Henry VIII (drama)
Heinrich VIII ( English The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth or simply Henry VIII , alternative title was All is True until it was published in First Folio 1623 ) is a historical drama by William Shakespeare that was written around 1612/13 and is based on life King Henry VIII of England based. The work was created as a joint production in collaboration with John Fletcher .
action
The Duke of Buckingham, in the presence of two noblemen, suspects that Cardinal Wolsey is intriguing him; soon after, he is arrested. His former administrator, who was dismissed by him, accused him before King Henry VIII. a. to seek the crown if the king dies without male offspring. Queen Katharina submits that the people are dissatisfied with a new tax introduced at Wolsey's instigation, whereupon Heinrich instructs the abolition of the tax. - At a party in Wolsey's house, King Anne, disguised as a shepherd, meets Boleyn and is immediately taken with her beauty.
Buckingham has been sentenced to death in court; before his execution he ponders how his father Richard III once had helped to the throne, but was then killed at his behest and how now he had lost the king's favor. In addition, there is a rumor that someone else has lost Heinrich's favor: Queen Katharina - after twenty years of marriage, the king has decided to divorce her. Its new beneficiary is Anne Boleyn. During the divorce process, Katharina suspects Wolsey of having divorced, which Wolsey emphatically denies.
The Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius visit Catherine in their room, but she doubts the honesty of their visitors and trusts only in a higher judge: "Heaven is above all yet - there sits a judge / That no king can corrupt." (III.1.98 f) In the meantime, a front of nobles is forming against Wolsey, whose star is also falling with the king: the cardinal's letters to the Pope have been intercepted in which he urges the Pope not to allow Henry to annul his marriage until his affair with Anne Boleyn has ended. In fact, the king secretly married his mistress long ago. When Heinrich confronts him with the letters, including a list of the items that the cardinal has personally enriched with, the cardinal realizes that his career has ended. A little later he learns that the King has installed Sir Thomas More in the office he had previously held.
Anne is crowned the new Queen under the direction of Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Katharina now bears the title of widow princess ("Princess Dowager"); she comments on the news of Wolsey's death by saying that his ambition shook the kingdom. In her sleep she has a vision in which six people appear in white robes and hold a wreath over her head. She tells a messenger that she is about to die.
The courtly intrigues are now directed against Cranmer, but Heinrich assures him of his support and gives him his ring. At the meeting, his opponents accuse Cranmer of Protestantism and want to transfer him to the Tower when he shows the king's ring - then Heinrich himself steps in and urges the contestants to reconcile.
Meanwhile, Anne has given birth to a daughter. Cranmer baptizes her with the name Elisabeth and in his speech proclaims her future greatness.
Text output
- English
- William Shakespeare: King Henry VIII. New Cambridge Shakespeare.Edited by JMR Margeson. London 1990. ISBN 978-0521296922
- William Shakespeare: King Henry VIII. Arden Third Series. Edited by Gordon McMullan. CUP 2000. ISBN 978-1903436257
- William Shakespeare: King Henry VIII. Oxford Shakespeare. Edited by Jay L. Halio. OUP 2008. ISBN 978-0199537433
- German, bilingual
- William Shakespeare: König Heinrich VIII. / King Henry VIII. Edited and translated by Frank Günther. ars vivendi 2007. ISBN 978-3897161870
literature
- Horst Oppel : Shakespeare or Fletcher? The banquet scene in "Henry VIII" as a criterion of authorship (= treatises of the humanities and social science class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born 1965, No. 7).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Uwe Baumann: Fletcher, John. In: Metzler Lexicon of English-Speaking Authors . 631 portraits - from the beginning to the present. Edited by Eberhard Kreutzer and Ansgar Nünning , Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-476-01746-X , p. 206.