‘KNOW US BY OUR HORSES’: EQUINE IMAGERY IN SHAKESPEARE’S HENRIAD

Jennifer Flaherty

Shakespeare’s Henriad is teeming with references to horses, from common carrier horses to the mythological Pegasus. Ironically, the abundance of horses in Shakespeare’s complete works has led critics to overlook much of the equine imagery in the plays. Heaney explains that, ‘There are very few horses worth noting in the Shakespearean canon. There are plenty of horses, of course – the plays are littered with them. But not many are singled out for attention’.1 While only a few of the horses that litter the Henriad are singled out for attention, I believe that the many horses throughout the tetralogy are certainly worth noting. Shakespeare was writing for an early modern English audience who recognized horses as an integral part of their culture; understanding the currency of horse knowledge to the period allows readers unique insight into the plays. My title comes from a comment by Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part 1 when he and Poins are planning to disguise themselves during the Gadshill robbery. Hal takes issue with the plan, arguing that Falstaff will ‘know us by our horses’; so, he and Poins agree to commit the robbery on foot to avoid being instantly recognized (1.2.169–70).2 In context, this line functions as an excuse to avoid the trouble of staging a robbery on horseback. The phrase takes on a deeper meaning, however, as throughout the tetralogy men are measured by the mounts they ride. The way a character carries himself on horseback can be crucial to earning or maintaining a strong reputation, and the horses themselves act as symbols that denote king and country. Over the course of the four plays, Shakespeare invites the audience to ‘know’ these men by their horses; the descriptions of horsemanship and equine mythography surrounding each character

1 Heaney P.F., “Petruchio’s Horse: Equine and Household Mismanagement in The Taming of the Shrew”, Early Modern Literary Studies 4, 1 (May, 1998) 2.1–12. 2 All quotations from Shakespeare’s plays will be cited in-text. They are taken from the following: Shakespeare William, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. D. Bev- ington (New York: 2004). 308 jennifer flaherty present a clear picture of their disposition. Key figures in the tetral- ogy are defined by brief ‘portraits in horsemanship.’ Horses provide a code of reference throughout the plays, giving the audience a means by which to understand individual and national identities. In the prologue of Henry V the Chorus asks the audience to ‘think when we talk of horses, that you see them/ Printing their proud hoofs i’ the receiving earth’ (26–7). The textual horses of Shakespeare’s his- tory plays are not only printed on the playscript or in the imaginations of the audience, they are described as ‘printing’:3 they stamp their mes- sage into the ‘receiving earth’ (27). As warhorses, their hoofs leave the impression of conflict in the soil of the invaded country – a stamped record of war. This image haunts the earlier plays in the tetralogy, when the land trampled by the warhorses in battle is ‘this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England’ (RII 2.1.49). Arriving on the coast of Wales in Richard II, Richard addresses the earth directly: ‘dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand/though rebels wound thee with their horses’ hoofs’ (RII 3.2.6–7). Henry IV echoes Richard’s imagery in the opening speech of Henry IV, Part 1, when he vows: No more the thirsty entrance of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children’s blood; Nor more shall trenching war channel her fields, Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs Of hostile paces (1 HIV 1.1.6–10). The hoof prints of English warhorses doing battle on English soil do not just mark the ground; they wound it, bruise it. Through the ‘armed hoofs’ of its horses, England damages itself (1 HIV 1.1.10). By con- trast, English horses preparing to do battle on French soil in Henry V have ‘proud hoofs’ and ‘high and boastful neighs’ (HV 1.P.27, HV 4.P.10). Through the imagery of horses stamping the ground, Shake- speare draws parallels between horses and national identity. English horses can injure or honour English land and carry English kings to victory or defeat. As horses can leave prints on the earth, the pastures of different nations can leave distinctive prints on horses. In his article for this

3 While this is the only time the word ‘print’ is used in the entire Henriad, printing metaphors can be found in several of Shakespeare’s other plays. See Thompson A. – Thompson J., “Meaning, ‘Seeing,’ Printing”, in Brooks D. (ed.),Printing and Parenting in Early Modern England (Burlington: 2005).