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Of all of Shakespeare's histories, The Life of King Henry the Fifth is the only play to employ and sustain a chorus. Unlike the Rumor of Henry FV or the Prologue of Henry VIII, this choral figure functions not only as a dramatic proxy for the writer or a set to the scenes of action that will follow-although it performs these roles well-but also as an ongoing vehicle of theatrical direction and commentary that both foregrounds and problematizes the moral actions of the play's protagonist. The Chorus places Henry in a realm far different from that of any of his dramatic predecessors. As David Bevington points out, the Chorus helps to mythologize Henry by turning him into an epic hero (874). He encourages the audience to imagine the king, the very "port of Mars," in command of Famine, Sword, and Fire (Prologue.6), and surrounded by enthusiastic youth who follow him like "English Mercuries" with winged heels (2.Prologue.7). This is the much fabled "star of England" (Epilogue.6), the nationalistic encapsulation of Englishness that commands his place alongside fellow legends Robin Hood and King Arthur.
Yet just below the surface of this myth-in-the-making lies a more sinister figure that confounds epic expectations. The Henry that emerges from Shakespeare's play is not the embodiment of a selfless majesty, but a Machiavellian mastermind adept at using a rhetoric of deceit to satisfy the appetite of his ambitions. Along with other elements in the play, the Chorus helps to highlight the darker side of Henry, but does so in a complex and rather devious way. Instead of directly challenging the audience to question the king's motives, the Chorus undermines the heroic by way of example. The power of theater, like the political successes of Henry, rests upon a series of highly calculated falsifications. When the Chorus asks us to use our "imaginary puissance" (Prologue.25) to transform the limited stage performance into a panoramic movement of epic forces, he is underscoring the selfdeception in which we are all too willing to engage. Parallel to this theatrical movement are the rhetorical posturings of Henry, who cloaks his personal ambitions in a language of ceremony and nationalism. Although he does not specifically refer to the role of the Chorus, Stephen Greenblatt makes clear...