How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #4
KING HENRY
...for many a thousand widows
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands,
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;
And some are yet ungotten and unborn
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin’s scorn. (1.2.296-301)
Here, Henry openly declares war on France after the Dauphin sends him an insulting gift (a bunch of tennis balls). What's interesting about this is the way Henry emphasizes the fact that warfare tears families apart. We also notice that Henry has a tendency to blame others for his actions. Even though he's the one declaring war, he claims that it France's fault that the wives of their soldiers are going to be turned into widows and the children made into orphans when their fathers are killed in battle.
Quote #5
DAUPHIN
Ô Dieu vivant, shall a few sprays of us,
The emptying of our fathers’ luxury,
Our scions, put in wild and savage stock,
Spurt up so suddenly into the clouds
And overlook their grafters?
BRITTANY
Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards!
Mort de ma vie, if they march along
Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom
To buy a slobb’ry and a dirty farm
In that nook-shotten isle of Albion. (3.5.5-14)
Here, the French insult the English by referring to them as "a few sprays of us." In other words, the Dauphin sees the English nobility as offshoots of the French because their ancestors are the Normans, who invaded England back in 1066. This is why Bourbon calls the English noblemen "bastard Normans."
Quote #6
DAUPHIN
By faith and honor,
Our madams mock at us and plainly say
Our mettle is bred out, and they will give
Their bodies to the lust of English youth
To new-store France with bastard warriors. (3.5.28-32)
Wow. The French characters are really anxious about the thought of interbreeding with the English, don't you think? The Dauphin of France is worried that the French women will hook up with English soldiers and produce "bastard warriors" (have kids that are half French and half English). What's odd about this is the fact that King Charles VI has recently offered to let King Henry marry his daughter Catherine (who is the Dauphin's sister) as a peace offering. Henry declines the offer initially, but the marriage does eventually take place.