Can Katherine understand Henry in Act 5?

When reading Shakespeare's Henry V, I wondered whether Katherine didn't understand Henry when speaking English or whether she was pretending to not understand him. I think that either way is possible as we only see Katherine in two scenes throughout the play.


In performances, Katherine is portrayed in both ways. She seems to understand Henry, but tries to avoid him. I've included a few videos to portray this. While there is elements that support both arguments, the performance of this scene shows the dexterity of Katherine's character in the play. In both performances, there are moments when Katherine seems to genuinely not understand Henry as when he calls her an angel. However, at other moments in the performances such as when Henry tries to kiss Katherine, she seems able to understand him. This is shown in the second video when she runs across the room to avoid him. In the first video, Katherine reacts similarly to how she reacts in the second video, which shows some consistency of the performance of this scene. This is also implied in the play as Henry says something in English and Katherine responds in French. Lines 232-239 and 248-258 in Act 5, scene 2 display this.

What do you think? Are there other moments during this scene that show whether Katherine can understand Henry or does she not understand his use of English?

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