Act 2, Scene 2 — Henry V — Study Shakespeare

The argument Henry exposes the three traitors — Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey — who have been paid by France to murder him, and condemns them to death before sailing for France.

Enter Exeter, Bedford and Westmorland.

BEDFORD

’Fore God, his Grace is bold, to trust these traitors.

EXETER

They shall be apprehended by and by.

WESTMORLAND ≋ verse

How smooth and even they do bear themselves!

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat

Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.

How smooth and even they do bear themselves! As if allegiance in their bosoms sat Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.

How smooth and even they do bear themselves! As if allegianc

BEDFORD ≋ verse

The King hath note of all that they intend,

By interception which they dream not of.

The King has note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of.

the king has note of all that they intend, by interception which they dream not

EXETER ≋ verse

Nay, but the man that was his bed-fellow,

Whom he hath dull’d and cloy’d with gracious favours,

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell

His sovereign’s life to death and treachery.

Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge and Grey.

no, but the man that was his bed-fellow, Whom he has dull’d and cloy’d with gracious favours, That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell His sovereign’s life to death and treachery. Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge and Grey.

no, but the man that was h's bed-fellow, Whom he has dull’d and cloy’d with gracious favours, That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell H's sovereign’s life to death and treachery. Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge and Grey.

no, but the man that was his bed-fellow, whom he has dull’d and cloy’d with grac

KING HENRY ≋ verse

Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.

My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham,

And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts.

Think you not that the powers we bear with us

Will cut their passage through the force of France,

Doing the execution and the act

For which we have in head assembled them?

Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham, And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts. Think you not that the powers we bear with us Will cut their passage through the force of France, Doing the execution and the act For which we have in head assembled them?

now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. my lord of cambridge, and my kind lo

SCROOP

No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.

KING HENRY ≋ verse

I doubt not that, since we are well persuaded

We carry not a heart with us from hence

That grows not in a fair consent with ours,

Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish

Success and conquest to attend on us.

I doubt not that, since we are well persuaded We carry not a heart with us from hence That grows not in a fair consent with ours, Nor leave not one behind that does not wish Success and conquest to attend on us.

I doubt not that, since we 're well persuaded We carry not a heart with us from hence That grows not in a fair consent with ours, Nor leave not one behind that does not w'sh Success and conquest to attend on us.

i doubt not that, since we are well persuaded we carry not a heart with us from

CAMBRIDGE ≋ verse

Never was monarch better fear’d and lov’d

Than is your Majesty. There’s not, I think, a subject

That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness

Under the sweet shade of your government.

Never was monarch better fear’d and lov’d Than is your Majesty. There’s not, I think, a subject That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government.

Never was monarch better fear’d and lov’d Than is your Majes

GREY ≋ verse

True; those that were your father’s enemies

Have steep’d their galls in honey, and do serve you

With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

True; those that were your father’s enemies Have steep’d their galls in honey, and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

True; those that were your father’s enemies Have steep’d the

KING HENRY ≋ verse

We therefore have great cause of thankfulness,

And shall forget the office of our hand

Sooner than quittance of desert and merit

According to the weight and worthiness.

We therefore have great cause of thankfulness, And shall forget the office of our hand Sooner than quittance of desert and merit According to the weight and worthiness.

We therefore have great cause of thankfulness, And shall for

SCROOP ≋ verse

So service shall with steeled sinews toil,

And labour shall refresh itself with hope,

To do your Grace incessant services.

So service shall with steeled sinews toil, And labour shall refresh itself with hope, To do your Grace incessant services.

So service shall with steeled sinews toil, And labour shall

KING HENRY ≋ verse

We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter,

Enlarge the man committed yesterday,

That rail’d against our person. We consider

It was excess of wine that set him on,

And on his more advice we pardon him.

We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday, That rail’d against our person. We consider It was excess of wine that set him on, And on his more advice we pardon him.

We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed

Why it matters Henry's pardoning of the minor offender is the spring of his trap. By letting Scroop argue for severity, Henry forces Scroop to unknowingly condemn himself to the same standard.

SCROOP ≋ verse

That’s mercy, but too much security.

Let him be punish’d, sovereign, lest example

Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.

That’s mercy, but too much security. Let him be punish’d, sovereign, lest example Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.

That’s mercy, but too much security. Let him be punish’d, so

🎭 Dramatic irony Scroop argues for severity against the minor offender — not knowing that Henry is using his answer to eliminate the mercy Scroop will immediately need. The audience watches him walk into his own trap with perfect composure.

KING HENRY

O, let us yet be merciful.

CAMBRIDGE

So may your Highness, and yet punish too.

GREY ≋ verse

Sir,

You show great mercy if you give him life

After the taste of much correction.

Sir, You show great mercy if you give him life After the taste of much correction.

Sir, You show great mercy if you give him life After the tas

KING HENRY ≋ verse

Alas, your too much love and care of me

Are heavy orisons ’gainst this poor wretch!

If little faults, proceeding on distemper,

Shall not be wink’d at, how shall we stretch our eye

When capital crimes, chew’d, swallow’d, and digested,

Appear before us? We’ll yet enlarge that man,

Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care

And tender preservation of our person,

Would have him punish’d. And now to our French causes.

Who are the late commissioners?

Alas, your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons ’gainst this poor wretch! If little faults, proceeding on distemper, Shall not be wink’d at, how shall we stretch our eye When capital crimes, chew’d, swallow’d, and digested, Appear before us? We’ll yet enlarge that man, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care And tender preservation of our person, Would have him punish’d. And now to our French causes. Who are the late commissioners?

Alas, your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons ’g

CAMBRIDGE ≋ verse

I one, my lord.

Your Highness bade me ask for it today.

I one, my lord. Your Highness bade me ask for it today.

SCROOP

So did you me, my liege.

GREY

And I, my royal sovereign.

KING HENRY ≋ verse

Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;

There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,

Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours.

Read them, and know I know your worthiness.

My Lord of Westmorland, and uncle Exeter,

We will aboard tonight.—Why, how now, gentlemen!

What see you in those papers that you lose

So much complexion?—Look ye, how they change!

Their cheeks are paper.—Why, what read you there,

That have so cowarded and chas’d your blood

Out of appearance?

Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours; There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight, Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours. Read them, and know I know your worthiness. My Lord of Westmorland, and uncle Exeter, We will aboard tonight.—Why, how now, gentlemen! What see you in those papers that you lose So much complexion?—Look ye, how they change! Their cheeks are paper.—Why, what read you there, That have so cowarded and chas’d your blood Out of appearance?

Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours; There yours

CAMBRIDGE ≋ verse

I do confess my fault,

And do submit me to your Highness’ mercy.

I do confess my fault, And do submit me to your Highness’ mercy.

I do confess my fault, And do submit me to your Highness’ me

GREY, SCROOP

To which we all appeal.

KING HENRY ≋ verse

The mercy that was quick in us but late,

By your own counsel is suppress’d and kill’d.

You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy,

For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,

As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.

See you, my princes and my noble peers,

These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here,

You know how apt our love was to accord

To furnish him with an appertinents

Belonging to his honour; and this man

Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir’d

And sworn unto the practices of France

To kill us here in Hampton; to the which

This knight, no less for bounty bound to us

Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But, O

What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? thou cruel,

Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature!

Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,

That knew’st the very bottom of my soul,

That almost mightst have coin’d me into gold,

Wouldst thou have practis’d on me for thy use,—

May it be possible that foreign hire

Could out of thee extract one spark of evil

That might annoy my finger? ’Tis so strange,

That, though the truth of it stands off as gross

As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.

Treason and murder ever kept together,

As two yoke-devils sworn to either’s purpose,

Working so grossly in a natural cause

That admiration did not whoop at them;

But thou, ’gainst all proportion, didst bring in

Wonder to wait on treason and on murder;

And whatsoever cunning fiend it was

That wrought upon thee so preposterously

Hath got the voice in hell for excellence;

And other devils that suggest by treasons

Do botch and bungle up damnation

With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch’d

From glist’ring semblances of piety.

But he that temper’d thee bade thee stand up,

Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,

Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.

If that same demon that hath gull’d thee thus

Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,

He might return to vasty Tartar back,

And tell the legions, “I can never win

A soul so easy as that Englishman’s.”

O, how hast thou with jealousy infected

The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?

Why, so didst thou. Seem they grave and learned?

Why, so didst thou. Come they of noble family?

Why, so didst thou. Seem they religious?

Why, so didst thou. Or are they spare in diet,

Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,

Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,

Garnish’d and deck’d in modest complement,

Not working with the eye without the ear,

And but in purged judgement trusting neither?

Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem.

And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot

To mark the full-fraught man and best indued

With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;

For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like

Another fall of man. Their faults are open.

Arrest them to the answer of the law;

And God acquit them of their practices!

The mercy that was quick in us but late, By your own counsel is suppress’d and kill’d. You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy, For your own reasons turn into your bosoms, As dogs upon their masters, worrying you. See you, my princes and my noble peers, These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here, You know how apt our love was to accord To furnish him with an appertinents Belonging to his honour; and this man has, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir’d And sworn unto the practices of France To kill us here in Hampton; to the which This knight, no less for bounty bound to us Than Cambridge is, has likewise sworn. But, O What shall I say to you, Lord Scroop? you cruel, Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature! you that didst bear the key of all my counsels, That knew’st the very bottom of my soul, That almost mightst have coin’d me into gold, Wouldst you have practis’d on me for your use,— May it be possible that foreign hire Could out of you extract one spark of evil That might annoy my finger? ’Tis so strange, That, though the truth of it stands off as gross As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it. Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either’s purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause That admiration did not whoop at them; But you, ’gainst all proportion, didst bring in Wonder to wait on treason and on murder; And whatsoever cunning fiend it was That wrought upon you so preposterously has got the voice in hell for excellence; And other devils that suggest by treasons Do botch and bungle up damnation With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch’d From glist’ring semblances of piety. But he that temper’d you bade you stand up, Gave you no instance why you shouldst do treason, Unless to dub you with the name of traitor. If that same demon that has gull’d you thus Should with his lion gait walk the whole world, He might return to vasty Tartar back, And tell the legions, “I can never win A soul so easy as that Englishman’s.” O, how hast you with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful? Why, so didst you. Seem they grave and learned? Why, so didst you. Come they of noble family? Why, so didst you. Seem they religious? Why, so didst you. Or are they spare in diet, Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger, Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood, Garnish’d and deck’d in modest complement, Not working with the eye without the ear, And but in purged judgement trusting neither? Such and so finely bolted didst you seem. And thus your fall has left a kind of blot To mark the full-fraught man and best indued With some suspicion. I will weep for you; For this revolt of yours, methinks, is like Another fall of man. Their faults are open. Arrest them to the answer of the law; And God acquit them of their practices!

The mercy that was quick in us but late, By your own counsel 's suppress’d and kill’d. You must not d're, for shame, to talk of mercy, For your own reasons turn into your bosoms, As dogs upon their masters, worrying you. See you, my princes and my noble peers, These Engl'sh monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here, You know how apt our love was to accord To furn'sh him with an appertinents Belonging to h's honour; and th's man has, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir’d And sworn unto the practices of France To kill us here in Hampton; to the which Th's knight, no less for bounty bound to us Than Cambridge 's, has likew'se sworn. But, O What shall I say to you, Lord Scroop? you cruel, Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature! you that didst bear the key of all my counsels, That knew’st the very bottom of my soul, That almost mightst have coin’d me into gold, Wouldst you have pract's’d on me for your use,— May it be possible that foreign hire Could out of you extract one spark of evil That might annoy my finger? ’T's so strange, That, though the truth of it stands off as gross As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it. Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either’s purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause That admiration did not whoop at them; But you, ’gainst all proportion, didst bring in Wonder to wait on treason and on murder; And whatsoever cunning fiend it was That wrought upon you so preposterously has got the voice in hell for excellence; And other devils that suggest by treasons Do botch and bungle up damnation With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch’d From gl'st’ring semblances of piety. But he that temper’d you bade you stand up, Gave you no instance why you shouldst do treason, Unless to dub you with the name of traitor. If that same demon that has gull’d you thus Should with h's lion gait walk the whole world, He might return to vasty Tartar back, And tell the legions, “I can never win A soul so easy as that Engl'shman’s.” O, how hast you with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful? Why, so didst you. Seem they grave and learned? Why, so didst you. Come they of noble family? Why, so didst you. Seem they religious? Why, so didst you. Or 're they sp're in diet, Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger, Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood, Garn'sh’d and deck’d in modest complement, Not working with the eye without the ear, And but in purged judgement trusting neither? Such and so finely bolted didst you seem. And thus your fall has left a kind of blot To mark the full-fraught man and best indued With some suspicion. I will weep for you; For th's revolt of yours, methinks, 's like Another fall of man. Their faults 're open. Arrest them to the answer of the law; And God acquit them of their practices!

the mercy that was quick in us but late, by your own counsel is suppress’d and k

"thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels" Scroop was Henry's most intimate counselor — literally knew the king's private plans. This is the deepest form of betrayal: not just political opposition but intimate treachery from someone who had complete access.

"this revolt of thine, methinks, is like / Another fall of man" Henry compares Scroop's betrayal to the original sin of Adam and Eve — the fall from a state of pure grace into corruption. It's an enormous theological comparison, but Henry earns it: Scroop was, to him, paradise-level trustworthy. The comparison also implies that all subsequent human suspicion of apparent goodness flows from this kind of betrayal.

Why it matters Henry's speech on Scroop's treachery is the most emotionally unguarded moment in the play. He drops the royal 'we' for much of it, speaks in the first person, and shows genuine grief — not political anger. This is where we see the man behind the king, briefly.

↩ Callback to 1-2 Henry's grief over Scroop's betrayal echoes his earlier speech about his past wildness — Scroop knew Henry in all his former states. The betrayal is doubly deep because it comes from someone who witnessed the full transformation.

EXETER

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard Earl of

Cambridge.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry Lord Scroop of

Masham.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of

Northumberland.

I arrest you of high treason, by the name of Richard Earl of Cambridge. I arrest you of high treason, by the name of Henry Lord Scroop of Masham. I arrest you of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.

i arrest you of high treason, by the name of richard earl of cambridge. i arrest

SCROOP ≋ verse

Our purposes God justly hath discover’d,

And I repent my fault more than my death,

Which I beseech your Highness to forgive,

Although my body pay the price of it.

Our purposes God justly has discover’d, And I repent my fault more than my death, Which I beseech your Highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it.

Our purposes God justly has d'scover’d, And I repent my fault more than my death, Which I beseech your Highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it.

our purposes god justly has discover’d, and i repent my fault more than my death

CAMBRIDGE ≋ verse

For me, the gold of France did not seduce,

Although I did admit it as a motive

The sooner to effect what I intended.

But God be thanked for prevention,

Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,

Beseeching God and you to pardon me.

For me, the gold of France did not seduce, Although I did admit it as a motive The sooner to effect what I intended. But God be thanked for prevention, Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice, Beseeching God and you to pardon me.

for me, the gold of france did not seduce, although i did admit it as a motive t

"For me, the gold of France did not seduce" Cambridge hints at a different motive — historians believe it was a Yorkist dynastic claim: he wanted to put Edmund Mortimer on the throne instead of Henry. Shakespeare leaves this unexplained, which is deliberately unsettling. What was Cambridge actually planning?

🎭 Dramatic irony Cambridge says the French gold 'did not seduce' him — hinting at a different motive entirely (a Yorkist dynastic claim). The audience is left with a mystery: Henry condemns a man whose actual motive he may not fully know.

GREY ≋ verse

Never did faithful subject more rejoice

At the discovery of most dangerous treason

Than I do at this hour joy o’er myself,

Prevented from a damned enterprise.

My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.

Never did faithful subject more rejoice At the discovery of most dangerous treason Than I do at this hour joy o’er myself, Prevented from a damned enterprise. My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.

Never did faithful subject more rejoice At the discovery of

KING HENRY ≋ verse

God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.

You have conspir’d against our royal person,

Join’d with an enemy proclaim’d, and from his coffers

Received the golden earnest of our death;

Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,

His princes and his peers to servitude,

His subjects to oppression and contempt,

And his whole kingdom into desolation.

Touching our person seek we no revenge;

But we our kingdom’s safety must so tender,

Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws

We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,

Poor miserable wretches, to your death,

The taste whereof God of his mercy give

You patience to endure, and true repentance

Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.

God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence. You have conspir’d against our royal person, Join’d with an enemy proclaim’d, and from his coffers Received the golden earnest of our death; Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter, His princes and his peers to servitude, His subjects to oppression and contempt, And his whole kingdom into desolation. Touching our person seek we no revenge; But we our kingdom’s safety must so tender, Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence, Poor miserable wretches, to your death, The taste whereof God of his mercy give You patience to endure, and true repentance Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.

God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence. You have cons

[_Exeunt Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, guarded._]

Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof

Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.

We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,

Since God so graciously hath brought to light

This dangerous treason lurking in our way

To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now

But every rub is smoothed on our way.

Then forth, dear countrymen! Let us deliver

Our puissance into the hand of God,

Putting it straight in expedition.

Cheerly to sea! The signs of war advance!

No king of England, if not king of France!

[_Flourish. Exeunt._]

The Reckoning

This scene is a masterclass in Henry's method: he already knows everything, but he lets the traitors hang themselves. First he tests their mercy by pardoning a minor offender — all three argue against it, setting the trap. Then he hands them documents they think are their commissions, watches their faces pale, and only then reveals the documents contain their own confessions. His speech to Scroop — the trusted intimate who betrayed him — is one of the most emotionally unguarded moments in the play. The audience is left with a king who has just been genuinely hurt, and who turns that hurt into a perfectly controlled act of justice.

If this happened today…

A CEO walks into a board meeting already knowing three of his most trusted executives have been secretly selling information to a competitor. He runs the meeting as normal, even asks them hypothetically whether a minor employee who badmouthed him deserves a second chance — all three say no, of course not. Then he hands them envelopes they think contain their new project assignments. He watches their faces go white as they read. He is especially hurt by the COO — his oldest friend, who knew everything. He doesn't shout. He tells them that their own advice about mercy just killed the mercy they'd have received. Then he calls security. Then he keeps sailing.

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