{"id":299,"date":"2024-04-14T06:20:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=299"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:47:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:47:35","slug":"henry-viii-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/henry-viii-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry VIII"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions on
Shakespeare’s History Plays<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare, William. The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth.<\/em> (The Norton Shakespeare: Histories,<\/em> 3rd ed. 883-954.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s initial emphasis, which is tragic in its de casibus<\/em> 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,<\/em> \u201cregarding the fates\/falls of illustrious men,\u201d and is associated with a text by the medieval Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cField of the Cloth of Gold\u201d 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. In Act 1, Scene 2, characterize the relationship between King Henry and Cardinal Wolsey. What is Henry\u2019s present \u201ctax policy\u201d difficulty with the Cardinal, and what role do Queen Catharine and the Duke of Norfolk play in turning the King against Wolsey\u2019s policy\u2014what arguments does each member of the dispute offer, and what characteristically firm decision on the matter does King Henry ultimately reach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. In Act 1, Scene 2, Cardinal Wolsey brings in the Duke of Buckingham\u2019s 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\u2019s decision-making process and judgment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. In Act 1, Scene 3, what do Sandys, the Lord Chamberlain, and Lovell say about many English courtiers\u2019 adoption of French courtly style and manners? To what extent do the Lord Chamberlain and his conversation partners represent a somewhat old-guard, \u201cconservative\u201d 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. In Act 1, Scene 4, we move to the Cardinal\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s tenure as king, when he was 31 years old.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

8. In Act 2, Scene 1, how do the First and Second Gentlemen analyze Cardinal Wolsey\u2019s involvement in the Duke of Buckingham\u2019s fall? How does Buckingham conduct himself as he comes away from his trial? To what extent does he identify with his father, the 2nd<\/sup> 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s downfall, in what way do they apparently believe Cardinal Wolsey is implicated in the potentially imminent separation of the royal couple?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. In Act 2, Scene 3, what is the subject of Anne Boleyn\u2019s conversation with an older female companion (called \u201cOld Lady\u201d)? What picture of Anne\u2019s 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\u2019s viewpoint and advice to Anne?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. In Act 2, Scene 4, Queen Catharine defends herself against King Henry\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cscruples\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

13. In Act 3, Scene 1, Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius come to Queen Catharine\u2019s 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\u2019s pressure towards the end of the scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. In Act 3, Scene 2, Wolsey\u2019s enemies again share their information and grievances against him among themselves. What, then, is the latest intelligence that they have about Wolsey\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. In Act 3, Scene 2, describe the representation of Cardinal Wolsey\u2019s downfall as it happens \u201cin real time.\u201d What musings about the King\u2019s 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\u2019s devastating gesture, and demand the surrender of the great seal of his office?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. In Act 3, Scene 2, describe King Henry\u2019s 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\u2019t he just accuse the Cardinal directly at the outset of the encounter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

18. In Act 4, Scene 1, how do Shakespeare and Fletcher represent Anne Boleyn\u2019s 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\u2019s audiences since just three years later, Anne Boleyn would go to the executioner\u2019s block on King Henry\u2019s orders? How might this melancholy fact affect our sensibilities about the overall mood of this history play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. In Act 4, Scene 1, consider the conversations\u2014some informational, some political, some sexually charged or suggestive\u2014 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 \u201cfertility-rites\u201d dimension to the coronation scene? Finally, what political and personality-based observations do the three gentlemen share?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s coronation as described in the previous scene. In what spirit does Catharine receive the news from Griffith of the former Cardinal Wolsey\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21. In Act 4, Scene 2, as mentioned above, we witness the last hours of Henry VIII\u2019s former queen, Catharine of Aragon. Consider the present scene, with its rendering of a heavenly vision supposedly enjoyed by Catharine and its \u201ctelescoping\u201d or compression of events, following as it does Act 4, Scene 1, which presented the joyous occasion of Anne Boleyn\u2019s coronation. How might Shakespeare and Fletcher\u2019s handling of the present scene impact an audience\u2019s sensibilities, especially regarding Act 4.1? Would it temper the joy that the first scene indulged? Why or why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s faction. Where does Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester as of November 1531, stand with regard to the Queen and Cranmer? What is King Henry\u2019s plan to shepherd Cranmer through the difficulties thrown in his way by enemies of Protestant-tending reform? (The \u201cdifficulties\u201d here would seem to be the events of the 1543 Prebendaries\u2019 Plot to oust Cranmer from his position.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23. In Act 5, Scene 1, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester\u2019s 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\u2019 Plot against Archbishop Cranmer, and nine years before Elizabeth\u2019s birth. Why might Shakespeare have resorted to such an anachronism when he could have chosen another name to represent Gardiner\u2019s confidant? (Research the name \u201cThomas Lovell\u201d online to learn what you can about this historical figure and others connected to him.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cstaging\u201d of events in this scene. How does the scene highlight King Henry\u2019s skills as an actor and playwright-figure in what we might call \u201cthe theater of power\u201d? Finally, what is the outcome of this meeting\u2014what happens to Cranmer\u2019s enemies, and to Cranmer himself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s coronation, what kind of symbolic charge or message comes to us through the description of the christening?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. In Act 5, Scene 4, what are the essentials of Archbishop Cranmer\u2019s prophecy concerning the royal infant Elizabeth, daughter of Queen Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII? In your response, consider what Cranmer implies about Elizabeth\u2019s significance both for England\u2019s 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\u2019s Catholic daughter, Queen Mary, how might the audience\u2019s knowledge of that fact color their perspective on Cranmer\u2019s prophecy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s view, are the women in the audience the true judges of a play\u2019s quality, and why should they be considered the arbiters of good taste?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em> mostly follows the pattern of Shakespeare\u2019s late romance plays such as The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em> and The Tempest.<\/em> What evidence supports that claim, especially with regard to the final act\u2019s 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 <\/em>do these observations seem most relevant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0The Norton Shakespeare: Histories + Digital Edition.<\/em>\u00a03rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93859-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document Timestamp: 12\/15\/2025 1:46 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare, William. The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth. (The Norton Shakespeare: Histories, 3rd ed. 883-954.) 1. 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