Henry V, Kenneth Branagh,Agincourt 2a, "For I am Welsh..."

The name of the town in french is actually "Azincourt", but it came down in english as "Agincourt".

aw, the hell withthe english!

the irony to this scene is the fact that while there WAS a raid on the baggage train (at what point in the battle is unclear), it was not to kill luggage boys or hapless monks and servants--it was to steal items of worth, seeing as there were so few soldiers of worth for ransom on the English side. It was also brief. The real slaughter was of French prisoners, which Henry only ordered under great stress when they numbered in the thousands, worried they might pick up weapons left by the dead.

To try and post a comment that actually relates back to this play and the moment of history it chronicles...the ironic part of this scene is that historically, there WAS a brief assault on the baggage train, though the number of dead was relatively few (the goal was to capture items of worth--not kill barley-armed and hapless folks). The real slaughter was not of squires or luggage boys, but of french prisoners--which Henry did when prisoners almost came close to the number of English present.

It's really amazing to see how actors can bring a scene to life - reading this scene in my "Riverside Shakespeare", I just see words on paper, but when Branagh sobs, "... for I am Welsh, you know..." it always brings a tear to my eye. This is the pure essence of acting.

I admire Laurence Olivier, but I have to say that his performance of Henry V doesn't evoke half the emotion of Branagh's - it seems to me he's more reciting the lines than acting them. Branagh is living them.

do you not think that we already know that?? unfourtunately there are far too many do gooders out there wh owill pounce on anybody who disagrees with these practices and will slam them as racist. these are the people who have no touch wil the real world

did anyone know that the welsh are refugees from the atlantis/greece war?

Grimmest117 who do you consider a native Briton? Do you consider the son of an Indian immigrant a foreigner? If that's true then you seem to have a very xenophobic attitude. This 'damned Yank' thinks that you are silly for being so prejudiced.

I didn't realize the comments posted were emulating Shakespeare, Methinks we have great playwrights in our midst who hast concealed their wit and charm

@bruce235001: The problem is not the poetic language but the fool words themselves and if there is one classical poet, who uses a lot of them, then it is Shakespeare, so banning foul language in comments is lost labour; though this play is quite free of it but the is seldom the case with Shakespeare...