Who Is Wolsey As A Victim In The Life And Death Of Cardinal Cavendish

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In The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, Cavendish attempts to portray Wolsey as a victim of Anne Boleyn and the court, but even in his victimization, Wolsey’s poor choices still prove to be his undoing above all else. At the start of his narrative, Cavendish introduces Anne Boleyn, the king’s affection for her, and the situation involving Wolsey, Anne, and her engagement to Lord Percy. Anne and Lord Percy are supposed to be married, and Wolsey breaks their contract. Cavendish explains that the king asked Wolsey to end the engagement, and this request is supposed to take the blame away from Cardinal Wolsey. According to Cavendish, Wolsey was just following Henry’s orders, so he could not be held responsible for the consequences. Under these terms, it means that Anne’s hatred for Wolsey about this situation was misplaced, and sets up his whole story to be a tragic misunderstanding based on this hatred. …show more content…

Anne believes that Wolsey was the one who broke her contract, which means that Anne knew Wolsey had the kind of power in the court to do so; a power he openly used and shouldn’t have had because it was equal to that of the kings. The narrative progresses, and the central conflict leading to Wolsey’s downfall arises- the divorce Henry wants from Katharine in order to marry Anne. Cavendish makes Wolsey’s struggle appear to be based in faith, not from selfish motivations, and also to be the doing of others, not something that happened naturally. On page 104, after Wolsey’s fall, Cavendish inserts that "the natural disposition of Englishmen is and hath always been to desire alteration of officers which hath been thouroughly fed with long continuance in their rooms with sufficient riches and

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