Essay Questions

Who was King Henry VIII?

King Henry VIII was the King of England from the beginning of the 1500s until 1547. King Henry remain in history for his numerous wives and for his tendency to kill everyone who was not agreeing with him. The play is set during the time when King Henry felt in love with a woman named Anne Boleyn but while he was still married to Catherine of Aragong, his first wife. Henry wanted to marry Anne but in order to do so, he had to have his marriage to Catherine annulled. When the Pope refused to do just that, King Henry broke from the Catholic Church and created the Church of England.

What was the role of a Cardinal?

A Cardinal is a member of the Catholic Church. A Cardinal has important duties and is usually referred to as being a Prince of the Church. The Cardinal was loyal to the Pope and was supposed to be always ready to listen to him. However, as the Cardinal in the play points out, the role of a Cardinal became slowly a more political one than a religious one.

What does it mean to be a heretic?

At one point, More calls his daughter’s suitor as being a heretic when he asked for More’s hand in marriage. He then argued that because Will was a heretic, he will not allow his daughter to marry him. But what was a heretic? According to dictionary.com, a heretic is a person who ‘’maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrine prescribed by that Church’’. The term is usually referred in connection with Christianity and it also implies the idea of punishment, more than often excommunication or in some cases even death.