Henry V :: Chorus

In Henry V, the Chorus informs us before to each one(a) act what happens and where the action takes place, notifies us if the play skips over certain periods of time. However, one of his main goals is to compensate for what the staging is unable to achieve, ask the audience to riding habit their imagination, and try to conceive what cannot be shown on stage. If we read this speech, we can save that everything the Chorus tells us can actually be summarized in a few sentences (The English fleet sails from Southampton and the siege of Harfleur begins by the English army. The ambassador returns with an offer from the French King the hand of his daughter Katharine, with some dukedoms of pocketable importance. The offer is rejected, and the the siege goes on). However, the importance of the speech lies in something different- the get down and literary techniques (language, style, tone) that Chorus uses to arouse our attention, suspend our disbelief and wind up us to use our imagination. The Chorus does so very intelligently in its use of verbs as in Suppose (Henry V, Act 3, scene 1, business 3), Play (7), behold (7), Hear (9), etc. Such phrasing gives vast energy to the speech and we feel encouraged to take part in the play and make the most out of it. The style is adjectival, as in the following line With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning. (6) Imaginative, as when the Chorus compares ships at sea to A city on thinconstant billows dance (15). The speech also contributes to the heroic tone of the work which is highly truehearted and celebratory, and which, together with a lot of hyperbolic words, leads to creating an epic, exaggerated and almost fabulous view of the whole military operation Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege behold the ordnance on their carriages, with fatal mouths goggle on girded Harfleur. (25-27). The ordnance on the carriages are compared to fatal mouths that turn towards Harfleur as the English army starts its siege of this French city. The description of these mouths that gape at Harfleur certainly help to exaggerate the power of Henrys army. Henrys fleet is described as majestical. (16). The Chorus is keen to present the fleet as being in good order and numerous so as to exaggerate the military power of Henry.