How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
The King is full of grace and fair regard.
BISHOP OF ELY
And a true lover of the holy Church.
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
The courses of his youth promised it not.
The breath no sooner left his father’s body
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seemed to die too. Yea, at that very moment
Consideration like an angel came
And whipped th’ offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise
T’ envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made,
Never came reformation in a flood
With such a heady currance scouring faults,
Nor never Hydra-headed willfulness
So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king.(1.1.24-39)
The play is always reminding us about how much Henry has changed since the wild days of his youth. Here, Canterbury and Ely can't stop talking about what an amazing king Henry turned out to be, which seems like a miracle since he used to be such a degenerate.
Quote #2
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
He seems indifferent,
Or rather swaying more upon our part
Than cherishing th’ exhibitors against us;
For I have made an offer to his Majesty—
Upon our spiritual convocation
And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have opened to his Grace at large,
As touching France—to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predecessors part withal.
BISHOP OF ELY
How did this offer seem received, my lord?
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY
With good acceptance of his Majesty—
Save that there was not time enough to hear,
As I perceived his Grace would fain have done,
The severals and unhidden passages
Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms,
And generally to the crown and seat of France,
Derived from Edward, his great-grandfather. (1.1.77-94)
Early on, we learn that a bill has just resurfaced in Parliament. (The bill had been raised before in Henry IV's reign, but it was pushed aside while England dealt with internal strife.) If the bill passes this time, the Church will lose a ton of money and land to the crown's treasury, so Canterbury and Ely want to make it disappear. Their solution is to urge Henry into a war with France and offer him a large sum of money to finance the campaign. This recalls a moment in Henry IV Part 2, where Henry IV advised his son to "busy giddy minds / With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, / May waste the memory of the former days" (4.5.213-215). This raises an important question: is Henry's war with France an attempt to distract the "giddy minds" of the English so that they will forget that Henry's dad was a throne-stealer?
Quote #3
KING HENRY
But I will rise there with so full a glory
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us. (1.2.290-292)
Even though Henry is no longer a wild young prince who spends his time carousing with thugs, the Dauphin of France refuses to acknowledge Henry's transformation. One could argue that Henry's final decision to invade France is motivated by Henry's desire to force the Dauphin to recognize his majesty and power. We notice here that Henry uses the same metaphor he developed back in Henry IV Part 1, when he compared himself to the "sun" and promised that his transformation into a glorious king would dazzle his subjects and make them forget his riotous youth.