Henry VIII
The Charismatic King who Reforged a Nation

There are lots of things about this play that please and impress me, but somehow I don't think it quite works. The best things about it are two scenes probably by Fletcher: the sympathetic portrait of Katharine of Aragon's self-defense and the dignified soliloquy of the disgraced Cardinal Wolsey aft......more

Book Review 3 of 5 stars to Henry VIII, a play written in 1613 by William Shakespeare. This play originally had a different title and there is also some suspicion that it was co-written with another person at the time. It was towards the end of Shakespeare's career where while his brillia......more

I did it. I finished Willie's entire body of work within 4 years (August 2016 - July 2020). I didn't even try that hard. I just kept reading. Huh. What a concept. Henry VIII was a somewhat underwhelming play to end it with but I think it's only fair that the Globe burned down at the end of Act I so......more

I can't say that the writing is bad, per-se, more that the topic is unworthy except for being an obligatory propagandist piece to prop up the worthiness of the Anglican church versus the Catholics. I'm sure no one is surprised on this count. There's rather less of the real drama that surrounded the Ki......more

“O, how wretched is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors!” There is a lot of telling about things in “Henry VIII”, almost no showing, with just a few exceptions. The action happens offstage, we just get to hear about it in some exquisite language. Writer and scholar Harold Bloom has said that......more