Fluellen: The Pedant with the Biggest Stick

Fluellen speaks in a broad Welsh accent and cannot stop talking about what the ancient Romans did and did not do and the 'disciplines of the wars.' He is pedantic, digressive, and impossible to redirect. He is also one of the few characters in the play who holds Henry to an actual standard of honour.

When Henry orders French prisoners killed during the heat of battle, Fluellen objects. When Gower tells him not to trouble the king, Fluellen goes anyway. His sense of military law is genuine. His courage is not in question, unlike Pistol, who shares several of his scenes and is the walking opposite of everything Fluellen represents.

The Alexander speech in Act 4 Scene 7 is his most celebrated moment: a long, bewildering comparison of Henry to Alexander the Great, via the river Wye, the river Macedon, and the town of Monmouth. It is absurd and oddly moving at the same time. He is ridiculous and honourable in equal measure, which is harder to write than it looks.