Enter Chorus as Prologue. CHORUS
O, for a muse of fire that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, 5
Assume the port of Mars, and at his heels,
Leashed in like hounds, should famine, sword, and
fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraisèd spirits that hath dared 10
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object. Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt? 15
O pardon, since a crookèd figure may
Attest in little place a million,
And let us, ciphers to this great account,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose within the girdle of these walls 20
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high uprearèd and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts.
Into a thousand parts divide one man, 25
And make imaginary puissance.
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i’ th’ receiving earth,
For ’tis your thoughts that now must deck our
kings, 30
Carry them here and there, jumping o’er times,
Turning th’ accomplishment of many years
Into an hourglass; for the which supply,
Admit me chorus to this history,
Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray 35
Gently to hear, kindly to judge our play. He exits. | The Chorus steps on stage and kicks things off with a bang by asking for a muse to help the theater company portray what's about to go down. Shakespeare means serious business in this play. (This classic move, by the way, is called an Invocation to the Muse.) Then the Chorus tells us to get ready to rumble because we're about to watch England and France go toe-to-toe over the French crown. After pumping us up for some serious drama, the Chorus then apologizes because there's no way the theater can accurately represent Henry V's war against France on a tiny little stage with just a handful of actors. The Chorus tells us that we have to use our imaginations to help bring the events to life, since it's impossible for the theater to actually get the thousands of soldiers and horses that were involved in the historic battle at Agincourt. |