You can't idolize 'x' character and look past his flaws, pretending that they were never there. It doesn't work that way.

Henry V is one of those complex figures that will always generate controversy. And the version we have of him comes from Shakespeare. These actors played him according to how the bard wrote him. At the time, England was in danger of political isolation, and it was a situation where it was 'us against the world' the world being the Catholic nations. Therefore, they needed a national hero to extol patriotism and who better than Henry V? He was not just THE hero who stood against a larger army and beat the odds, he was the King who took France! That's no small feat. No other King had ever done that. The way in which he did however, is not so heroic so Shakespeare tweaked some parts, took out some important female roles (like Isabeau of Bavaria who was part of the negotiations to surrender) and replaced them with a sound French king and a vengeful Dauphin, and of course to make the story even better, a romance between the fair princess Catherine of Valois and Henry V. Their marriage ended the war and their heir would unite the two kingdoms together.

Things didn't happen that way, the war continued even after Henry V died. His son and heir was barely two years old when he was crowned King of England, and still a child when he became King of France. His two surviving uncles fought like dogs with their uncle Cardinal Beaufort (as Bedford's -Henry V's oldest uncle- ally) to control the little boy, and keep his French possessions intact. Things did not go as planned, Bedford died, his successors were not very good and then Henry VI moved against his remaining uncle by imprisoning his wife.

While Shakespeare's sequels Henry VI (parts 1, 2, & 3) and Richard III blame Henry's kid for losing everything, we can't make that assumption ourselves since -as great as his plays are- they are not real. They are historical fiction and they reflect the need of Shakespeare's time to believe in national heroes, when England was at war with all these countries, and to believe they could be great again. And also, supposing that Henry V would have lived, it is hard to say that history would not be repeated. Remember: Everyone remembers a rock star when they die young, but we rarely remember those who get old and can't hold on to what they won. Henry conquered France, he married the mad King's daughter, got a son; but it is likely that he would not have been able to keep it. Perhaps, under his leadership England would have retained some French territory, but even this is hard to say. Conquering is one thing, ruling is another.

To end this, I recommend Henry V by John Matusiak, Henry V by Ian Mortimer (though he is rather harsh on him, but he makes good points), Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones, and Foundation: A History of England from its Early Beginning to the Tudors by Dan Ackroyd. They give you the real Henry V, with all his flaws (including the brutal way in which he dealt with his enemies and towns and villages that opposed him), religious views (like so many, he also burned heretics. One of them was his friend who is believed was the inspiration behind the fictional buffoon character of 'Falstaff' in the Shakesperian plays of Henry IV part 1 and part 2) and attributes (being a great military leader, a scholar, and treating his soldiers well). Lastly, I also recommend this article by History Extra: https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/things-you-didnt-know-facts-henry-v-battle-agincourt-shakespeare-hundred-years-war-france/

#Henry V

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twh-news · 7 years

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Tom Hiddleston's Hamlet get raving reviews

Tom Hiddleston’s Hamlet opened last night in London. The extremely exclusive run of just three weeks and limited number of 3680 tickets available only through a ballot, was a calculated measure by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

To have a fundraiser that is also all about the art instead of just a “big old gala” was important for RADA according to its director Edward Kemp. In addition it was also a way of getting Sir Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hiddleston to find space in their busy schedules and to fulfill their longtime plan of doing Hamlet together – a project they had been talking about doing already for 10 years.

Raving reviews

As accomplished Shakesperian actor, Hamlet is right up Hiddleston’s alley. Michael Billington says in his 4/5 star review for The Guardian that Hiddleston’s Hamlet has both the same reckless impetuosity as his performance as Coriolanus and the quiet grace of Cassio in Othello. The performance is a combination of sweet sadness combined with incandescent fury. “He suggests a fierce intellect gnawed by intense melancholy and yet subject to bouts of intemperate rage.” says Billington. The Times praised the production as “terrific” which is without a doubt accurate.

Tom Hiddleston as Hamlet. Photo by Johan Persson/RADA

The 160-seat Rada Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre is an intimate setting where the audience is very close to the stage which brings its own uniqueness to the production. Setting such as this makes the experience even more exquisite and the people who wanted to see it but didn’t have the luck in the ballot even more vexed.

Nicknamed as The Grief Hamlet by the first viewers the play seems to be that in many ways indeed.

Tom Hiddleston’s Hamlet get raving reviews was originally published on TomHiddlestonNews.com

#rada #RADAHamlet #Reviews #royal academy of dramatic arts #Sir Kenneth Branagh #The Branagh Theatre #Tom Hiddleston

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