Henry V contains several scenes that force readers to think about the ethics of war. Henry hangs his former friend Bardolph for stealing from a church, threatens the people of Harfleur, and orders the killing of French prisoners after the French attack the boys guarding the baggage. Students who write about these moments are working on questions of responsibility, justice, and leadership. Grading their essays requires attention to how they build moral arguments from textual evidence.

The first thing to check is whether the student separates moral judgment from textual analysis. It is easy to write "Henry is wrong to kill the prisoners" as if that were self-evident. A better essay explains what the text says about the order, including the timing relative to the French attack on the camp, the reactions of other characters such as Fluellen and Gower, and the way the play frames Henry's anger. Judgment should come after the evidence, not instead of it.

You should also watch for anachronism. Modern standards of warfare and international law are not the ones Shakespeare's characters use, and students who impose today's rules without acknowledging the difference risk misreading the play. That does not mean students cannot make modern comparisons, but they should acknowledge the gap. Feedback can ask them to consider how an Elizabethan audience might have interpreted the same events.

Assess the Quality of the Reasoning

Moral essays are strongest when the reasoning is transparent. A student might argue that Henry's discipline in executing Bardolph shows commitment to order, while a competing view holds that it reveals a willingness to sacrifice friendship for image. Each position needs a clear chain of logic linking evidence to conclusion. In your rubric, give the most credit to essays that make that chain visible and test it against a counterexample.

• Separates description of events from moral judgment of them
• Uses evidence from multiple scenes, including the reactions of other characters
• Acknowledges that Elizabethan and modern standards differ
• Considers how the play frames each event, not only what happens
• Addresses at least one competing interpretation with respect

Protect Students Who Disagree With You

Ethics prompts can quietly reward students who share the teacher's values. To avoid this, grade the argument rather than the position. If a student defends Henry's order as a reasonable response to a violation of the rules of war, and the reasoning is thorough and evidence-based, the essay deserves a high score even if you would have reached a different conclusion. Reading blind to the student's identity can help reduce unconscious bias.

It can also help to write your feedback in the form of questions instead of corrections. Instead of saying "you are wrong to excuse Henry," ask "how would your argument handle the fact that the order is given before the boys' deaths are confirmed?" Questions invite the student to strengthen their reasoning instead of simply switching sides, and they model the kind of intellectual humility you want in class discussion.

Look for Attention to Dramatic Structure

The order to kill the prisoners appears in Act 4, scene 6, and the attack on the baggage camp is reported in the following scene, a sequence that has puzzled editors and directors. Students who notice how the play arranges these events are reading at a high level. They may argue that the sequence complicates the audience's sympathy, or that it shows how information reaches Henry in the chaos of battle.

Not every student will engage with this level of detail, and that is fine. What matters is that they read the passage with attention to how it is constructed and not only what it says. Feedback that praises this kind of observation encourages students to look at structure, timing, and staging as evidence, which are skills that transfer to every play they will study.

Turn Discussion Into Better Writing

Ethical questions generate lively class discussion, and that energy can improve essays when it is channeled well. Consider having students write a short paragraph after a discussion, capturing the strongest argument they heard for the position they disagree with. This builds the counterargument skill many essays lack and gives you a low-stakes writing sample to give feedback on before the full essay is due.

When it is time to grade, look for evidence that the discussion shaped the writing without replacing it. Essays that simply repeat points from class do not demonstrate independent thinking. The best papers take an idea raised in discussion and develop it with new textual evidence, which shows that the student has moved from participation to authorship.