The Chorus: Cry No More, for the Lack Thereof

In Shakespeare’s Henry V, the chorus, unlike most of the playwright’s other works, appears in every Act of the play. He (or she) is one person, as usual, and this person explicitly converses with the audience to inform them about the play they are about to witness.

     One thing about this particular play’s chorus, other than his frequent appearances, is that he is always apologizing for the lack of detail on stage. He often tells us to use our “imaginary forces” (1.0.18), or imagination to alter the simple story portrayal to our minds’ likings. From the second paragraph of Henry V, the chorus asks of the audience, “pardon, gentles all, the flat unraiséd spirits that hath dared on this unworthy scaffold to bring forth so great an object” (1.0.8-11). The chorus means to ask the audience to excuse the actors’ otherwise inadequate acting skills, as well as the simplistic stage that the story is being performed on. Not only does the chorus’ lines practically bash the actors’ hard work put into the performance, but he also prepares us for the worse, before we even get a chance to see the first act. It is clear that the chorus wants to prevent any high expectations from being spoiled by the reality of the stage, but we do not have to be reminded of this every single act. He does a fine job of summarizing the scenes as they unfold before our eyes, but he always manages to sneak in a hint of apology to accommodate for the lack of “time, of numbers, and due course of things” (5.0.4).

Would you agree that the chorus apologizes too much in this play?

~M.p.~