Bring Up The Bodies

While Cromwell is the protagonist of Bring Up the Bodies, Anne Boleyn is one of the main antagonists, and the tension between them creates an opportunity for mutual character development. Their positions exemplify The Precarious Nature of Favoritism. Once allies, each must now vie for their own existence at court.

The death of Anne’s beloved dog is based on historical fact; Anne did have a small lapdog named Purkoy (after the French pour qu’oi, meaning why), who died in a fall. Mantel uses this episode to develop Anne’s character and create symbolism and foreshadowing within the narrative. When Cromwell observes that an innocent fall is “clearly […] not what she thinks” happened to the dog (106), Anne is revealed as paranoid, suspicious, and also utterly isolated. She knows that she has many enemies, and therefore the dog’s death may not have been an accident. Cromwell’s reflection that Anne “seems as torn, as injured, as if the attack had been on her person” foreshadows Anne’s death only a few months later (107), precipitated by her “falling” out of the king’s favor.

However, while Cromwell feels some sympathy for Anne’s plight, he can also see how fear renders her cruel. Anne is angry that Mary continues to receive offers of marriage from foreign princes because this undermines her own position by implying that Mary is legitimate. Importantly, Henry and Katherine did not divorce, as this concept was not legally or religiously accepted at the time: A marriage contract was binding for life. Instead, the marriage was declared to never have been valid from the beginning. Before marrying Henry, Katherine had been married to his older brother, Arthur. She insisted that this marriage was never consummated and that, therefore, she was free to marry Henry. However, if Katherine had slept with Arthur, then a legal claim could be made to invalidate her second marriage and leave Henry free to marry Anne. The complexity of these claims shows why Katherine and Anne go to such lengths to sabotage each other and develops the theme of Rivalry and Cruelty Between Women.

The tension in Bring Up the Bodies rests on competing claims of legitimacy. Either Katherine is, and always was, Henry’s true wife, or Katherine was never married, Mary is illegitimate, and Anne is Henry’s true wife. The legal and religious structures around marriage create a zero-sum game for both generations of women since each of Henry’s wives has a daughter, whom she is trying to protect. The vulnerability of women in the Tudor court does not create alliances or solidarity, but rather it requires them to compete with one another. Anne suggests Cromwell help her in a plot to destroy Mary’s reputation, which would likely mean Mary would never be able to marry or have children, but Cromwell retorts that “that is not my aim and those are not my methods” (109). This comment later becomes ironic because Cromwell uses precisely these methods—casting doubts about a woman’s chastity—to destroy not just Anne’s reputation, but also her life. Anne’s willingness to encourage false rumors about Mary also reflects the theme of Ambiguity Between Truth, Lies, and Rumors since she weaponizes lies.

Anne’s self-assurance when she tells Cromwell that “Henry will never abandon me. He waited for me long enough” reveals how historical fiction can create dramatic irony (110), in which a reader is aware of information that a character does not know. Most readers of Mantel’s novel know that Anne was eventually executed, and so her misplaced confidence creates tension and pathos. At this point, Anne and Cromwell are pitted against one another; when Anne cautions Cromwell that “those who are made can be unmade,” he retorts, “I entirely agree” (111). Both Anne and Cromwell believe that they hold a greater position of power due to their access and value to Henry. In different ways, they try to offer Henry what he most wants: a son. Anne attempts to bear him a son, whereas Cromwell conspires to provide Henry with a new wife. Each knows their fate rests on their ability to please Henry, and this creates tension as the plot rises toward its climax.

Anne’s death is foreshadowed through her gleeful celebration of Katherine’s death. Anne sees this development as solidifying her own position, as there is no longer another woman claiming her status as Henry’s wife and the Queen of England. However, she fails to realize that it actually makes her position more precarious. Henry has already been questioning the validity of his marriage to Anne: While Katherine was alive, undermining his marriage to Anne would only have left him with the option of returning to his first wife. With Katherine dead and his marriage to Anne dissolved, Henry would be at liberty to marry whomever he wants. Charles Brandon sees this opportunity as politically advantageous, eagerly telling Henry he can “marry into France” (128). While Anne thinks she is finally secure, men at the court, including Cromwell, are already imagining a future without her standing in their way.