St Crispin's Day Speech

The St Crispin's Day speech was delivered on 25 October 1415 by King Henry V of England to rouse his soldiers on the morning of the Battle of Agincourt, and later chronicled by William Shakespeare in his play, Henry V, in Act IV Scene iii 18–67. In the speech, which fell on Saint Crispin's Day, Henry V urged his men — who were vastly outnumbered by the French — to recall how the English had previously inflicted great defeats upon the French. The speech by Shakespeare has been famously portrayed by Sir Laurence Olivier to raise British spirits during the Second World War, and by Sir Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 film Henry V, and it made famous the phrase "band of brothers."[1] The play was written around 1600, and several later writers have used parts of it in their own texts.

Text

Note: the text is Shakespeare's, as the wording of Henry's historical speech is not known.

WESTMORLAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmorland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Cultural influence

Use and quotation

Film, television, music and literature

Parts of the speech appears in films such as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962),[7][8] Tombstone (1993),[9] Renaissance Man (1994),[10] This Is England (2006),[11] and Their Finest (2017).[12] It has also been used in television series such as Rough Riders (1997),[13][14] Buffy the Vampire Slayer,[15][16], The Black Adder[17][18] and Doctor Who.[19]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ Fraser, Isabelle (21 October 2015). "Battle of Agincourt anniversary: Henry V's St Crispin's Day speech in full". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Folger n.d.
  3. ↑ Smith, Stephanie Ann (17 March 2018). "Household Words: Bloomers, Sucker, Bombshell, Scab, Nigger, Cyber". U of Minnesota Press. Retrieved 17 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Matt Flegenheimer (January 25, 2016). "Before Rise as Outsider, Ted Cruz Played Inside Role in 2000 Recount". The New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  5. ↑ Patrick Kidd (15 October 2016). "Bard language at Brexit bash". The Times. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ Sam Knight (29 September 2016). "The man who brought you Brexit". The Guardian. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  7. ↑ Wandtke, Terrence R. (2011-11-16). The Amazing Transforming Superhero!: Essays on the Revision of Characters in Comic Books, Film and Television. McFarland. ISBN 9780786490134.
  8. ↑ Babiak, Peter E. S. (20 May 2016). "Shakespeare Films: A Re-evaluation of 100 Years of Adaptations". McFarland. Retrieved 10 July 2018 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ Vienne-Guerrin, Nathalie. "Shakespeare on screen". Publication Univ Rouen Havre. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Smith, Stephanie Ann (1 March 2018). "Household Words: Bloomers, Sucker, Bombshell, Scab, Nigger, Cyber". U of Minnesota Press. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Fradley, Martin (1 March 2018). "Shane Meadows". Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ Barker, Andrew (12 September 2016). "Toronto Film Review: 'Their Finest'". Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "For This Teddy Roosevelt, War Was Heaven". The New York Times. 13 July 1997. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  14. ↑ Scott, Tony (17 July 1997). "Rough Riders". Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Golden, Christopher (3 October 2017). "Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20 Years of Slaying: The Watcher's Guide Authorized". Simon and Schuster. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ Wilcox, Rhonda; Lavery, David (1 March 2018). "Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Rowman & Littlefield. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  17. ↑ "Blackadder s01e01 Episode Script | SS". Springfield! Springfield!. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  18. ↑ Parrill, Sue; Robison, William B. (15 February 2013). "The Tudors on Film and Television". McFarland. Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  19. ↑ "State of Decay ★★★★". Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  20. ↑ Roy, Arundhati (2017). The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Knopf. p. 419. ISBN 978-1524733155.
  21. ↑ Harikrishnan, Charmy (2 June 2017). "Fiction not being real undermines fiction: Arundhati Roy". Retrieved 17 March 2018 – via The Economic Times.
  22. ↑ "A Blog Post for the New Year". Compulsion Games. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2018.

References

  • Barker, Juliet (2005). Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-72648-1.
  • "The St. Crispin's Day Speech". Folger Shakespeare Library. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  • Harris, James. "Oral History of the President's Speech in 'Independence Day'". Complex. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
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