SOURCE: Halio, Jay L. Introduction to The Oxford Shakespeare: King Henry VIII, or All Is True, by William Shakespeare, edited by Jay L. Halio, pp. 1-62. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

In the following excerpt, Halio offers a brief overview of the critical history of Henry VIII, accompanied by an analysis of the main action of the play.

The Play

Whether because of the authorship question, or because the play is, like King John, eccentric to the two great history cycles Shakespeare wrote earlier, critics have tended to slight King Henry VIII.¹ This is unfortunate, for the play is fascinating in its own right, and as its performance history shows (see below), it can be most impressive on the stage. Many of the standard critical studies of Shakespeare's work fail to include it, preferring to end their discussions with an analysis and evaluation of The Tempest, as if it...