Henry VIII

By William Shakespeare

QUOTATION: I am very sorry to know and hear how unreverently that most precious jewel, the Word of God, is disputed, rhymed, sung and jangled in every ale-house and tavern, contrary to the true meaning and doctrine of the same.
ATTRIBUTION: Henry VIII (1491–1547), British monarch, King of England. speech, Dec. 24, 1545, to Parliament.

QUOTATION: Plague of your policy!
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Earl of Surrey, in Henry VIII, act 3, sc. 2, l. 259.

Wolsey contrived to have Surrey sent off to Ireland; “of” = on.

QUOTATION: Alas, I am a woman friendless, hopeless!
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Queen Katherine, in Henry VIII, act 3, sc. 1, l. 80.

QUOTATION: Would I had never trod this English earth!
Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it;
Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Queen Katherine, in Henry VIII, act 3, sc. 1, l. 145-7.

QUOTATION: Whom I most hated living, thou hast made me
With thy religious truth and modesty,
Now in his ashes honor.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Queen Katherine, in Henry VIII, act 4, sc. 2, l. 73-5.

Changing her opinion of Cardinal Wolsey; “modesty” = moderation

QUOTATION: They should be good men, their affairs as righteous,
But all hoods make not monks.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Queen Katherine, in Henry VIII, act 3, sc. 1, l. 23.

Referring to the two Cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius; it was proverbial that a monk’s hood does not guarantee holiness.

QUOTATION: Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge
That no king can corrupt.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. Queen Katherine, in Henry VIII, act 3, sc. 1, l. 100-1.

Rejecting the corrupt advice of Wolsey and Campeius.

QUOTATION: The gentleman is learned, and a most rare speaker.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry VIII, act 1, sc. 2, l. 111.

On Buckingham, arrested as a traitor.

QUOTATION: Read o’er this,
And after this, and then to breakfast with
What appetite you have.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry VIII, act 3, sc. 2, l. 201-3.

Henry hands Wolsey documents proving his disloyalty to the King.

QUOTATION: She’s noble born,
And like her true nobility she has
Carried herself towards me.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry VIII, act 2, sc. 4, l. 142-4.

Praising Katherine the wife he is about to divorce.

QUOTATION: The fairest hand I ever touched: O beauty,
Till now I never knew thee.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry VIII, act 1, sc. 4, l. 75-6.

On meeting Anne Boleyn.

QUOTATION: Thou art alone
(If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness,
Thy meekness saintlike, wife-like government,
Obeying in commanding, and thy parts
Sovereign and pious else, could speak thee out)
The queen of earthly queens.
ATTRIBUTION: William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. King Henry, in Henry VIII, act 2, sc. 4, l. 137-42.

Praising Katherine, the wife he is divorcing; “government” = conduct; her “sovereign parts” are her excellent qualities.