THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 25

How did Henry V motivate his outnumbered army to attack and defeat the French at Agincourt in 1415?

Subject:  Persuasion - Henry V’s Speech

Event:  St. Crispin’s Day

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;

-William Shakespeare

On this day in 1415, a historical battle was immortalized in verse.

In the Battle of Agincourt, the outnumbered English army defeated the French in a major battle of the Hundred Years War.  The battle took place on Saint Crispin’s Day, a feast day honoring the Christian saints Crispin and Crispinian.  The English were led by their king Henry V who joined his soldiers in hand-to-hand combat at Agincourt.

Though history does not record exactly what Henry said that day, William Shakespeare, in his play Henry V (Act IV, Scene iii), imagines what Henry might have said to spur the undermanned English to action.  In a speech of 49 lines, Henry expresses his confidence that they will win and that each year as they near St. Crispin’s Day they will look back and remember their glorious victory and the bond they share with their brothers in arms (1).

                                                            Image by Martin Ludlam from Pixabay 

Henry’s speech is a classic example of how to be persuasive by knowing your audience.  Henry begins not by speaking but by listening.  He hears the trepidation in the voices of his men as they look across the battlefield at the enemy’s superior numbers.  To make his men fight, Henry must turn the disadvantage into an advantage.  He can’t do it by acquiring more men, so he must do it by reframing the situation so that his men see things differently.

He begins by dismissing any desire for more men.  Instead, he rebuts this by appealing to honor and exclusivity.  The smaller the group of warriors, he argues, the greater the opportunity to win honor and immortality:

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.

Henry continues by noting the fact that this battle will be fought on St. Crispin's Day, a day celebrated annually by the English.  Here he is painting a picture in his men’s minds of an imagined, glorious future in which each year on this day they will be honored for their courage and their exploits in battle.  He wants them to imagine the possibility that today is the day that their names will become etched in history and that because of their courage they will become household names.  It’s an appeal to immortality; rather than focusing on the fact that they might die in battle today, Henry frames the argument to get them to envision how today is the day they will defeat death.

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. (2)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did persuade the English soldiers to risk their lives in battle even when they were greatly outnumbered?

Challenge - War Words:    What is another war-related speech from history that can be held up as a model of persuasion.  Identify one specific speech, and explain the speech’s rhetorical situation:  What is the context, the audience, the message, the purpose, the writer/speaker, and the exigence (the writer’s motivation for speaking)?

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

October 25, 1881:  Spanish artist Pablo Picasso was born. He said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”  See THINKER’S ALMANAC - April 8.

October 25, 1854:  The Charge of the Light Brigade (WD 10/25)

Sources:

1-March, W.B. and Bruce Carrick.  365: Your Date With History. Cambridge, UK:  Icon Books, 2004: 526-7.

2-Shakespeare, William. Henry V. 1599. Public Domain.