Cardinal Wolsey

Play

Henry VIII

Summary

Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal and Lord Chancellor, is the great minister who rises from a butcher's son to the most powerful man in England — the king's right hand, the architect of English foreign policy, the crushing opponent of Buckingham and Katherine. His downfall comes suddenly when his private letters are accidentally delivered to Henry, revealing both his enormous wealth and his secret opposition to the Anne Boleyn match. His farewell speech on the vanity of worldly greatness is among the most celebrated passages in the play.

Notable Quotations

"Farewell! a long farewell, to all my greatness! / This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth / The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms, / And bears his blushing honours thick upon him; / The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, / And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely / His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root, / And then he falls." *(3.2)*

"Had I but served my God with half the zeal / I served my king, he would not in mine age / Have left me naked to mine enemies." *(3.2)*

"I have ventur'd, / Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, / This many summers in a sea of glory, / But far beyond my depth." *(3.2)*

Cross-references

• Henry VIII — the play
• Henry VIII — the king he serves
• Queen Katherine — his victim at the divorce trial
• Buckingham (Henry VIII) — his first great enemy whom he destroys
• Norfolk (Henry VIII) — his great opponent at court
• Histories