The Lounge

Act I, Scene i

Dead March. Enter the funeral of King Henry the Fifth, attended by the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France; the Duke of Gloucester, Protector; the Duke of Exeter, the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop of Winchester, and the Duke of Somerset, [heralds, etc]

Above is a sketch of a playhouse during the English Renaissance.

The theaters were circular and there was only thatched roofing above the seating area. (The playhouse was set up kind of like a colluseum). The rest of the theater was not sheltered, nor was most of the stage.

Groundlings, would crowd before the stage and stand during the duration of the piece. (Richer audience members would sit in the balcony rings).

Plays were performed during day, using the sun for lighting. Nighttime theater did not exist in the common playhouses for it would be too expensive and dangerous to keep torches and candles lit.

The stage jutted out into the house and usually included a roofed balcony, and two doors, one for entrances and one for exists, both going into the tiring house which is just another word for backstage (tiring coming from attiring, to get dressed-- hence, where the actors would change their costumes).

As one can guess from the sparsity upon the stage, no sets and few props such as tables or chairs were used. This type of stage allows for the audience to see the actors from a panoramic view, and put most of the focus on the lines and the actors saying them.

The black drapery hung during tragedies would be off of the awning above the stage.

Above is a Renaissance painting depicting people living their lives under the wheel of fate and fortune.

Below is a portrait of Henry V.

BEDFORD:

Hung be the heavens with black!

On the Renaissance stage the ceiling was draped with yards of black clothe when a tragedy was to be performed.

Weather and spirits are always connected in Shakespearean plays. Weather sets the atmosphere, and can create either a sense of joy or doom (usually doom). Macbeth and Richard III are great examples of the wickedness and weather link.

(We even do something similar in modern films today, such as having the funeral scene of Amadeus shot during a rain storm)

Yeild, day to night!

Night is the time of mourning for the exterior darkness matches the interior darkness of ones psyche. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo, when depressed over Rosaline, goes into his chamber, draws the curtains “and makes himself an artifical night”.

Also, Bedford goes on to talk about how Henry V was the greatest king that England had ever been ruled under. Thus day to night can mean England is now folding into darkness without the brilliancy of Henry V’s rule.

Comets, importing change of times and states,

Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,

And with them scourge the bad revolting stars

That have consented onto Henry’s death—

The comets were believed to foretell the future, and here Bedford turns the stars into warriors.

“Brandish” is a verb which is enacted with weaponry, usually swords, and the “crystal tresses” are the trails of the comets; thus Bedford is demanding the comet soldiers to take up their stardust tails and use them as swords against the stars that allowed the death of Henry to occur.

The verb “Scourge” implies whipping, thus the tails of the comets are being drawn into two metaphors, that of sword and that of whip; either way, it is a menacing picture.

Astrology was heavily relied on during the Renaissance. Corination dates for kings as queens were decided upon by astrologers so as to be performed on the most fortuitous dates. Astrology was a science of perdiction—the plague of 1665 is recorded by Daniel Defoe in his “Journal of the Plague Year” was believed to have been foretold by a low flying “heavy, solemn” comet—it is no wonder that Christian societies put so much emphasis on the tellings of the stars, for the birth of their savior was marked by one.

King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long!

England ne’er lost a king of so much worth.

Shakespeare here introduces the dead king, with an idea he will use often throughout his works, that great men (especially kings and princes) die young.

Henry V was born on the 16 September 1387 and died on the 31 August 1422., which made him 34 at the time of his death, which was still realitively young even by medieval standards.

Henry died of dysentery (an inflammatory disorder of the digestive system resulting in diarrhea and thus dehydration) while he was waging war in France. [Because of the rather, un-kingly nature of his death, Shakespeare does not make reference to the cause as he later will for kings who die in battle]

This is a 16th-century etching of an astrologer physically manipulating the planets to his will. Exeter here implies that someone is to blame; it is not just the vast, incomprehensible plans of the cosmos but someone who can read and control the motions of the planets, and thus thwart and corrupt the fates of men.

GLOUCESTER:

England ne’er had a king until his time

Virtue he had, deserving to command.

Gloucester picks up right on the heels of Bedford’s praise. Noting the goodness of Henry V and his aptness for the throne.

Here “Virtue” means excellence and authority.

His brandished sword did blind men with its beams;

His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings;

His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,

More dazzled and drove back his enemies

Than midday sun fierce bent against their faces.

Henry is represented as a wrathful sun god, seemingly made out of light and fire.

The “brandished” tails of comets are revisited in the brightness of his sword.

Everything about Henry is golden and threatening in a way more akin to the supernatural Greek gods than the British monarchy.

What should I say? His deeds exceed all speech.

He ne’er lift up his hand but conquered.

Henry is cast as ever-victorious.

EXETER:

We mourn in black. Why mourn we not in blood?

Exeter is the first to speak of the human ability of violence as a means of revenge. Up to this point, Gloucester and Bedford have been speaking of comets scourging stars, and of Henry’s own ability to overthrow his enemies.

Exeter announces that true mourning would be achieved with clothes soaked in blood rather than the traditional black.

Henry is dead and never shall revive.

Upon a wooden coffin we attend,

And death’s dishonorable victory

We with our stately presence glorify,

Like captives bound to a triumphant car.

Exeter points out that by mourning in calm solemnity, they are letting death win.

The image he draws is one as of the coffin being like a chariot [car] driven by death, and the mourners are chained to run behind.

(Captives of war were often teethered to the carts of their enemy victors. Cleopatra killed herself for she would not be bound and taken to Italy as a prisoner, where she would not doubt be dragged through the streets of Rome behind Octavius’ chariot.) Being taken prisoner and being trotted out for mockery is a humiliating fate, one which Exeter will not suffer, even if Death is the victor.

What? Shall we curse the planets of mishap

That plotted thus our glory’s overthrow?

In mockery, Exeter asks his company if they should only blame the planets for bringing about ill fate, as Bedford and Gloucester have been doing.

He is chastising their complacently passive complaining.

Or shall we think the subtle-witted French

Conjurers and sourcers, that, afraid of him,

By magic verses have contrived his end?

Exeter accuses French witches of having hexed Henry to his death.

It was known by audiences that Henry V did not die in battle, although up to this point in the dialogue, it would seem as if this mighty warlord would have perished on the blade.

The accusations of magic were not uncommon during the 16^th century, and it was believed people could be murdered by supernatural means, which was no less, if not more of a crime, than common slaughter.

Exeter will blame the French at any cost for he wishes to have a enemy to punish with his King’s death.