Queen Katharine: Dignity Against Power
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Katharine of Aragon had been Henry's wife for over twenty years when he decided to end the marriage. In Shakespeare's version, she argues her own case before the court at Blackfriars with a directness that stops the room.
She will not accept the court's jurisdiction. She appeals directly to the Pope. She walks out. Henry cannot really answer any of her arguments, only assert his will.
She dies in Act 4, alone, having been stripped of her title as queen. Her final scene (the vision she receives, her instructions to Griffith, her gentle dignity) is one of the play's most moving passages. She is right about everything and loses anyway.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Sir, I desire you do me right and justice; And to bestow your pity on me: for I am a most poor woman, and a stranger,”
Queen Katharine — Act 2, Scene 4
“Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge That no king can corrupt.”
Queen Katharine — Act 3, Scene 1
Themes
Other Characters in Henry VIII
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