21 Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day. (IV.iii.62-69) The call to courage from Henry is more than a duty of the soldier. Henry calls them a “band of brothers.” Though they are few, they are happy because their honor, sacrifice, and courage will long be remembered. They are brave men and will never have to hang their heads when back in England. From this position, Henry calls his men to ready their minds, take their places, and engage in the fight. Perhaps no two leaders in English history could relate more to the need for courage in the face of overwhelming odds than Henry V and Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities . . . because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”42 Leading England as the countries of Europe fell to Nazi occupation, Churchill faced an incomparable crisis during his time as prime minister. He understood the threat of the Nazi onslaught and did not hide it from the British people. As each country fell, Britain found itself once again focused on France. Now they were not facing a French army like Henry, but together with France facing Hitler and the Nazis. In speech after speech, Churchill called upon the British people to “screw their courage to the sticking place / And we’ll not fail” (Macbeth, I.vii.70-71). On May 13, 1940, Churchill gave his first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons. He used the address to call up courage in the British people resonating with Henry’s familiar strains at Agincourt: You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be . . . . THE BARD AND THE BULLDOG
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