King Henry's Wooing Analysis

The form of “wooing” that each male character performs in the plays demonstrates the primary differences between the couples in the path towards marriage. King Henry’s wooing of Princess Katherine, although unnecessary due to the fact that he already claimed her as a result of the war lost by her country, concentrates on excuses for King Henry’s lack of wooing abilities and uses these as reasons for why the Princess should love him. Not only does King Henry fixate most of the wooing on himself and his abilities, he also predetermines that she must love him and aggressively demands that she express her love for him. King Henry silences any objections from her part as he manipulates her when he tries to convince her to love him by referencing

He asserts that France will be his in the same manner that she will now be his as well, a material possession that he refuses to part with, and she should love him due to the fact that what she loves and wants, France, is now all his territory. Another example of this form of submission from the Princess occurs as she attempts and struggles to learn English from King Henry in this scene, according to the article ‘Fause Frenche Enough’: Kate’s French in Shakespeare’s Henry V by Anny Crunelle-Vanrigh. According to this critic, this scene demonstrates Princess Katherine’ sexual and political submission, and her lesson is described as “a historical and political statement…” in which the battle of the languages “features the last stand of a defeated Princess” (Crunelle-Vanrigh 63). Overall, King Henry’s wooing consists of demands, manipulation, and the defeat of Princess Katherine, similar to what has just occurred to her home, rather than an attempt at gaining her love or

Petruchio describes his plan for wooing as taking her words and transforming what she might have to say into things that reflect meanings that are beneficial to him, such as when he explains, “If she do bid me pack, I’ll give her thanks, / As though she bid me stay by her a week” (II.i.177-178). Prior to even meeting Katherina, Petruchio has already established forms of manipulation and undermining towards his possible bride-to-be, which deprive her words of any agency. As the two finally meet, Petruchio begins his conquest of Katherina and puts his plan into action, as can be shown when the two characters interchange the following words:

PETRUCHIO. Why, what’s a movable?

KATHERINA. A join’d stool.

PETRUCHIO. Thou hast hit it; come sit on me. (II.i.196-198)

This exchange of words illustrates just how Petruchio changes and belittles Katherina’s original meaning, one of the many insults directed at him, into interpretations such as crude sexual innuendos. Their banter continues this way, and although Katherina does not easily give up the battle of making meaning of her words, Petruchio continues to have the last word as he foresees any marriage denial on her part and uses it against her. In this way, when Petruchio denies Katherina the ability to make meaning with her words, he strips her of any agency that may oppose