Henry’s Hypocrisy: The Mockery of Tennis Balls and Men

At the end of the first act, Henry lividly expresses his distaste of the Dauphin’s mocking gesture; a gift of tennis balls in lieu of the dukedoms Henry seeks. Henry’s response:

Shall this his mock mock out of their dear hus-

bands,

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.

(1.2.285-288)

In the second act Henry even has Exeter relay a verbal threat to the Dauphin for the tennis ball gesture (2.4.117-126[SM1] ).

The Dauphin’s ‘mock’ of Henry is not too far removed from the ‘trick’ Henry plays on Williams. In act four, Henry manipulates Williams to mistakenly confront and strike Fluellen (4.8). Henry shows us that he understands some of the various meanings of the word mock. In the passage cited above, he uses mock to mean ridicule (Shall this his mock…) as well as to frustrate the hopes of or disappoint (Mock mothers from their sons,…). Reasonably, Henry should have realized that his ‘trick’ was in fact mocking Williams by disappointing his hopes of defending his honor.

In comparing Henry’s and the Dauphin’s mocks, two aspects are considered: their intent and their targets. Arguably, in this instance, the comparison will show that Henry’s hypocritical actions are more fallible than the Dauphins’.

The Dauphin appears to be quite foolish throughout the play, alluding to the notion that he wrote sonnets to his horse instead of to a mistress (3.7.45-46[SM2] ). He also continuously underestimates Henry and his army (2.4). The Dauphin’s foolishness diminishes him, making him appear to be more of a boyish nuisance than an adversary to Henry[SM3] . Therefore, the Dauphin’s intent should not hold much regard. It is analogous to a little schoolboy overcompensating for his small stature by picking a fight with the biggest kid on the playground.

Henry, as the target of the Dauphin’s jest, may be annoyed or even insulted, but he dominates the Dauphin in both power and intellect. Perhaps Henry should be flattered that the Dauphin would choose such a man to mock[SM4] .

Henry’s intent for mocking Williams is more substantial and should be regarded. The conflict, and later the challenge, between Henry and Williams is due to Williams’ statement that the King is responsible for the death of his soldiers (4.1.136-149). Henry, offended by this, agrees to the challenge and later manipulates the situation to mock Williams. Since Henry is in a position of ultimate authority over Williams, his intent is not a boyish nuisance, but a bullying. This is analogous to the biggest kid on the playground picking a fight with the smallest kid, just because he can[SM5] .

As a target, Williams is just a man standing behind his word. Had he known Henry was the King, he would have probably held is tongue. Here again, Henry’s power (disguise) manipulated the situation.

Henry used his power to manipulate and mock an honest man, tactics that he scorned the Dauphin for. The Dauphin had no power over Henry; therefore his mock had no power. Henry’s mock did have power; power which he abused. Henry’s mock was certainly hypocritical, and compared with the Dauphins’ actions, Henry’s abuse and manipulation make his mock more fallible[SM6] .

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[SM1]Good follow up

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[SM2]good support

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[SM3]good

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[SM4]the mock also provides another pretext for invasion—the nation’s honor has been mocked

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[SM5]great follow-up of the preceding analogy with Dauphin

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[SM6]Michael—this is an original, insightful and witty study of Henry’s second and less glorious mock of the Dauphin’s mock.

You might enjoy the Oxford English Dictionary’s delineation of definitions and uses of this word over time. Check out the verb “mock” at

http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl

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