The Fall
Characters plummet from power with startling speed. Buckingham walks to his execution with dignity after arrest in Act 1. Wolsey loses his seal, his titles, his properties in Act 3, reduced from king-maker to exile. Katherine moves from queen to dowager to deathbed. Each fall follows a similar arc: high place, one mistake or reversal, then swift ruin. The pattern suggests not moral judgment but the mechanical logic of courts, where proximity to power guarantees nothing. By the final scenes, even these catastrophes are reframed as necessary steps toward Elizabeth's reign.
The net has fall'n upon me! I shall perish Under device and practise.
The trap has fallen on me! I'll die Because of this plot and trickery.
This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him; The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root, And then he falls, as I do.
This is the way of man: today he puts forth The tender leaves of hope; tomorrow he blooms, And wears his honors proudly; The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, And when he thinks, good, contented man, full of certainty, That his greatness is ripening, the frost kills his roots, And he falls, just like I am now.
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye: I feel my heart new open'd.
Empty pomp and glory of this world, I despise you: I feel my heart is newly awakened.
