The Appalling Leadership of King Henry V :: European Literature

In Henry V, the actions of King Henry portray him as an appalling leader. Among Henrys many negative traits, he allows himself to be influenced by population who have anterior penurys. This is problematic because the decisivenesss might not be the best decisions for the country, or neighboring countries. The bishops convinced Henry to take over France because they would be competent to save land for the Church. Henry doesnt have the ability to accept responsibility for his actions, placing the blame on others. Before Henry begins to take over a cut village, he tells the governor to surrender or risk having English troops terrorize civilians. This way, if the governor declines, it would be the governors fault for the atrocities that would occur. Henry has gotten his troops to go along with the take over by manipulating them. He tells the soldiers that what theyre doing is noble, and that they should be proud. In fact, theyre attacking another country in secernate to conquer it. Henrys character comes off as coldhearted and careless. Henry shows ruthlessness towards civilians, threatening them with atrocities. Hes careless with his soldiers, thoughtlessly allowing their executions, or playing hurtful games with them. France takeover is mostly due to Henrys accepting advice from the bishops who had a motive for their judgment. In Act 1, Scene 1, Henry is promised a large sum of money by the Church to help fund his takeover of France. In order for Henry to receive the money he would have to take against a certain bill that the bishops, Ely and Canterbury find obstructive to the Church. Soon, Henry goes to Ely and Canterbury to help him decide whether its first-rate for him to take over France under Salic law. Clearly, Ely, and Canterbury would have a good reason to suggest Henry take France since he would have to accept the Churchs money, and thus vote against the bill. Canterbury tells Henry he should pursue the take over arguing that it is illegal for Fra nce to use the Salic law since it originated in Germany. As well, he argues that the manner in which preceding French kings have claimed the throne would have been in violation of the law. So with this argument Henry decides to go ahead with taking over France. The problem is that Henrys decision was motivated by a goal of the Church. A decision that holds thousands of lives at stake is decided on so one group of people could benefit.