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taxes, and he raises her to sit
beside him as he rescinds that law.
But when she next appears, Henry
fails to repeat the gesture, leaving
her on her knees before the court of
the divorce hearing. It seems that
Wolsey’s carefully sown doubts
about Henry’s divorce now trouble
the royal conscience.
Wolsey has risen from a humble
butcher’s son to become Lord
Chancellor of England; and his fall
from greatness, when it comes, is
just as far. Proud and arrogant, he is
detested by those who know of his
double-dealing. But as long as he
has the king’s ear, his position is
secure. It is ironically appropriate
that, unwittingly, Wolsey himself
betrays his deception to Henry.
An incriminating letter asking the
pope to delay the divorce as long
as possible, along with an inventory
of his personal wealth, get mixed
up in some state papers sent by the
cardinal to the king. Wolsey’s own
hand undoes him. With Anne rising
in the king’s favor, Wolsey had
feared that her Lutheran faith
would work against his ambition
to become pope. He needed more
time to persuade the king away
from her and toward a possible
French marriage. It is a satisfying
twist that such a concealer of
truths and manipulator of events
should be brought low by this
momentary failure to control either.
Only when his glories are gone
does Wolsey recognize that Henry
has outwitted him: “The King has
gone beyond me” (3.2.409). This is a
turning point in the play, for after
Wolsey’s fall Henry exerts his will
with far greater authority.Variable truths
Henry VIII presents historical truth
as relative, and dependent on more
than a single point of view. This is
evident in the way the audience is
positioned to read the drama’s state
ceremonies. It is made clear that
each one conveys a message thatTHE KING’S MAN
only partly fits the truth. Wolsey’s
Field of the Cloth of Gold (a lavish
peace conference near Calais),
we learn, celebrates a short-lived
treaty. The trial of Katherine can’t
afford her the “right and justice”
(2.4.11) its ceremony promises
because, as is evident from her
position on her knees before the
court, Henry intends a specific
outcome. And her refusal to
continue the charade makes
this plain. Even in the elaborate
closing ceremony celebrating
the christening of Elizabeth, a
noticeable, ominous absence is
that of the new Queen Anne.
Shakespeare and Fletcher
convey these shifting perspectives
by altering historical chronology
to create a moral pattern of rise
and fall, which they set alongside
a secular pattern of political
stratagem masked by theatrical
show. Thus, as the Prologue
admits, their play is as much
a “chosen truth” (Prologue: 18)
as the history it portrays. ■A 2009 production in Ashland,
Oregon stayed true to the
play’s original stage directions,
with elaborate, crowd-pleasing
ceremonies and pageants.Love thyself last. Cherish
those hearts that hate thee.
Corruption wins not more
than honesty.
Wolsey
Act 3, Scene 2