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King Henry: A Good King William Shakespeare’s Henry V is the culmination of the history plays up to that point showing the movement from a weak king, Richard II, to a strong king, Henry V. In the novel, Henry is shown as a strong, young and likeable king. During the time that is shown through the novel, Henry grows and understands more of what a king should do. When his father Henry IV dies, he is plunged into kinghood. The conflict in the novel is the war between England and France. King Henry believes that his has the right to the French throne and goes to France to take it back. In the beginning of the novel, a French ambassador comes to tell Henry the response to his claim of “some certain dukedoms, in the right of [his] great predecessor, King Edward the Third” (Act I, i, 247-248). The ambassador tells him the Dauphin says that Henry has “savor[ed] too much of his youth” and there is nothing in France that he can claim and then gives him tennis balls. The gift of tennis balls put more insults him even more and causes King Henry to get angry, metaphorically comparing war on France to a game of tennis in which the English are victorious (Act I, i, 260-297). King Henry is not a king who still “savors…his youth