Penguin Classics: Henry VIII

O, how wretched. Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours!'

Conspiracies and intrigue are rife in the court of Henry VIII, with Cardinal Wolsey at the heart of machinations. But when the King falls in love with Anne Bullen and decides to divorce his wife, he causes an irrevocable rift with the Roman Catholic Church. After the King's secret marriage to Anne, courtiers fall in and out of favour, Thomas Cromwell rises to power and deaths abound. The long-awaited birth of Elizabeth signifies either hope or disaster. Shakespeare's morally ambiguous, elusive late play examines power, authority and succession in a dangerous age.

General Editor Stanley Wells
Edited by A. R. Humphreys
Introduction by C. M. S. Alexander