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    King Henry the Eighth
    King Henry the Eighth
    King Henry the Eighth
    Ebook129 pages1 hour

    King Henry the Eighth

    By William Shakespeare

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    About this ebook

    One of the last plays written by Shakespeare, "Henry VIII" is one of his finest historical dramas. Focusing on the life and times of Henry VIII, one of England's most dynamic rulers, the play examines and dramatizes monarchical life of 16th century England. The plot surrounds the events of King Henry VIII's annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and engagement to Ann Boleyn. The play portrays the suppression of the protestant reformation and the split of the Anglican and Catholic churches with great valor. In Shakespeare's Henry VIII, religious power and political desire merge, resulting in a splendid historical tale.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJH
    Release dateMar 24, 2019
    ISBN9788832550405
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

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      Book preview

      King Henry the Eighth - William Shakespeare

      King Henry the Eighth

      William Shakespeare

      .

      KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

      by William Shakespeare

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

        KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

        CARDINAL WOLSEY CARDINAL CAMPEIUS

        CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles V

        CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

        DUKE OF NORFOLK DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

        DUKE OF SUFFOLK EARL OF SURREY

        LORD CHAMBERLAIN LORD CHANCELLOR

        GARDINER, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER

        BISHOP OF LINCOLN LORD ABERGAVENNY

        LORD SANDYS SIR HENRY GUILDFORD

        SIR THOMAS LOVELL SIR ANTHONY DENNY

        SIR NICHOLAS VAUX SECRETARIES to Wolsey

        CROMWELL, servant to Wolsey

        GRIFFITH, gentleman-usher to Queen Katharine

        THREE GENTLEMEN

        DOCTOR BUTTS, physician to the King

        GARTER KING-AT-ARMS

        SURVEYOR to the Duke of Buckingham

        BRANDON, and a SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

        DOORKEEPER Of the Council chamber

        PORTER, and his MAN PAGE to Gardiner

        A CRIER

        QUEEN KATHARINE, wife to King Henry, afterwards divorced

        ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Honour, afterwards Queen

        AN OLD LADY, friend to Anne Bullen

        PATIENCE, woman to Queen Katharine

        Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Lords and Ladies in the Dumb

            Shows; Women attending upon the Queen; Scribes,

            Officers, Guards, and other Attendants; Spirits

      SCENE:

      London; Westminster; Kimbolton

      KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

      THE PROLOGUE.

          I come no more to make you laugh; things now

          That bear a weighty and a serious brow,

          Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,

          Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,

          We now present. Those that can pity here

          May, if they think it well, let fall a tear:

          The subject will deserve it. Such as give

          Their money out of hope they may believe

          May here find truth too. Those that come to see

          Only a show or two, and so agree

          The play may pass, if they be still and willing,

          I'll undertake may see away their shilling

          Richly in two short hours. Only they

          That come to hear a merry bawdy play,

          A noise of targets, or to see a fellow

          In a long motley coat guarded with yellow,

          Will be deceiv'd; for, gentle hearers, know,

          To rank our chosen truth with such a show

          As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting

          Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring

          To make that only true we now intend,

          Will leave us never an understanding friend.

          Therefore, for goodness sake, and as you are known

          The first and happiest hearers of the town,

          Be sad, as we would make ye. Think ye see

          The very persons of our noble story

          As they were living; think you see them great,

          And follow'd with the general throng and sweat

          Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see

          How soon this mightiness meets misery.

          And if you can be merry then, I'll say

          A man may weep upon his wedding-day.

      <

      SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS

      PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

      WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE

      DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS

      PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED

      COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY

      SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>>

      ACT I. SCENE 1.

      London. The palace

      Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK at one door; at the other, the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM and the LORD ABERGAVENNY

        BUCKINGHAM. Good morrow, and well met. How have ye done

          Since last we saw in France?

        NORFOLK. I thank your Grace,

          Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer

          Of what I saw there.

        BUCKINGHAM. An untimely ague

          Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber when

          Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,

          Met in the vale of Andren.

        NORFOLK. 'Twixt Guynes and Arde-

          I was then present, saw them salute on horseback;

          Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung

          In their embracement, as they grew together;

          Which had they, what four thron'd ones could have weigh'd

          Such a compounded one?

        BUCKINGHAM. All the whole time

          I was my chamber's prisoner.

        NORFOLK. Then you lost

          The view of earthly glory; men might say,

          Till this time pomp was single, but now married

          To one above itself. Each following day

          Became the next day's master, till the last

          Made former wonders its. To-day the French,

          All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods,

          Shone down the English; and to-morrow they

          Made Britain India: every man that stood

          Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were

          As cherubins, an gilt; the madams too,

          Not us'd to toil, did almost sweat to bear

          The pride upon them, that their very labour

          Was to them as a painting. Now this masque

          Was cried incomparable; and th' ensuing night

          Made it a fool and beggar. The two kings,

          Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst,

          As presence did present them: him in eye

          still him in praise; and being present both,

          'Twas said they saw but one, and no discerner

          Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns-

          For so they phrase 'em-by their heralds challeng'd

          The noble spirits to arms, they did perform

          Beyond thought's compass, that former fabulous story,

          Being now seen possible enough, got credit,

          That Bevis was believ'd.

        BUCKINGHAM. O, you go far!

        NORFOLK. As I belong to worship, and affect

          In honour honesty, the tract of ev'rything

          Would by a good discourser lose some life

          Which action's self was tongue to. All was royal:

          To the disposing of it nought rebell'd;

          Order gave each thing view. The office did

          Distinctly his full function.

        BUCKINGHAM. Who did guide-

          I mean, who set the body and the limbs

          Of this great sport together, as you guess?

        NORFOLK. One, certes, that promises no element

          In such a business.

        BUCKINGHAM. I pray you, who, my lord?

        NORFOLK. All this was ord'red by the good discretion

          Of the right reverend Cardinal of York.

        BUCKINGHAM. The devil speed him! No man's pie is freed

          From his ambitious finger. What had he

          To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder

          That such a keech can with his very bulk

          Take up the rays o' th' beneficial sun,

          And keep it from the earth.

        NORFOLK. Surely, sir,

          There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends;

          For, being not propp'd by ancestry, whose grace

          Chalks successors their way, nor call'd upon

          For high feats done to th' crown, neither allied

          To eminent assistants, but spider-like,

          Out of his self-drawing web, 'a gives us note

          The force of his own merit makes his way-

          A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys

          A place next to the King.

        ABERGAVENNY. I cannot tell

          What heaven hath given him-let some graver eye

          Pierce into that; but I can see his pride

          Peep through each part of him. Whence has he that?

          If not from hell, the devil is a niggard

          Or has given all before, and he begins

          A new hell in himself.

        BUCKINGHAM. Why the devil,

          Upon this French going out, took he upon him-

          Without the privity o' th' King-t' appoint

          Who should attend on him? He makes up the file

          Of all the gentry; for the most part such

          To whom as great a charge as little honour

          He meant to lay upon; and his own letter,

          The honourable board of council out,

          Must fetch him in he papers.

        ABERGAVENNY. I do know

          Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have

          By this so sicken'd their estates that never

          They shall abound as formerly.

        BUCKINGHAM. O, many

          Have broke their backs with laying manors on 'em

          For this great journey. What did this vanity

          But minister communication of

          A most poor issue?

        NORFOLK. Grievingly I think

          The peace between the French and us not values

          The cost that did conclude it.

        BUCKINGHAM. Every man,

          After the hideous storm that follow'd, was

          A thing inspir'd, and, not consulting, broke

          Into a general prophecy-that this tempest,

          Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded

          The sudden breach on't.

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