Where Did the Queens Go?
Kristen Todd
In the closing of Henry V, King Harry swaggers into the French court following the slaughter at Agincourt, and begins a dance of venomous pleasantries. The French king sulks in the corner while Henry flaunts his new power. Superficially, the kings exchange sweet words of welcome and good wishes. Henry opens the scene saying, “Peace to this meeting . . . / Unto our brother France and to our sister, / Health and fair time of day” (V.ii.1-3). King Charles responds that he is “right joyous” to behold “most worthy brother England” (V.ii.9-10). Considering the context, these nice words are only formality. These kings are on the verge of violence, in words if not weapons. While the men open with thinly veiled hatred, Queen Isabel defuses the situation with references to children, alliances, and transitions through the ravages of war, into the ultimate royal political treaty: marriage. Queen Isabel turns their spat into a marriage negotiation with a few words. But film adaptations omit something and exacerbate the tension.
In the Hollow Crown version of Henry V and the Kenneth Branagh Henry V, a certain character is missing. The Queen disappears entirely. Kings ( read more here) are associated with justice and strength, and queens are associated with mercy. Remove the queen from the scene, and one loses the merciful, lighter half of the equation.
In the original play, the queen’s lines lighten the scene’s mood. Once the queen finishes recounting the brutality of Agincourt, and likening Henry’s looks to “murdering basilisks” (V.ii.17), she expresses her desire that the meeting would “change all griefs and quarrels into love” (V.ii.20). To this, Henry expresses his mutual agreement that the violence end, declaring, “To cry amen to that, thus we appear,” (V.ii.21). The queen’s presence and lines allow both kings to realize that neither want continued violence. The English army was hurting from being in France for months on end. The French had suffered losses to their nobles and military in the thousands. The queen allows the two kings to put aside their pride and allow for peace negotiation. Isabel, like many queens, promotes peace, mercy, and familial connectivity. She initially states her hopes for a union and peace, reminds everyone of Henry’s recent brutal victory, and finishes hopes of turning strife to love. Without her two first lines, without her, this part of the scene does nothing to defuse tension. Their absence adds to the play's darkness. Kings are associated with justice, queens with mercy. Remove the mercy from this interaction and all that is left is justice. In King Charles’, the French King’s, case, justice would entail seeking retribution, but he lacks the manpower. Instead, he must negotiate and meet Henry’s demands. For King Charles in the film adaptations, his situation worsens: because there is no queen, that means he’s doing woman’s work (for more on that, click here or here).
In the recent Hollow Crown production of Henry V, the two lines Queen Isabel opens with in the playtext – “So happy be the issue, brother England, / Of this good day and of this gracious meeting,” (V.ii.13-14) – are deleted. In addition to this change, her other lines are given to her husband, the king. This deletion takes away the softer transitions the queen’s presence allows. Without those opening lines, the scene cuts to brutal reminders of the battle and thousands of newly dead French (V.ii.15-16). King Charles, by speaking the Queen’s lines (V.ii.14-20) starting at an expressing of gladness to “meet [Harry’s] eyes” (V.ii.14), ramps up the bitter tension between Henry and himself. He describes Henry’s eyes as “fatal balls of murdering basilisks” aimed at the French and then expresses a hope that “the venom of such looks” is gone (V.ii.17; V),. Without the Queen’s opening graciousness, the Hollow Crown’s King Charles’ grudging greetings make his hope for changing “quarrels into love” sound bitter and forced, a necessity rather than a positive outcome. As the scene continues, Harry increases the tension into something more violent, a threat implicit in his unwillingness to accept anything less than “full accord to all [his] just demands” in exchange for peace (V.ii.70-71).
In Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 film rendition of Henry V, the Queen’s lines are skipped completely. No hopes of love, alliances, or births are represented on either side. Without the queen in Branagh’s production, the scene does not foster the underlying threat of violence that the Hollow Crown production manages. Instead, Branagh’s production projects an icy civility: Henry greets all in the room in cool, mild terms (“Peace to this meeting. . . Health and fiar time of day. Joy and good wishes” (V.ii.1-3)) while Charles. Rather than directly talk of the French defeat, they tiptoe around the subject, creating a much colder, bitter tension by comparison to the Hollow Crown.
In the Hollow Crown version of Henry V and the Kenneth Branagh Henry V, a certain character is missing. The Queen disappears entirely. Kings ( read more here) are associated with justice and strength, and queens are associated with mercy. Remove the queen from the scene, and one loses the merciful, lighter half of the equation.
In the original play, the queen’s lines lighten the scene’s mood. Once the queen finishes recounting the brutality of Agincourt, and likening Henry’s looks to “murdering basilisks” (V.ii.17), she expresses her desire that the meeting would “change all griefs and quarrels into love” (V.ii.20). To this, Henry expresses his mutual agreement that the violence end, declaring, “To cry amen to that, thus we appear,” (V.ii.21). The queen’s presence and lines allow both kings to realize that neither want continued violence. The English army was hurting from being in France for months on end. The French had suffered losses to their nobles and military in the thousands. The queen allows the two kings to put aside their pride and allow for peace negotiation. Isabel, like many queens, promotes peace, mercy, and familial connectivity. She initially states her hopes for a union and peace, reminds everyone of Henry’s recent brutal victory, and finishes hopes of turning strife to love. Without her two first lines, without her, this part of the scene does nothing to defuse tension. Their absence adds to the play's darkness. Kings are associated with justice, queens with mercy. Remove the mercy from this interaction and all that is left is justice. In King Charles’, the French King’s, case, justice would entail seeking retribution, but he lacks the manpower. Instead, he must negotiate and meet Henry’s demands. For King Charles in the film adaptations, his situation worsens: because there is no queen, that means he’s doing woman’s work (for more on that, click here or here).
In the recent Hollow Crown production of Henry V, the two lines Queen Isabel opens with in the playtext – “So happy be the issue, brother England, / Of this good day and of this gracious meeting,” (V.ii.13-14) – are deleted. In addition to this change, her other lines are given to her husband, the king. This deletion takes away the softer transitions the queen’s presence allows. Without those opening lines, the scene cuts to brutal reminders of the battle and thousands of newly dead French (V.ii.15-16). King Charles, by speaking the Queen’s lines (V.ii.14-20) starting at an expressing of gladness to “meet [Harry’s] eyes” (V.ii.14), ramps up the bitter tension between Henry and himself. He describes Henry’s eyes as “fatal balls of murdering basilisks” aimed at the French and then expresses a hope that “the venom of such looks” is gone (V.ii.17; V),. Without the Queen’s opening graciousness, the Hollow Crown’s King Charles’ grudging greetings make his hope for changing “quarrels into love” sound bitter and forced, a necessity rather than a positive outcome. As the scene continues, Harry increases the tension into something more violent, a threat implicit in his unwillingness to accept anything less than “full accord to all [his] just demands” in exchange for peace (V.ii.70-71).
In Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 film rendition of Henry V, the Queen’s lines are skipped completely. No hopes of love, alliances, or births are represented on either side. Without the queen in Branagh’s production, the scene does not foster the underlying threat of violence that the Hollow Crown production manages. Instead, Branagh’s production projects an icy civility: Henry greets all in the room in cool, mild terms (“Peace to this meeting. . . Health and fiar time of day. Joy and good wishes” (V.ii.1-3)) while Charles. Rather than directly talk of the French defeat, they tiptoe around the subject, creating a much colder, bitter tension by comparison to the Hollow Crown.