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Summary
Lord Chamberlain enters, reading a letter from one of his employees that tells how Cardinal Wolsey’s men seized several of Lord Chamberlain’s horses, claiming that they must be given to the king. Lord Chamberlain says he thinks Wolsey will end up taking everything from all the nobles.
Norfolk and Suffolk enter, asking after the king. Lord Chamberlain notes that the king is brooding about his marriage to Katherine, perhaps worrying that it was an illegitimate marriage. Suffolk suggests it is more likely that Henry is thinking about another lady. Norfolk says Wolsey planted the idea that the king’s marriage could be annulled. Norfolk is astonished that Wolsey has managed to engineer a break with the king of Spain and convinced Henry to cast off his loyal wife of twenty years. Lord Chamberlain agrees with these words but hopes that one day the king’s eyes may be opened to Wolsey’s mischief.
Lord Chamberlain exits, and Suffolk and Norfolk go to speak to the king. The king is not pleased to see them and brushes them off as soon as Wolsey and Cardinal Campeius enter. The king dismisses Suffolk and Norfolk, who mutter on the way out that they don’t trust Campeius.
Wolsey says that no one could be angry with the king for leaving Katherine because the pope has been asked to arbitrate the king’s decision. The pope’s envoy, Campeius, embraces the king and gives him papers elaborating his judgment of the situation. The king sends for his new secretary, Gardiner, to plan for a reading of the decision. Gardiner was formerly Wolsey’s secretary, which Wolsey reminds him as he enters, and Gardiner whispers back that his first loyalties are still to the cardinal. The king and Gardiner go off to talk, and the two cardinals discuss the downfall of the previous secretary.
The king announces that they will go to Blackfriars to make the announcement about his decision to leave Katherine. He is grieved to leave such a good wife, but he says his conscience demands it, so he must.
Analysis
As act 2 continues, the chatter about Wolsey’s untrustworthiness grows. Norfolk, who had previously urged Buckingham to quiet his anger at Wolsey, now seems convinced that Wolsey is untrustworthy. In discussion with the Lord Chamberlain and Suffolk, the three men vent their displeasure at Wolsey for his boldness and ambition. Not only has he found ways to seize the wealth of the nobles, but he’s also had something to do with Buckingham’s execution. And now he has gone further by convincing the king that his marriage to Katherine may have been unlawful. Wolsey makes this fallacious suggestion out of a desire to get the king to marry the sister of the king of France. Henry, of course, wants to marry Anne Bullen, which thwarts Wolsey’s plan. But regardless, the political stakes of the cardinal’s meddling are high, since rumors of the royal divorce have caused a break with the king of Spain. Clearly, Wolsey has undue influence over the king—a fact made even plainer when he confirms that Gardiner, the king’s new secretary, is really working for him.
Whereas Wolsey seems to have a firm grip on many aspects of courtly and political life, the king is an emotional wreck. We have already seen that Henry is not the most observant of kings, such that Wolsey could institute a new tax in his name without him even knowing. We have also seen that Henry likes to have a good time, as when he and a consort of nobles dressed in costume as French shepherds for Wolsey’s dinner party. Now, he seems to have retreated into his quarters, at once longing for Anne and yet lamenting the loss of Katherine. Torn in this way between two women, Henry appears to us less as a king and more as a love-torn courtier. In his current state of weakness, he relies heavily on Wolsey, which makes him even more vulnerable to the cardinal’s scheming machinations.
