The game's afoot

The game's afoot is Henry V's crisp declaration that the moment for action has arrived. Set within an exhortation to his soldiers, it converts the anticipation of a charge into a present command and gives the speech its decisive pivot from readiness to movement.

Meaning and Dramatic Placement

Henry first insists that none of the soldiers is so low or base as to lack noble lustre in his eyes. He then pictures them as greyhounds straining in the slips, poised to be released, before declaring that the game is afoot. The phrase makes the impending action sound already underway: the dogs are at the limit of restraint, and the charge is the release they await.

Rhetorical Function

The declaration is immediately followed by an instruction to follow their spirit and by the command to cry, "God for Harry, England, and Saint George!" The sequence moves from the soldiers' potential, to their collective resolve, to a shared battle cry. Its brevity gives the longer encouragement a sharp turning point, while the greyhound image makes readiness physical and urgent rather than abstract.

Action and Significance

The stage direction has the company exit, followed by an alarm and the firing of chambers. Thus the words are not merely a comment on action: they usher the scene into its next dramatic phase. The phrase's force comes from that alignment of speech and theatrical movement, as a declaration of immediacy becomes the cue for the soldiers to depart.