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I have perused her well.
Beauty and honor in her are so mingled
That they have caught the King. And who knows yet
But from this lady may proceed a gem
To lighten all this isle? (2.3.92–96)
While Anne Bullen and an Old Lady are discussing the pros and cons of becoming queen, the Lord Chamberlain interrupts to inform Anne that Henry has bestowed a new title on her. She is to become a marchioness, which further entitles her to a handsome allowance. As he prepares to leave, he speaks these lines to himself. Struck by her “beauty and honor,” he immediately sees why the king would pursue her. Then, in a prophetic flash, Lord Chamberlain foresees that Anne may well produce a “gem” that he thinks will “lighten all this isle.” His words allude to the forthcoming birth of Elizabeth, which will occur in act 5. The action of the play is entirely oriented toward the coming of Elizabeth, whose later reign as the great Virgin Queen will ensure the triumph of England.
No? Saw you not, even now, a blessed troop
Invite me to a banquet, whose bright faces
Cast thousand beams upon me, like the sun?
They promised me eternal happiness
And brought me garlands, Griffith, which I feel
I am not worthy yet to wear. I shall, assuredly. (4.2.96–101)
During her final appearance in the play, Katherine, weakened by illness, takes a nap during which she has an elaborate dream vision that’s acted out in pantomime onstage. The vision involves six masked figures dressed in white who dance around Katherine with garlands of bay, which are traditional symbols of triumph. Upon waking, Katherine addresses the lines quoted here to her two attendants, asking them if they saw what she saw. Katherine understands her dream as a hopeful one in which she has been invited to a heavenly banquet—a sure sign of God’s grace. Though she insists she isn’t yet worthy to wear the garlands they presented to her, she stresses that soon she will be worthy. Thus, Katherine faces her death assured of her eternal triumph.
I fear
All the expected good we’re like to hear
For this play at this time is only in
The merciful construction of good women,
For such a one we showed ’em. If they smile
And say ’twill do, I know within a while
All the best men are ours; for ’tis ill hap
If they hold when their ladies bid ’em clap. (5.Epilogue.7–14)
When the final scene ends and the stage clears, a player comes forward to deliver the epilogue, which is a traditional part of early modern theater in which an actor bids the audience to applaud. The invitation to applaud is typically accompanied by an expression of humility—a rhetorical gesture, often comic in nature, meant to absolve the players and playwright of any possible offense. In this case, the player worries that the audience may have been disappointed not to get bloody or bawdy entertainment. Perhaps the only success of the play, the player continues, was its “merciful construction of good women, / For such a one we showed ‘em.” The reference here is clearly to Katherine, whose fierce intelligence and self-assuredness enabled her to survive her humiliations and face her fate with honor and nobility. At the very least, the women in the audience will clap for Katherine, and in doing so they’ll get the men to applaud as well. In this way, the play ends with a humorous but significant gesture at the triumph of women.
