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King Henry VIII

Chapter 2: Dramatis Personæ
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About This Book

The play dramatizes the turbulent interplay of politics and personal relationships at a royal court, tracing the rise and fall of powerful ministers, the strain of a royal marriage, and the consequences of ambition and favor. It moves between ceremonies, council chambers, and public scenes to show how private motives produce public calamities, including arrests, trials, and executions. Alongside courtly spectacle, it examines themes of authority, conscience, and mercy, concluding with reversals that restore some order while revealing human cost. The tone balances pageantry and solemnity, inviting both pity and reflection.

Dramatis Personæ

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

DUKE OF NORFOLK
DUKE OF SUFFOLK

CARDINAL WOLSEY
SECRETARIES to Wolsey
CROMWELL, servant to Wolsey
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester
PAGE to Gardiner

QUEEN KATHERINE, wife to King Henry, afterwards divorced
GRIFFITH, gentleman usher to Queen Katherine
PATIENCE, woman to Queen Katherine
Queen’s GENTLEMAN USHER
CAPUTIUS, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles V

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
LORD ABERGAVENNY, Buckingham’s son-in-law
EARL OF SURREY, Buckingham’s son-in-law
SIR NICHOLAS VAUX
SURVEYOR to the Duke of Buckingham
BRANDON
SERGEANT-at-Arms
Three Gentlemen

ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Honour, afterwards Queen
An OLD LADY, friend to Anne Bullen
LORD CHAMBERLAIN
LORD SANDYS (called also SIR WILLIAM SANDYS)
SIR THOMAS LOVELL
SIR HENRY GUILDFORD

BISHOP OF LINCOLN
CRANMER, archbishop of Canterbury
LORD CHANCELLOR
GARTER King-of-Arms
SIR ANTHONY DENNY
DOCTOR BUTTS, physician to the King
Door-KEEPER of the Council-chamber
PORTER, and his Man
A CRIER
PROLOGUE
EPILOGUE

Spirits, Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows; Women attending upon the Queen; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants

SCENE: London; Westminster; Kimbolton