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Wolsey's Use Of Figurative Language In Henry Viii

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In the speech from Shakespeare’s play “Henry VIII”, Shakespeare uses a few literary devices to help understand Wolsey’s response regarding his release from court. Using literary devices helps the person reading gain more of an insight of the characters emotions. Wolsey’s character shows both anger and acceptance when he attempts to come to realization of what just happened to him. Shakespeare shows both feelings by using figurative language, tone, and allusion throughout Wolsey’s speech. Shakespeare uses tone in this speech to express Wolsey’s intricate reaction of his release from court. Cardinal has anger in himself and the world around him when he banes “vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye” (Shakespeare 16)! He gets mad at the people in the courtroom because there are other men with him who are continuously waiting for the ruler. Cardinal states, “O how wretched/ Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors” (Shakespeare 18)! Wolsey and other men feel like they are helpless at this point and have no belief. Wolsey portrays himself as “weary and old” (Shakespeare 14) which describes him as being tired and beginning to age due to all of …show more content…

There is a use of an extended metaphor of the seasons in the speech. When Shakespeare uses the metaphor of a weak flower and then it becomes a “killing frost” (Shakespeare 6) might show how liable Wolsey is. The killing of the flower demonstrates the animosity Cardinal has, while the frost shows the king’s release of him and that it only took three days for the flowering. Line ten also portrays figurative language when they talk about the wanton boys. The boys soaring bladders is suppose to symbolize Wolsey is being grasped by the king, but has support for the people who are higher up that got him where he is at the moment. The imagery that is shown illustrates the emotions that Cardinal

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In Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey undergoes a series of tone changes while considering his sudden downfall from power. On a deeper level, however, the tone changes represent stages of loss; therefore, the soliloquy is an accurate account of how the Cardinal is psychologically affected by his downfall. Through several poetic devices such as allusion, figurative language and tone, Shakespeare explores Cardinal Wolsey’s immediate psychological effects due to a sudden fall from grace. The first tone established by the excerpt emphasizes that the Cardinal’s first response to his dismissal is anger, making readers doubt his intentions as a Cardinal.

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