Shakespeare on War in Two Plays: Henry V and Troilus & Cressida

Russ Leng
Political Science professor, Middlebury College
Author of books and articles on war, international conflict, and diplomacy.
 
 
Two Classes
1:30 – 3:00 (Zoom ONLY) 
October 11, 18
 
 
Shakespeare’s Henry V is viewed as a patriotic play about a “great Christian king” leading an outmanned English army to a glorious triumph over France at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). Troilus & Cressida, conversely, is an anti-war play, based on Shakespeare’s take on a portion of the Iliad. Are Shakespeare’s views of war really so different in the two plays? Russ has selected written and performed sections of the plays to help answer that question and do the issues raised remain relevant today?