Henry VIII Character Analysis

Positions of great power are often considered to be positions of great risk. One can never be certain of how long they will remain in power, and a sudden downfall from power could cost them their sanity. Cardinal Wolsey was one such man of power, an advisor to the king in Henry VII, who suffered from a tragic downfall from power. In Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, a shift from a tone of acceptance to a tone of betrayal, condemning diction, and Biblical allusion are used to convey Wolsey’s complex response to his dismissal from the court. As Wolsey contemplates this time of serving the king, he envisions the beginning and end of his career and alludes to seasons to portray how natural it is for all things to end. Wolsey utters phrases like “the
Wolsey’s self-deprecation increases as he realizes how is entire life is in “ruin.” Not only has everything Wolsey ever wanted and dreamed for been taken from him, he has been humiliated by his downfall. He was once the second most powerful man in England, the hand of the king, and he is now nothing. It is unlikely that he will receive help from the other courtesans, for he knows that they care for their own gain and not for the well-being of anyone else. Knowing that his once allies have turned their backs on him, Wolsey feels even more humiliation. To further his disgrace, the Cardinal believes that he has “fall[en] like Lucifer” from glory once his title and property has been stripped from him. Although Lucifer and the Cardinal’s stories are vastly different, they share a similar fall from paradise. Since Lucifer had attempted to overthrow God, he must have felt humiliated as he was cast out of Heaven. Not only does Wolsey understand this pain, he feels horrible about himself and despises himself even more if he has even thought to compare himself to the most malevolent creature in the universe. He has reached the point of no return. His utter loathing for himself begins to fade into a depression once he has given up and vows to “never hope again.” Even though he is Cardinal Wolsey, former advisor to the king of England, he believes there is nothing he can do and nowhere he can go that will sustain him the way the British court did. He had everything that his heart desired and was extremely happy, honored, and proud to stand beside the king as his advisor. Where can he go to find work similar to the one he had known for years? There was no place for him left in the world, and just the very thought of being away from the British nobility caused him to despair greatly. Wolsey’s anger