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Summary
One gentleman meets another in the city street, where they wait to see the newly crowned Anne pass on the way from her coronation. The last time they met in the street was for the sad event of Buckingham’s trial, so they are glad for a return to the more usual pomp of the royalty. They discuss a list of those who are to be promoted today, including Suffolk and Norfolk, and they note that Katherine now carries the title of princess dowager. The coronation procession passes with Suffolk, Norfolk, Anne, Surrey, and other important state officials. The gentlemen comment on who holds which decoration of state and how impressed they are with Anne.
A third gentleman arrives, having just seen the coronation ceremony. He relates it to the other two. He tells how everyone filed into Westminster Abbey and how the people were so impressed with Anne’s beauty. Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, performed the ceremony making her queen, the choir sang, and the procession passed out of the church to the court for celebrations. The third gentlemen notes that Gardiner was there and that he is not fond of Cranmer. But the gentlemen agree that nothing can come of this rivalry, as Cranmer has one friend who will not abandon him—namely Cromwell, who is in favor with the king and just got a promotion. The gentlemen depart.
Meanwhile, in her apartments, Katherine asks her attendants to tell her about the death of Cardinal Wolsey. Apparently, after his arrest Wolsey grew ill and died a broken man. Katherine says she will speak of him with charity, but she goes on to mention how his enormous ambition endangered the kingdom: he used bribes for ecclesiastical favors, acted duplicitously, and was generally a bad example for the clergy. But her attendant Griffith speaks well of the late cardinal, noting that he was a good scholar, kind and generous to his friends, and a patron of education. His downfall caused him to discover humility, and he died fearing God. Katherine listens to Griffith’s speech and says she hopes Griffith will eulogize her when she dies, since he speaks so well. She wishes Wolsey peace in death.
Katherine then goes to sleep with her attendants nearby. She sees a vision of six people in white robes with garlands around their heads. They dance around Katherine, offer her a garland, then dance away. Katherine wakes and calls to her attendants, asking if they have seen anything. She tells them about the vision, saying it promised her eternal happiness. The attendants note to each other that they think she has not yet long to live if she is seeing such visions.
A messenger enters, announcing the arrival of Capuchius, an ambassador from Katherine’s father, King Charles V of Spain. Capuchius says he has been sent by Henry to ask after her health, but Katherine says he is too late, since she is already dying. She gives Capuchius a letter for the king, in which she asks Henry to care for their daughter and to provide for her servants, who have all been faithful during Katherine’s life. Katherine asks Capuchius to tell the king of her in all humility, saying that she will soon die and no longer trouble him. Calling to her servants, she prepares for bed.
Analysis
Much of act 4 involves the recounting of major events that have occurred offstage, which is a common plot mechanism in many of Shakespeare’s plays. The first major event to be relayed is that of Anne’s coronation, which has just taken place when scene 1 begins. The act’s opening scene offers a reprise of act 2, scene 1, where two unnamed gentlemen encountered each other in the street and witnessed Buckingham’s final speech before his execution. Act 4, scene 1, features these same two gentleman, and they are pleased to encounter each other again under more celebratory circumstances. Witnessing the pomp and circumstance of the procession, they welcome their young and beautiful new queen, whose coronation in Westminster Abbey they hear about in detail from a third gentleman. Continuing in this vein of reportage, scene 2 opens with Katherine hearing the story of Wolsey’s death secondhand from one of her attendants. This story of the cardinal’s downfall provides a somber contrast to the excitement of Anne’s ascent. But just as many characters in the play agree that Anne’s rise is righteous, so too do they agree that Wolsey’s demise is appropriate.
Yet it’s interesting to note how the playwright seems to make a point of recuperating something of Wolsey’s honor. Not only did Shakespeare provide Wolsey a lot of stage time in act 3 to repent for his numerous sins, but now he devotes a substantial portion of Katherine’s final scene to emphasize that Wolsey, though flawed, was also a man with honorable traits. Griffith’s speech on Wolsey’s nobility frames the cardinal’s death as a tragic one, thereby granting it a similar level of gravitas as Katherine’s imminent death, which she prepares for in this same scene. As she nears the end of her life, Katherine is keen to highlight her unswerving honesty and loyalty. Just as Wolsey died a humble man, Katherine has quelled her anger and now goes to her death with humility and peace, sending one last message to her former husband, implicitly forgiving him while pledging to trouble him no further. Katherine’s impending death has a tragic pathos that also mirrors Wolsey’s. However, her final dream vision, with its triumphal symbolism, has a commemorative quality that marks her death as more honorable than the cardinal’s.
