The Quoting Game's Afoot!

You can guess which Shakespeare play Sir Arthur Doyle stole from for Sherlock's famous line. Besides this one, I complied a list of other quotes that I feel capture some of the main themes of Henry V.

As I've read further on one theme comes up constantly; British men are better than French. This makes a great deal of sense given the patriotic nature of the play. Even the French themselves, when they insult the English end up praising them and demeaning themselves, as in the following line given by the Constable in the French court:
"Dieu de batailles! where have they this mettle? Is not their climate foggy, raw and dull, / On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale, / killing their fruit with frowns? / Can sodden water, a drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley-broth, / decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat? / And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine, / Seem frosty?"

One key theme in Henry V concerns the hypocrisy of kings and war. Are kings, even those that are more courageous and strong, truly good? Are wars, even those fought for legitimate causes, worthwhile? One situation highlights this. A man in King Henry's army is going to be hung for stealing from a French church. When Henry is told about this, he replies:
"We would have all such offenders so cut off . . . for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the / gentler gamester is the soonest winner."
This all well and good advice and the respect for the French is to be commended, but at the same time he is killing one of his own men for stealing. The "gentler" treatment that he gives the French comes at a harsh cost of ruthlessness to his own men. He cannot have it both ways.

Similar to the theme of hypocrisy in the play is a theme of leadership. Who makes a good leader and who should one follow? There is a boy in the play that observes the three men that he has been following since leaving England for the French battlefields. He makes this comment about them after seeing them show their unwillingness to be brave and fight:
"As young as I am, I have observed these three swashers. I am boy to all three: but all they three, though they would serve me, could not be man to me; for indeed three such antics do not amount to a man."
Because their words do not amount to good actions, the Boy decides to find other role models. This comment can also apply to the king, who has moments of doubt about whether his words and actions line up in best serving the people. This is a continuation of the theme of leadership that started with Richard II.