Analysis Of Henry Viii Cardinal Wolsey

Question 1 - Poetry Essay Revision
In William Shakespeare’s play, Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey is being dismissed from the king’s court. Wolsey’s bitter, resentful, and hopeless tone is expressed through the use of a cynical allusion and extensive metaphors that convey his loss of power, which represent Wolsey’s feelings of agony in his soliloquy response to his dismissal in which he learns that once you are so full of pride, you will feel lost and hopeless without it. To begin, Wolsey’s soliloquy response starts with him saying, “So farewell-to the little good you bear me,” which expresses his conceited tone implying that he feels as if the job as the king’s appointee didn’t do anything for him. Wolsey then goes on to say, “Farewell? A long farewell to my greatness!” which shows his tone of despair from learning that he was

He utters this line in disbelief because he reached a high position of power and it is going to be a long farewell down for his greatness. There is then a tone shift towards the end of the poem when Wolsey says, “Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye!” Here he is saying his conceited display of himself and glory led to his fall. This tone shift is there because he now feels resentful and furious about what happened and will feel miserable for the rest of his life. Wolsey then goes on to using an extensive fruit metaphor in which he compares himself to a fruit. He says, “This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth/The tender leaves of hopes, to-morrow blossoms,/ And bears his blushing honors thick upon him,” in which he thinks that it is the natural state of man to keep putting effort to gain more success. When you give more effort, you will get more honor and pride. He uses the metaphor of a blossoming plant and compares it to himself and his effort. The first day he