Questions on
Shakespeare’s History Plays
Shakespeare, William. The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth. (The Norton Shakespeare: Histories, 3rd ed. 883-954.)
ACT 1
1. In the Prologue, what expectations does the speaker try to establish in the audience? In what mood or spirit should they attend to the play, and why? Optional: once you have read/seen the play, come back to this question and reflect on whether the play’s initial emphasis, which is tragic in its de casibus emphasis on the fall of great lords and ladies from power, holds constant, or whether it changes. Explain. (*The full term is de casibus virorum illustrium, “regarding the fates/falls of illustrious men,” and is associated with a text by the medieval Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio.)
2. In Act 1, Scene 1, we first hear the Duke of Buckingham, the Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Abergavenny discussing the ornate displays of the French and English delegations at the 1520 “Field of the Cloth of Gold” summit. Then talk turns to the designer of the English participation, Cardinal Wolsey. What faults does each of the three lords, in turn, attribute to Wolsey? Why do they perceive him as a threat to their own aristocratic standing? What caution does Norfolk advise Buckingham to observe in dealing with Wolsey, and why does he offer that advice at the present moment?
3. In Act 1, Scene 2, characterize the relationship between King Henry and Cardinal Wolsey. What is Henry’s present “tax policy” difficulty with the Cardinal, and what role do Queen Catharine and the Duke of Norfolk play in turning the King against Wolsey’s policy—what arguments does each member of the dispute offer, and what characteristically firm decision on the matter does King Henry ultimately reach?
4. In Act 1, Scene 2, Cardinal Wolsey brings in the Duke of Buckingham’s former surveyor to testify about the statements his onetime employer supposedly made against the King. What specific remarks, gestures, and actions does the Surveyor indicate as constituting a threat by Buckingham against Henry? How does the King receive these claims? What does he decide to do about them? On the whole, up to this point in the play, what assessment can be ventured regarding King Henry’s decision-making process and judgment?
5. In Act 1, Scene 3, what do Sandys, the Lord Chamberlain, and Lovell say about many English courtiers’ adoption of French courtly style and manners? To what extent do the Lord Chamberlain and his conversation partners represent a somewhat old-guard, “conservative” viewpoint about courtly decorum? What do these men suggest about the supposed generosity of Cardinal Wolsey, who is giving a sumptuous dinner that very evening?
6. In Act 1, Scene 4, we move to the Cardinal’s quarters at York Place. Describe the courtly masque that takes place. When Wolsey correctly identifies King Henry among the masquers, what merry but also fraught observation does the King offer? What symbolic significance underlies this scene with respect to relations between the Cardinal and the King?
7. In Act 1, Scene 4, as Anne Boleyn speaks with Sandys and later when King Henry catches sight of her, what impression does she make, first on you as a reader or audience member, and afterwards on the King? On the whole, what is the King’s mood throughout Scene 4, at this relatively early period of his reign? (The masque as depicted probably took place in 1522, about nine years into Henry’s tenure as king, when he was 31 years old.)
ACT 2
8. In Act 2, Scene 1, how do the First and Second Gentlemen analyze Cardinal Wolsey’s involvement in the Duke of Buckingham’s fall? How does Buckingham conduct himself as he comes away from his trial? To what extent does he identify with his father, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, a onetime supporter of King Richard III who was executed for his rebellion against that king in 1483? Does Buckingham admit guilt, or pursue some other line? What lesson based on personal experience does he offer to the crowd?
9. In Act 2, Scene 1, how do the First and Second Gentlemen, after their observations about Buckingham, parse the difficulties between King Henry and Queen Catharine? As with Buckingham’s downfall, in what way do they apparently believe Cardinal Wolsey is implicated in the potentially imminent separation of the royal couple?
10. In Act 2, Scene 2, the Lord Chamberlain, Norfolk and Suffolk have much to criticize about Cardinal Wolsey. What complaints do they make about him among themselves? What are Henry and Wolsey up to regarding Catharine, and beyond that matter, what additional clues does Wolsey provide us regarding his assumptions and skills as a political operator? Finally, how does Henry deliver a psychic injury to the lords by his treatment of them as opposed to the way he treats Wolsey and Campeius?
11. In Act 2, Scene 3, what is the subject of Anne Boleyn’s conversation with an older female companion (called “Old Lady”)? What picture of Anne’s character emerges during this scene? Is she virtuous, or ambitious, or somehow both in a synergistic way? Explain your rationale based on textual cues. In addition, what main advice does the Old Lady offer? We know that the scene is no doubt in part intended as comedy, but what are the more serious implications of the Old Lady’s viewpoint and advice to Anne?
12. In Act 2, Scene 4, Queen Catharine defends herself against King Henry’s divorce proceedings. What is her main argument against this husband who is intent upon abandoning her? How skillful a rhetorician is she in comparison with Cardinal Wolsey? What role does Henry play during these proceedings? What does he really seem to think of his wife, and how does he explain his rationale for divorcing her? On the whole, do you see Henry’s “scruples” about his marriage as sincere, or is he engaged in little more than a carefully orchestrated campaign to shove Catharine out of the way? Explain.
ACT 3
13. In Act 3, Scene 1, Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius come to Queen Catharine’s apartments at court, supposedly to advise her. What is their real aim, and how does she receive them? What counter-arguments do they make against her protests, and in what ways does she expose the dishonesty of her adversaries? Still, why does Catharine more or less give in to Wolsey and Campeius’s pressure towards the end of the scene?
14. In Act 3, Scene 2, Wolsey’s enemies again share their information and grievances against him among themselves. What, then, is the latest intelligence that they have about Wolsey’s intentions and strategic position at court? After they observe him talking with Cromwell and then alone, what report do they offer King Henry about the troubled Cardinal? What does the King tell them, in turn, regarding what he has just learned about Wolsey?
15. In Act 3, Scene 2, describe the representation of Cardinal Wolsey’s downfall as it happens “in real time.” What musings about the King’s affection for Anne Boleyn and his faith in Thomas Cranmer does Wolsey engage in as his enemies watch from a distance? How does Wolsey try to protect his relationship with the King as the latter corners and undoes him? What posture does Wolsey adopt when his other enemies confront him in the wake of the King’s devastating gesture, and demand the surrender of the great seal of his office?
16. In Act 3, Scene 2, describe King Henry’s stage-managing and rhetorical method of interrogating and exposing Cardinal Wolsey: how does the King approach this conversation, and why does he draw things out in this manner? Why doesn’t he just accuse the Cardinal directly at the outset of the encounter?
17. In Act 3, Scene 2, once Cardinal Wolsey is certain of his downfall, how does he describe what it means for him? Concentrating on his fine soliloquy from 3.2.350-72, explore Wolsey’s turn to poetical imagery, emotion, and theology to frame his precipitous fall from grace: what does he think he understands now that he either didn’t know before, or repressed if he did know it? What does he reproach in his own attitude and conduct during his time of power? What understanding and advice does he pass along to his ally Thomas Cromwell?
ACT 4
18. In Act 4, Scene 1, how do Shakespeare and Fletcher represent Anne Boleyn’s June 1533 coronation as Queen of England? What basic steps are involved in the procession? Also, as the Third Gentleman describes it, what steps and persons are involved in the coronation itself? Might the staging of this then-joyous event be taken as somewhat ironic for Shakespeare and Fletcher’s audiences since just three years later, Anne Boleyn would go to the executioner’s block on King Henry’s orders? How might this melancholy fact affect our sensibilities about the overall mood of this history play?
19. In Act 4, Scene 1, consider the conversations—some informational, some political, some sexually charged or suggestive— that take place among several gentlemen during the procession. What does the First Gentleman inform us about concerning the current circumstances and condition of the former queen, Catherine of Aragon? As for the Third Gentleman, how do his comments add a suggestive or “fertility-rites” dimension to the coronation scene? Finally, what political and personality-based observations do the three gentlemen share?
20. In Act 4, Scene 2, the former Queen Catharine lies gravely ill at Kimbolton Castle. Historically, she died from cancer on January 7, 1536, about two-and-a-half years after Anne Boleyn’s coronation as described in the previous scene. In what spirit does Catharine receive the news from Griffith of the former Cardinal Wolsey’s passing? How does she face her own death? What last requests does she make of King Henry and others? What are her final thoughts about the husband who left her behind for Anne Boleyn?
21. In Act 4, Scene 2, as mentioned above, we witness the last hours of Henry VIII’s former queen, Catharine of Aragon. Consider the present scene, with its rendering of a heavenly vision supposedly enjoyed by Catharine and its “telescoping” or compression of events, following as it does Act 4, Scene 1, which presented the joyous occasion of Anne Boleyn’s coronation. How might Shakespeare and Fletcher’s handling of the present scene impact an audience’s sensibilities, especially regarding Act 4.1? Would it temper the joy that the first scene indulged? Why or why not?
ACT 5
22. In Act 5, Scene 1, the discussion revolves around Archbishop Cranmer, who assumed that title in 1533, with the support of Queen Anne Boleyn’s faction. Where does Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester as of November 1531, stand with regard to the Queen and Cranmer? What is King Henry’s plan to shepherd Cranmer through the difficulties thrown in his way by enemies of Protestant-tending reform? (The “difficulties” here would seem to be the events of the 1543 Prebendaries’ Plot to oust Cranmer from his position.)
23. In Act 5, Scene 1, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester’s interlocutor is one Sir Thomas Lovell. In what spirit does Lovell receive the opinions confided to him by the Bishop? Consider that historically, Lovell died in 1524, nearly two decades before the events of the 1543 Prebendaries’ Plot against Archbishop Cranmer, and nine years before Elizabeth’s birth. Why might Shakespeare have resorted to such an anachronism when he could have chosen another name to represent Gardiner’s confidant? (Research the name “Thomas Lovell” online to learn what you can about this historical figure and others connected to him.)
24. In Act 5, Scene 2, Archbishop Cranmer finds himself waiting like a common man just to be let in to the gathering where he will be accused by a council of great lords. Consider the importance of decorum, rank, and ceremony in Shakespeare generally, and of the “staging” of events in this scene. How does the scene highlight King Henry’s skills as an actor and playwright-figure in what we might call “the theater of power”? Finally, what is the outcome of this meeting—what happens to Cranmer’s enemies, and to Cranmer himself?
25. In Act 5, Scene 3, the future Queen Elizabeth I is about to be christened in Greenwich at the Church of the Observant Friars; the date is September 10, 1533. How do the Porter and the Lord Chamberlain describe the commonfolk who are jostling for position in the palace yard to see the great event or the procession surrounding it? What is the dramatic function of this portrayal of events just before the christening? As with the earlier description of Anne Boleyn’s coronation, what kind of symbolic charge or message comes to us through the description of the christening?
26. In Act 5, Scene 4, what are the essentials of Archbishop Cranmer’s prophecy concerning the royal infant Elizabeth, daughter of Queen Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII? In your response, consider what Cranmer implies about Elizabeth’s significance both for England’s theological landscape and its political disposition. Since Thomas Cranmer became a Protestant martyr when he was condemned and burnt at the stake in March 1556 during the reign of Henry’s Catholic daughter, Queen Mary, how might the audience’s knowledge of that fact color their perspective on Cranmer’s prophecy?
27. In the epilogue, the speaker returns to the composition and disposition of the audience. What kind of appeal is made to the female theatergoers? Why, in the epilogue-speaker’s view, are the women in the audience the true judges of a play’s quality, and why should they be considered the arbiters of good taste?
28. General question, especially relevant to Act 5, Scene 4. It has sometimes been said by critics that the history play Henry VIII, or, All Is True mostly follows the pattern of Shakespeare’s late romance plays such as The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest. What evidence supports that claim, especially with regard to the final act’s way of rounding off events? In responding, consider that in a romance play, there is a sense of lasting loss as well as gain; error is not consequence-free, and death and sorrow are not simply annulled. At what points of Henry VIII do these observations seem most relevant?
Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Histories + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93859-3.
Copyright © 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake
Document Timestamp: 12/15/2025 1:46 PM