Is Henry V Shakespeare’s worst play?

No, that unhappy honour goes to The Taming of the Shrew, an anti-comedy that grows more rancid with each passing year. Henry V is far from the Bard’s worst, but it is a second-rate work that is poorly suited to the present day.

Fundamentally, the final play in Shakespeare’s second history cycle is about the glories of militarism. It follows an arrogant and thin-skinned Plantagenet monarch who, smarting from personal insult, launches an invasion of France. The king believes there are ancestral territorial claims that justify his campaign. He is seething with paranoia and surrounded by a nest of viperous advisors. He makes dexterous use of misinformation and propaganda. Sound familiar?