Henry VIII (Vol. 41) | John Margeson (essay date 1990)
John Margeson (essay date 1990)
SOURCE: Introduction to King Henry VIII, edited by John Margeson, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 1-59.
[In the following excerpt, Margeson surveys the topic of authorship in relation to Henry VIII and critical reaction to the play, arguing that the work possesses an aesthetic unity as "an exposure and celebration of royal power" and a dramatization of the "conflict between worldly and eternal values."]
Authorship
Heminges and Condell, the editors of the First Folio and actors in Shakespeare's company, the King's Men, printed Henry VIII as the final play in the long series of Shakespeare's history plays. No one doubted Shakespeare's authorship until the middle of the nineteenth century, though there had been questions asked about the Prologue and the Epilogue, and whether the section on King James in Cranmer's prophecy had not been added later to an Elizabethan play.1...
[The entire page is 14980 words long]
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