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Henry VIII in History and Fiction, from Shakespeare to Mantel

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Università degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Letterari Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Lingue e Letterature Europee e Americane Classe LM-37 Tesi di Laurea Henry VIII in history and fiction, from Shakespeare to Mantel Relatore Laureanda Prof. Rocco Coronato Marta Poloni n° matr.1084762 / LMLLA Anno Accademico 2015 / 2016 CONTENTS List of abbreviations 5 Introduction 7 1. Henry VIII 9 1.1 His life and reign 9 1.1.1 A short biography 9 1.1.2 The king’s involvement with the government 13 1.1.3 Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell 15 1.1.4 Wales, Ireland and Scotland 17 1.1.5 The king’s divorce 18 1.1.6 Henry’s wives 21 1.1.7 The Henrician Reform 29 1.2 The King seen by his contemporaries 31 1.2.1 His character and abilities 31 1.2.2 Holinshed’s Chronicles 33 1.2.3 Acts and Monuments of Martyrs 39 1.3 Rowley’s When You See Me, You Know Me 41 2. Shakespeare’s Henry VIII 49 2.1 The play 49 2.1.1 The question of authorship 49 2.1.2 The plot 57 2.1.3 The sources 62 2.1.4 Interpretations 63 2.2 King Henry’s figure in the play 68 2.2.1 The king’s grace 68 2.2.2 The passive aspect of the king: Wolsey and Buckingham 69 1 2.2.3 The active aspect of the king: his relationship with Cranmer 75 2.2.4 The king’s relationship with Catherine 78 2.2.5 The king’s relationship with Anne 82 2.2.6 The king’s relationship with Elizabeth 84 2.2.7 The king’s anger and changes of mood 85 2.2.8 An overall picture of the king 86 3. Contemporary representations of Henry VIII: Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies 89 3.1 Contemporary representations 89 3.1.1 Novels 89 3.1.2 Films 91 3.1.3 Television Series 92 3.2 The Historical Novel and Postmodernism 93 3.2.1 The Historical Novel 93 3.2.2 Postmodernism 95 3.3 Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies 97 3.3.1 The author 98 3.3.2 Conceiving the novel 98 3.3.3 The plot 101 3.3.4 The novels 103 3.3.5 Relationship with the sources 110 3.3.6 King Henry in Wolf Hall 111 3.3.6.1 The king’s physical appearance 112 3.3.6.2 The notion of majesty 113 3.3.6.3 The king’s anger and sudden changes of mood 115 3.3.6.4 The king’s character 116 3.3.6.5 Visions and dreams 117 3.3.6.6 The relationship with Wolsey and Cromwell 118 3.3.7 The king’s figure in Bring Up the Bodies 119 3.3.7.1 The king’s physical appearance 119 2 3.3.7.2 Majesty and the king’s business 119 3.3.7.3 The king’s character 120 3.3.7.4 The king’s relationship with Catherine 121 3.3.7.5 The king’s relationship with Anne and Elizabeth 121 3.3.7.6 The king’s relationship with Jane 123 3.3.7.7 The king’s torments 123 3.3.7.8 The king’s anger and changes of mood 124 3.3.8 Mantel’s King Henry and past representations 125 3.4 The key of the success of Henry VIII 127 Conclusion 137 Bibliography 139 Riassunto italiano 149 3 4 List of abbreviations BUTB: Mantel, Hilary, Bring Up the Bodies, London: Fourth Estate, Harper Collins, 2013. H8: Shakespeare, William; Fletcher, John, King Henry VIII (All is True), edited by Gordon McMullan, London: Arden Shakespeare, 2006. WH: Mantel, Hilary, Wolf Hall, London: Fourth Estate, Harper Collins, 2010. 5 6 Introduction This dissertation presents Henry VIII as a literary character, starting out with the depiction of the historical figure, to then arrive to Shakespeare and Fletcher’s play Henry VIII (All is True) and finally to Hilary Mantel’s novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies . The aim is to show how various authors have depicted King Henry, and to give some reasons why he is still a very popular character in contemporary fiction. In fact, this monarch has always been very successful throughout the centuries as a literary figure, and also in representations in films and television series in recent years. Since it is necessary to know the historical figure before getting to the representations of this figure in fiction, the first part of the first chapter focuses on Henry VIII’s life and politics; therefore it includes his involvement in the government, his relationship with key political figures such as Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell, the life of his six wives, the matter of his divorce and his Reform. The second part of the first chapter shows how King Henry was seen by his contemporaries, who described his character and his abilities. This representation shows a difference between the first and second part of his reign. Then, the chapter focuses on what Holinshed wrote about him in his Chronicles , and Foxe in his Actes and Monuments of Martyrs , bearing in mind that both these sources were anti- catholic and generally favourable to the king. Finally, the chapter illustrates the content of Samuel Rowley’s play When You See Me, You Know Me , and the figure of the king in that particular context. The second chapter starts with a description of the play King Henry VIII (All is True) and discusses the question of its authorship: the play is in fact considered the result of a collaboration between Shakespeare and John Fletcher, and many scholars have discussed the attribution of its acts and scenes. After a summary of the plot, the chapter proposes a series of sources the authors could have used to write the play, underlining the similarities between this work and some of the passages, for example, in Foxe and Holinshed. A series of interpretations of this play follows, to then get to the figure of King Henry in the play. His passivity as a character and as a monarch is discussed in relation to characters like Cardinal Wolsey and the Duke of 7 Buckingham, while his more active role in the second part of the play is linked to his relationship to Archbishop Cranmer. The monarch’s relationships with his wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, and the one with his daughter Elizabeth are also taken into account. Finally, the chapter proposes an overall picture of the king in the play, considering his flaws and his qualities. The third chapter starts out listing various contemporary representations of King Henry, in novels, films and television shows. Then, it introduces the historical novel, and gives an idea of what postmodernist fiction is and how it is related to the narration of history. Before getting to Hilary Mantel’s novels, it describes the author’s life, and the way the author conceived the novel, starting from the decision of whose point of view she wanted to adopt. A brief summary of the plot of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies is followed by an explanation of how the novels are structured, who the narrator is and what this entails, which types of language can be found in these works, and how these novels are different from postmodernist works. There is an explanation of which events presented in the sources discussed in chapter one and two of this work can be found in these novels as well. Then, the chapter arrives to the analysis of the complex character of King Henry in Wolf Hall , focusing on elements like his idea of majesty, his anger, his characters, his relationship with other characters, his torments, but also his physical aspect. The same procedure is used to talk about the king’s figure in Bring Up the Bodies , where the relationships he has with other characters include Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth, and Jane Seymour. The chapter also presents a comparison between Mantel’s Henry VIII and the previous representations of the king that have been illustrated in this work. The last part of the third chapter tries to explain why Henry VIII is a character that still attracts the public, and why authors are still inspired to write about him nowadays, even though there will probably never be a definitive answer to his endless fascination. 8 1. Henry VIII When one thinks about Henry VIII, the first things that come to mind are his many wives (and the fact that he might have killed some of them, if not, according to some, even all of them), the separation of England from the Roman Church, and the portrait of a fat man that is often showed in history books. As Suzannah Lipscomb wrote in her article “Who is Henry VIII?” 1 , most of what people think about this king is made up of stereotypes, fuelled –she thinks- by film and television series portrayals of the king. In order to give a faithful portrayal of Henry VIII, she focuses on the differences between the first part and the second part of his reign. This chapter aims at showing who Henry was and what was said or written about him by his contemporaries. 1.1 His life and reign 1.1.1 A short biography Henry VIII was born on the 28 th June 1491, in Greenwich, near London.
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