Everything about Henry Viii Play totally explained
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth was written by the
English playwright
William Shakespeare, based on the life of
Henry VIII of England. An alternative title,
All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title
Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication in the
First Folio of
1623. Stylistic evidence indicates that the play was written by Shakespeare in collaboration with, or revised by, his successor,
John Fletcher. It is also somewhat characteristic of the
late romances in its structure.
During a performance of
Henry VIII at the
Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot employed for special effects ignited the theatre's thatched roof, burning the original building to the ground.
Sources
As usual in his history plays, Shakespeare relied primarily on
Raphael Holinshed's
Chronicles for historical background. This reliance was seconded by reference to other works, like
John Foxe's
Acts and Monuments,
John Stow's
Summary of English Chronicles, and
John Speed's
History of Great Britain. The idea of writing a play about Henry VIII (Shakespeare had abandoned the history-play genre more than a decade earlier) may have come from the publication of the
second quarto of
Samuel Rowley's play about Henry VIII,
When You See Me You Know Me, in 1613. (Though conversely, it has been suggested that the reprint of Rowley's play may have been a move to capitalise on the notoriety of the Shakespearean play.)
Shakespeare manipulates historical facts in
Henry VIII even more than usual in his histories, to achieve his dramatic ends and to accommodate official sensitivities over the materials involved. Shakespeare not only telescoped events that occurred over a span of two decades, but jumbled their actual order. The play implies, but doesn't actually say, that the treason charges against the
Duke of Buckingham were false and trumped up; and it maintains a comparable ambiguity about other sensitive issues. The disgrace and beheading of
Anne Boleyn is carefully avoided, and no indication of the succeeding four wives of Henry VIII can be found in the play.
Date and Performances
Most leading 18th and 19th century scholars, including
Samuel Johnson,
Lewis Theobald,
George Steevens,
Edmund Malone and James Halliwell-Philips, dated the play's composition to before 1603, claiming that the pro-Tudor nature of the play makes it highly unlikely it would appear during the reign of King James, whose mother was beheaded by the Tudors. (See:
Chronology of Shakespeare's Plays - Oxfordian.) However, plays offering positive portrayals of major
Tudor figures like Henry VIII (
When You See Me You Know Me, 1605) and Queen
Elizabeth (
If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, also 1605) were in fact performed, published, and re-published throughout the Stuart era.
Henry VIII is one of the twenty or so Shakespearean plays for which an actual performance can be precisely dated. In the case of
Henry VIII, the performance is especially noteworthy because of the fire that destroyed the Globe Theatre during the performance, as described in several contemporary documents. These confirm that the fire took place on June 29, 1613. While some scholars believe the play to have been relatively new at the time of the fire (one contemporary report states that it "had been acted not passing 2 or 3 times before"), the value of this has been questioned, since London diarist
Samuel Pepys also referred to
Henry VIII as "new" in 1663, when the play was at least 50 years old.
Fifteen years to the day after the fire, on June 29, 1628, The King's Men performed the play again at the Globe. The performance was witnessed by George Villiers, the contemporary
Duke of Buckingham, who left halfway through, once the play's Duke of Buckingham was executed. (A month later, Villiers was assassinated.)
One often reported tradition associated with the play involves John Downes, promptor of the Duke of York's Company from 1662 to 1706. In his
Roscius Anglicanus (1708), Downes claims that the role of Henry VIII in this play was originally performed by
John Lowin, who "had his instructions from Mr. Shakespeare himself." However, the personal involvement of "Mr. Shakespeare" hasn't been substantiated by any contemporary source.
During the
Restoration era, Sir
William Davenant staged a production, starring
Thomas Betterton, that was seen by Pepys. Subsequent stagings of the play by
David Garrick,
Charles Kean,
Henry Irving (1888, with
Ellen Terry), and
Herbert Beerbohm Tree grew ever more elaborate in their exploitation of the play's pageantry.
Since the nineteenth century, however, the play has fallen from favour, and productions of it remain extremely rare. The positive critical response to a recent production (1996-1997) by the
Royal Shakespeare Company, however, indicates that the play may be more stageworthy than its current reputation suggests.
Authorship
The play is generally believed to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and John Fletcher, the writer who replaced him as the principal playwright of the
King's Men. There is no contemporary evidence for this; the evidence lies in the style of the verse, which in some scenes appears closer to Fletcher's typical style than Shakespeare's. It is also not known whether Fletcher's involvement can be characterized as
collaboration or
revision.
The possibility of collaboration with Fletcher was first raised by
James Spedding, an expert on
Francis Bacon, in 1850. Spedding and other early commentators relied on a range of distinctive features in Fletcher's style and language preferences, which they saw in the Shakespearean play. For the next century the question of dual authorship was controversial, with more evidence accumulating in favor of the collaborative hypothesis. In 1966, Erdman and Fogel could write that "today a majority of scholars accept the theory of Fletcher's partial authorship, though a sturdy minority deny it."
The most important
stylistic or
stylometric study is that of
Cyrus Hoy, who in
1962 divided the play between Shakespeare and Fletcher based on their distinctive word choices, for example Fletcher's uses of
ye for you and 'em for
them. Hoy's division is generally accepted, although subsequent studies have questioned some of its details.
The most common delineation of the two poets' shares in the play is this:
» Shakespeare — Act I, scenes i and ii; II,iii and iv; III,ii, lines 1-203 (to exit of King); V,i.
Fletcher — Prologue; I,iii; II,i and ii; III,i, and ii, 203-458 (after exit of King); IV,i and ii; V ii–v; Epilogue.
Stage History
Henry VIII is believed to have been first performed as part of the ceremonies celebrating the marriage of
Princess Elizabeth in 1612-1613, although the first recorded performance was on June 29, 1613, when cannon fire called for in Act III, Scene 4 set fire to the thatched roof of the
Globe Theatre and burned it to the ground.
Thomas Betterton played
Henry in
1664, and
Colley Cibber revived it frequently in the 1720s. The play's spectacle made it very popular with audiences of the
nineteenth century, with
Charles Kean staging a particularly elaborate revival in
1815, and
Henry Irving counting
Cardinal Wolsey amongst his greatest characterizations. The play's popularity has waned in the
twentieth century, although
Charles Laughton played
Henry at
Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1933 and
Margaret Webster directed it as the inaugural production of her
American Repertory Company on
Broadway in 1946 with
Walter Hampden as
Wolsey and
Eva Le Gallienne as Katherine.
John Gielgud played
Wolsey and
Edith Evans Katharine at
Stratford in
1959. The longest
Broadway run the play has had is
Herbert Beerbohm Tree's
1916 production in which
Lyn Harding played
Henry and
Tree played
Wolsey, running 63 performances.
Dramatis personae
Porter and his Man; Crier; three Gentlemen; Bishops; Lords and Ladies; Spirits; Scribes, Officers, Guards, Attendants
Synopsis
The play opens with a Prologue, (a figure otherwise unidentified), who stresses that the audience will see a serious play, and appeals to the audience members, "The first and happiest hearers of the town," to "Be sad, as we'd make ye."
Act I opens with a conversation between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny. Their speeches express their mutual resentment over the ruthless power and overweening pride of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey passes over the stage with his attendants, and expresses his own hostility toward Buckingham. Later Buckingham is arrested on treason charges— Wolsey's doing.
The play's second scene introduces King Henry VIII, and shows his reliance on Wolsey as his favorite. Queen Katherine enters to protest Wolsey's abuse of the tax system for his own purposes; Wolsey defends himself, but when the King revokes the Cardinal's measures, Wolsey spreads a rumor that he himself is responsible for the King's action. Katherine also challenges the arrest of Buckingham, but Wolsey defends the arrest by producing the Duke's Surveyor, the primary accuser. After hearing the Surveyor, the King orders Buckingham's trial to occur.
At a banquet thrown by Wolsey, the King and his attendants enter in disguise as masquers. The King dances with Anne Bullen.
Two anonymous Gentlemen open Act II, one giving the other an account of Buckingham's treason trial. Buckingham himself enters in custody after his conviction, and makes his farewells to his followers and to the public. After his exit, the two Gentlemen talk about court gossip, especially Wolsey's hostility toward Katherine. The next scene shows Wolsey beginning to move against the Queen, while the nobles Norfolk and Suffolk look on critically. Wolsey introduces Cardinal Campeius and Gardiner to the King; Campeius has come to serve as a judge in the trial Wolsey is arranging for Katherine.
Anne Bullen is shown conversing with the Old Lady who is her attendant. Anne expresses her sympathy at the Queen's troubles; but then the Lord Chamberlain enters to inform her that the King has made her Marchioness of Pembroke. Once the Lord Chamberlain leaves, the Old Lady jokes about Anne's sudden advancement in the King's favor.
A lavishly-staged trial scene portrays Katherine's hearing before the King and his courtiers. Katherine reproaches Wolsey for his machinations against her, and refuses to stay for the proceedings. But the King defends Wolsey, and states that it was his own doubts about the legitimacy of their marriage that led to the trial. Campeius protests that the hearing can't continue in the Queen's absence, and the King grudgingly adjourns the proceeding. Wolsey and Campeius confront Katherine among her ladies-in-waiting; Katherine makes an emotional protest about her treatment.
Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain are shown plotting against Wolsey. A packet of Wolsey's letters to the Pope have been re-directed to the King; the letters show that Wolsey is playing a double game, opposing Henry's planned divorce from Katherine to the Pope while supporting it to the King. The King shows Wolsey his displeasure, and Wolsey for the first time realizes that he's lost Henry's favor. The noblemen mock Wolsey, and the Cardinal sends his follower Cromwell away so that Cromwell won't be brought down in Wolsey's fall from grace.
The two Gentlemen return to observe and comment upon the lavish procession for Anne Bullen's coronation as Queen, which passes over the stage in their presence. Afterward they're joined by a third Gentleman, who updates them on more court gossip — the rise of Thomas Cromwell in royal favor, and plots against Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Katherine is shown, ill; she's a vision of dancing spirits. Cardinal Campeius visits her; Katherine expresses her continuing loyalty to the King despite their divorce, and wishes the new Queen well.
The King summons a nervous Cranmer to his presence, and expresses his support; later, when Cranmer is shown disrespect by the King's Council, Henry reproves them and displays his favor of the churchman. Anne Bullen gives birth to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth. In the play's closing scenes, the Porter and his Man complain about trying to control the massive and enthusiastic crowds that attend the infant Elizabeth's christening; another lush procession is followed by a prediction of the glories of the new born princess's future reign, and the play's Epilogue.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Henry Viii Play'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://henry_viii__play.totallyexplained.com">Henry VIII (play) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
