payment page
King Henry VIII is the play’s title character and the sovereign ruler of England. The early acts of the play depict the king as a somewhat passive figure who isn’t fully in control of his kingdom. If he lacks control, it’s because he’s under the powerful influence of the scheming Cardinal Wolsey, who has taken it upon himself to act in the king’s name without the king’s knowledge. Thus, for example, Wolsey levies a stiff new tax, which riles the commoners against Henry, who must then save face by walking the taxes back. Wolsey also accuses Buckingham of treason and calls a key witness who very likely gives false testimony, and the king is easily and uncritically convinced of the duke’s guilt. More importantly for the story told in the play, Henry allows Wolsey’s counsel to convince him that his marriage to Queen Katherine is illegitimate and that he should divorce her. Of course, Henry is also motivated to divorce Katherine because of his attraction to the young and beautiful Anne Bullen, not to mention his desire for a male heir. Even so, he regrets the harm he’s doing to Katherine and, withdrawing from the proceedings, lets Wolsey and the visiting Cardinal Campeius take care of the divorce for him.
Whereas the early acts depict Henry as a passive figure, in the later acts he takes on a more active role. The change takes place in the middle of act 3, when the king intercepts two items that incriminate Wolsey. The first is an inventory of the possessions Wolsey has seized from members of the nobility. The second is a letter Wolsey has written to the pope urging him to reject Henry’s request for a divorce until the king is no longer infatuated with Anne. At this point, Henry finally breaks the spell Wolsey has had over him, strips the cardinal of his title, and takes charge of his property. From this point on, Henry resumes the role of the kingdom’s sole sovereign and proceeds with his political duties. The first order of business is to produce an heir, so he swiftly marries Anne, hosts her coronation, and gets her pregnant. Henry also intervenes directly in a scheme against his friend Cranmer, the recently installed archbishop of Canterbury, symbolically correcting his previous passivity during Buckingham’s trial. In the end, Henry seems to get everything he wants. He stabilizes the court, and he produces a child who, though still not a male heir, is nonetheless destined for greatness.
