'In one case more than unto the breach, dear friends, once more' is the 2nd most famous oral communication from Shakespeare'due south Henry 5, after Henry's celebrated Crispin's Twenty-four hour period speech. This voice communication comes in Act 3 Scene i of the play, during the siege of Harfleur in Normandy, carried out by the real historical King Henry V in 1415 as part of the Hundred Years War.

Henry's rousing speech to his troops is his attempt to unite the inspire his men to continue fighting with him confronting the French. Let'south take a closer wait at the language Henry uses, offering a summary and an assay of his spoken communication as we become through it, line by line.

One time more than unto the breach, honey friends, one time more;
Or close the wall up with our English expressionless.

Henry's speech begins with rousing words of encouragement to his troops, with the words 'dear friends' treating the soldiers as the rex'south equals and shut companions (as some of them, namely the noblemen, would accept been). He begins by addressing the noblemen among his ranks; later on (as nosotros will run into), he also addresses the yeomen or ordinary men within the army.

The repetition of 'once more' meaning 'over again' (fittingly, repeated once more at the end of the line), spurs the men to summon the energy for one last set on on the walls of the town of Harfleur. Henry and his men have already attacked the walls and weakened them – hence the 'breach' that has appeared in the wall – but they have not yet completely broken through and gained admission to the boondocks.

Although these showtime 2 lines of Henry'southward oral communication are well-known and often quoted, practise they actually brand sense? 'One time more than unto the breach … or close the wall up with our English dead' can be paraphrased as 'charge at the wall one time more or die in the endeavor'. Just it doesn't really make sense: the charge is like shooting fish in a barrel plenty to carry out, but it's the success or failure of it which is at issue.

In his notes to the Arden edition, "Rex Henry Five" (Arden Shakespeare: Third), T. W. Craik directs u.s.a. to Samuel Johnson's stance that some intervening line betwixt 'In one case more unto the breach, dear friends, once more' and 'Or close the wall up with our English dead' may have been lost: Craik suggests 'And either enter in, and win the boondocks'. So the opening words would then read:

Once again unto the breach, honey friends, once again,
And either enter in, and win the town,
Or close the wall upwardly with our English expressionless.

This makes more sense, although it is only speculation equally to whether there ever was an intervening line, and what it might have been.

In peace there's zilch and so becomes a man
Equally modest stillness and humility:
Just when the blast of state of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;

In other words: 'In peacetime, men should be humble and non quick to anger; but when at war, as soon equally they hear the trumpets of war they should become like the tiger, a ferocious beast'.

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with difficult-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible attribute;

This phone call to war should cause men'south muscles to stiffen in readiness for battle and get their blood up, so they're ready for a fight. Their calm or 'fair' nature should be suppressed and replaced with acrimony and ferocity that gives their eyes a fearsome appearance.

Allow pry through the portage of the head
Similar the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
Equally fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base of operations,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.

Hither we take a typically Shakespearean epitome: 'portage' means portholes, as in a ship, and so Henry is essentially saying, 'let your aroused optics appear in your head like portholes on a transport, much like contumely cannon used in warfare'. Henry commands his men to just out their foreheads or brows over their optics, so their faces are similar a terrifying cliff hanging over the wild and desolate sea.

Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril broad,
Hold difficult the jiff and bend upward every spirit
To his full summit. On, on, y'all noblest English language.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!

Next, Henry commands his men to grit their teeth (in hardened resolve) and let their nostrils flare in warlike anger. They should take a deep breath and summon all the energy they take to the utmost. He reminds the men that their fathers proved themselves in war: now it's their turn. (By the way, 'fet' means 'fetched', so these men's blood is fetched or derived from their fathers, who were tried and tested in war.)

Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour non your mothers; at present attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.

And their fathers were men who, like and so many Alexander the Greats, have fought in this part of the world from morn until nighttime, sheathing their swords only when there was no i left to fight with. Henry calls on the men not to dishonour their mothers past running abroad at present: stand here and fight, he says, and by doing and so prove that those warlike men who sired you really were your fathers.

Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show u.s. here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt non;

Information technology's worth remembering that Henry's 'dear friends' ('Once again unto the breach, dear friends …') are noblemen: men of expert nascency. Next, Henry tells these noblemen to human activity as a expert example for ordinary men to follow, and to teach them how to fight in a war. And turning to the yeomen or farmers (i.e., those men among the ranks who are non noble: some of them were of such low status they weren't even yeomen, who were technically farmer freeholders), Henry reminds then that their arms and legs are English and so this is their chance to prove the strength that artillery of men raised in England are capable of.

Henry doesn't doubtfulness that they are worthy of their English identity, but at present is the time to prove it. This is a corking slice of rhetoric from Henry, winning the soldiers round: he's essentially praising them ('don't worry, I know you men won't let me down') while at the same time calling upon them to prove that they can exist relied upon ('but merely remind me, for my sake').

For there is none of you then mean and base of operations,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see y'all stand similar greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the outset. The game's itinerant:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Henry concludes his rousing speech by telling the men that none of them is of so humble nascency that they don't possess a noble look in their optics. To him, the men are similar greyhounds straining at their ternion, wanting to be released and begin the hunt. With words that accept become among the most famous in all of the play, Henry V rallies his troops, calling for them to cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' – another piece of fine rhetoric utilising the pattern of iii, whereby 'Harry' (i.e., King Henry 5) is linked to both the country the men are fighting for and that country's patron saint, a knight who embodies the noble qualities Henry wants the soldiers to detect in themselves now.

Throughout Henry V'southward 'Over again unto the breach, dear friends' speech, he makes references to animals known for their ferocity (tigers) or speed (greyhounds), while his talk of 'convenance' and 'pasture' imply a link between the English soldiers and bulls and rams, tough and hardy animals. He as well reminds the soldiers of their nationality, summoning a patriotic pride that he will raise to withal greater heights in the later Crispin's Twenty-four hours speech.