It is the night before the battle of Agincourt, in the French camp. The French are eager for the fight to begin. They boast about the prowess of their horses and exchange bawdy jokes about women and mistresses. The Constable mocks the Dauphin's claims of valor behind his back.
A messenger informs them that the English are within fifteen hundred paces of the French camp. The Constable and Orleans long for daylight to come, and the Constable says that if the English had any sense they would run away. Rambures sounds a note of warning when he says that the English breed valiant creatures, such as their mastiffs, but the other two continue to mock the English. Orleans predicts that by ten o'clock they will each have a hundred prisoners.
Analysis
The presentation of the French remains consistent. It is almost as if they are preparing for an easy sporting contest rather than a deadly battle, so light-hearted are they. The arrogance of the Dauphin is in marked contrast to the steady courage of the English King. Even his own comrade the Constable can see through the Dauphin's phony claims of valor.
As in the previous two scenes that show the French (Act 2 scene 4; Act 3 scene 5) there is one character (here it is Rambures) who sounds a slightly ominous note for the French. His remark about the courage of the English-bred mastiffs hints that the battle may not be quite as easy as the other Frenchmen expect, but Orleans and the Constable do not take him seriously.
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