Anne Boleyn: The Woman Who Changed England
First appears: Act 1, Scene 4
Shakespeare's Anne Boleyn is largely a presence rather than a character with great speeches or scenes. She appears at Wolsey's banquet, catches Henry's eye, and gradually moves towards the queenship.
She is not presented as a schemer. In Act 2 she expresses genuine sympathy for Katharine's position, which makes her story more complicated than a simple story of one woman replacing another.
The play ends with her daughter's christening. Elizabeth I, who would rule England for 45 years, is Anne's real significance in Shakespeare's version: she is the mother of the greatest of the Tudors.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“By my troth and maidenhead, I would not be a queen.”
Anne Boleyn — Act 2, Scene 3
“I do not know What kind of my obedience I should tender; More than my all is nothing.”
Anne Boleyn — Act 2, Scene 3
Themes
Other Characters in Henry VIII
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