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Last updated: Fri, Jul 31, 2015

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Act and scene list

Characters in the Play
Entire Play Two stories dominate Henry VIII: the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, Henry’s powerful advisor, and Henry’s quest to divorce Queen Katherine, who has not borne him a male heir, and marry Anne Bullen (Boleyn).First, the Duke of Buckingham questions Wolsey’s costly staging of a failed meeting with the French king. Wolsey arrests Buckingham and accuses him of treason; testimony from a bribed witness leads to Buckingham’s execution. Queen Katherine takes a stand against Wolsey. Wolsey gives a party at which Henry meets Anne.Henry falls in love with Anne and seeks to divorce Katherine, but Katherine refuses to be judged by Wolsey and other church officials. The king secretly marries Anne and then has her crowned queen. Meanwhile, Henry discovers Wolsey’s treachery against him. Wolsey, arrested, falls sick and dies. Katherine also sickens and dies.Cranmer, the new archbishop of Canterbury, comes under attack, but receives the king’s support. Anne gives birth to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth. Cranmer prophesies marvelous reigns for her and her unnamed successor, James.
Prologue
Act 1, scene 1 The Duke of Buckingham, learning the details of the costly and ultimately fruitless meeting of French and English at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, threatens to expose the powerful Cardinal Wolsey, whose manipulation of the event and of the failed treaty makes him a traitor in Buckingham’s eyes. Before Buckingham can act, Wolsey has him arrested.
Act 1, scene 2 Queen Katherine reveals that Wolsey is heavily taxing the English in the king’s name, and Henry pronounces a pardon to all who have resisted the tax. Wolsey then accuses Buckingham of treason, and his accusation is supported by Buckingham’s former surveyor and confidant. Henry orders that Buckingham be tried as a traitor.
Act 1, scene 3 Three courtiers discuss the royal proclamation against young fops who have adopted French manners and dress after returning from France. The courtiers then look forward together to the festive supper to be hosted by Wolsey that evening.
Act 1, scene 4 At the supper, Wolsey and his guests are visited by Henry and his courtiers, all disguised as shepherds. Henry dances with Anne Bullen and exclaims over her beauty.
Act 2, scene 1 Buckingham, convicted of treason, is led to execution. He declares his innocence, forgives his enemies, and vows his loyalty to Henry. Two gentlemen then discuss the rumor that Henry is separating from Katherine.
Act 2, scene 2 Norfolk, Suffolk, and the Lord Chamberlain join in denouncing Wolsey. They hold him responsible for dividing Henry from Katherine, and see the threatened divorce as serving Wolsey’s desire that Henry marry the French king’s sister. When Norfolk and Suffolk break in on the king’s privacy, he rebukes them and sends them away while welcoming Wolsey and Cardinal Campeius, the papal legate. Henry is delighted that the divorce proceedings can go forward.
Act 2, scene 3 Anne Bullen pities Katherine, now threatened with divorce. The Lord Chamberlain enters to announce that Henry has created Anne marchioness of Pembroke.
Act 2, scene 4 At the trial, Katherine refuses to have the validity of her marriage judged by the church court, given Wolsey’s malice against her. After Katherine departs, Henry clears Wolsey of her accusation that he provoked the king to question the marriage. Henry takes the responsibility himself, and then becomes perturbed at what he sees as the cardinals’ delay in resolving his case.
Act 3, scene 1 Wolsey and Campeius visit Katherine to persuade her to contest the divorce no longer.
Act 3, scene 2 Courtiers assemble to discuss Wolsey’s sudden fall from Henry’s favor, Henry’s marriage to Anne Bullen, and plans for her coronation. Wolsey enters, unaware of the courtiers but observed by them as he seems troubled in his thoughts. When the king enters and returns to Wolsey some papers that reveal Wolsey’s duplicity and greed, the cardinal realizes that he can never restore himself in the king’s favor. Wolsey, grieving over his fall and repenting his bad behavior, advises Cromwell about how to secure himself in the king’s service.
Act 4, scene 1 The procession returns from Anne’s coronation, which is then described by a gentleman who was in attendance.
Act 4, scene 2 The dying Princess Dowager Katherine and her attendant Griffith provide contrasting accounts of the character of the newly dead Wolsey. The sleeping Katherine is then granted a vision of eternal paradise. She wakes to be visited by an ambassador from her nephew, the Emperor Charles. She appeals to the ambassador to intercede with Henry on behalf of her daughter and her attendants, and exits to die.
Act 5, scene 1 The new archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer, is under attack because his religious beliefs seem heretical. The king, after receiving news that Anne is in labor, summons Cranmer, assures him of royal support, and gives him a ring to show the Privy Council if need be. The king is then told of the birth of his daughter.
Act 5, scene 2 Cranmer suffers the public humiliation of being locked out of a Privy Council meeting. Allowed in, he is then threatened with confinement in prison. He quells this threat by showing the king’s ring. The king then enters and orders his councillors to reconcile themselves to Cranmer and asks him to be godfather to the royal newborn.
Act 5, scene 3 A porter and his assistant fight to control the crowd determined to view the royal daughter’s christening.
Act 5, scene 4 At Princess Elizabeth’s christening, Cranmer prophesies a magnificent reign for the future Queen Elizabeth I and an equally successful one for her successor King James I.
Act 5, Epilogue

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Prologue

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