Harriman-Smith, James. ‘Imitate the Action of the Tiger: Charles Gildon, Aaron Hill, and Shakespare’s King Henry V’. European Drama and Performance Studies, vol. 2, no. 17, 2021, pp. 49–70.

Charles Gildon (1665-1724) and Aaron Hill (1685-1750) use lines from Shakespeare’s Henry V to explain how an actor is to produce a passion. Gildon treats the ‘tiger’ speech as an inspirational image, while Hill reads it as a vindication of his own Cartesian acting methodology. In so doing, these writers show, first, the importance of Henry V (and not just Hamlet) as a source of advice to the players; and, second, this play’s role in an international debate on the passions.