Shakespeare's Christian Vision in Henry VIII

Abstract

AbstractIn Henry VIII, Shakespeare looks beyond religious conflict to express a larger moral—and Christian—vision. He offers a panorama of Christian virtues and characters who manifest them, indicating by their actions and sufferings the role their virtues might play in supporting nobility and justice. He also finds support in Christianity for deriving noble and base from the character of one's soul rather than from birth and for a reliance on fair judicial procedure rather than on the sword for the protection of justice. Finally, in the relation between Henry VIII and Archbishop Cranmer, Shakespeare illustrates a politics that protects religious belief from persecution. Henry VIII offers a vision of the virtues of Christianity that could contribute to a good political community, or at least to understanding what such a community entails.