Bring Up The Bodies

King Henry is the novel’s most important secondary character. While Cromwell is the protagonist, most of the actions he undertakes are driven by his desire to maintain the king’s favor. Although King Henry is a middle-aged man who is beginning to suffer from ill health and obesity, he is still impressive, charismatic, and capable of inducing awe: “[H]is height is six feet three inches, and every inch bespeaks power. His carriage, his person are magnificent” (35). Henry is hot-tempered but can also be gentle with those he favors. At times, Cromwell feels genuine affection for him. He is immensely stubborn, and once he has conceived a desire, he insists on seeing it fulfilled. This drive is what leads Henry to pursue marriage to Anne Boleyn and then to become fixated on marrying Jane Seymour. Henry is driven by the primary motivation to secure his lineage and prove his masculinity; as he laments to Cromwell, “[I]f a king cannot have a son, if he cannot do that, it matters not what else he can do” (183). This motivation makes him callous to his wives, especially to Anne. After Anne loses her pregnancy, he tells her, “[I]f any woman is to blame, it is the one I am looking at” (182). Once Henry turns against Anne, he immediately discards her, as he did with his first wife. As Cromwell notes, “Henry never says goodbye” (293).

Anne Boleyn is a key character and one of the novel’s antagonists, highlighting the theme of Rivalry and Cruelty Between Women. Although Anne and Cromwell collaborated to secure her marriage, their interests have now diverged, and Anne resents Cromwell’s betrayal. As he remarks, “I feel my head wobble on my shoulders when she stares at me” (21). At the start of the novel, Anne retains some of the beauty and charisma that allowed her to capture Henry’s heart, remaining “an elegant woman, with a refinement that makes mere prettiness seem redundant” (36). Beneath her seductive façade, she is also intelligent and ambitious. However, as the plot unfolds, Anne repeatedly fails to see that she has lost her hold on Henry and that her position has become precarious. She boasts to Cromwell that “since my coronation there is a new England. It cannot subsist without me” (110). Although it is never established whether Anne actually has extramarital affairs, she is not careful enough to guard her reputation, and there are constant rumors that she is sleeping with other men. Anne mistakenly believes in her own power and the loyalty of those around her, not realizing how easily her confidantes will betray her. Even when she is arrested, she does not immediately accept her fate.

The narrative does not provide access to Anne’s thoughts or feelings in the lead-up to her death since these events are portrayed from Cromwell’s point of view, but she seems to realize her mistakes, as Cromwell concludes that “she has lost [Henry] and no court of law will judge her more harshly than she judges herself” (302).

Jane Seymour is an important secondary character responsible for the inciting action in the plot because Henry’s attraction to Jane (and hope that she could bear him a son) motivates him to try to extricate himself from his marriage to Anne. Although Jane is the object of Henry’s desire, she is presented as modest, unassuming, and not sexually alluring: “[S]he is a plain young woman with a silvery pallor, a habit of silence, and a trick of looking at men as if they represent an unpleasant surprise” (11). Throughout the plot, Jane remains quiet, demure, and submissive, a foil for Anne, who is much more assertive and sexualized. Little insight is provided into Jane’s thoughts and feelings, despite major events occurring around her. She is passively obedient to men and their desires. At the end of the novel, Jane is married to Henry and elevated to Queen of England. However, Anne’s execution only days before hints at the dangerous and precarious position into which she has been placed. Historically, Jane is the third of Henry’s six wives and dies after giving birth to Henry’s only legitimate son, Edward, who rules as King Edward VI.

Gregory Cromwell is Thomas Cromwell’s young son and only surviving child. Gregory works alongside his father and is being trained to one day occupy a powerful position at court. Gregory is intelligent, observant, and curious about the world around him. Because he is young and has not faced as many hardships as his father, he is innocent and trusting. Cromwell observes that “when Gregory says, ‘Are they guilty?’ he means, ‘Did they do it?’” (367). This highlights the theme of the Ambiguity Between Truth, Lies, and Rumors: In contrast to Gregory, Cromwell does not care what is objectively true, only which narrative is most advantageous. Gregory balks at attending Anne’s execution, but his father insists, explaining that “if you can go through it with a steady countenance, it will be remarked on and it will be much in your favor” (390). This disagreement reveals that Gregory is still more sensitive and less pragmatic than his father. He does end up witnessing the execution, and by the end of the novel, Gregory has become more worldly and cynical due to the education his father has provided.