She succeeds, alienating King Henry from Mary. Even when Mary birthing a son for him, he no longer cares. Mary is so upset with Anne, but for Anne it’s all
worth it. She still can not forgive Marry for what she did about her marriage to Henry Percy. Not only Mary, Anne’s father and uncle also worried about what Anne’s did o
Mary. They are too scared that Anne will ruin their plan. Anne really knows how to handle Henry, she shrewdly withholds sex until he
will divorce Katherine and marry her. All that Anne did just make Henry crazier about her. That’s why it not a surprise when Henry agrees, prompting a schism with the
Church of Rome. Mary gives birth to a boy, but Henry drops her at Annes insistence. Now queen, Anne bears Henry a daughter, Elizabeth. Still obsessed with
fathering a legitimate male heir, Henry begins paying attention to Jane Seymour. Anne becomes pregnant again but miscarries. In desperation, she asks her brother
George to have sex with her. Georges wife lane Parker finds out about this demand and reports it to the king. George and Anne are executed. Mary takes Annes daughter
Elizabeth and brings her up far from court.
3.4 Setting
The setting of Gregorys novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, is sixteenth-century England, beginning in 1521, with the reunion of the Boleyn sisters in King Henry the
VIIIs court and ending in 1536 with the beheading of Anne Boleyn.
This was a tumultuous time in British history. Henry VIII came to power at the beginning of this century in 1509. Four years later, Earl of Surrey, Thomas Howard
of the powerful Howard-Boleyn family in this novel defeated the Scots who attempted to invade Britain. In 1517, Martin Luther launched the Protestant
Reformation against the Catholic Church, which in turn, influenced Henry VIIIs bold
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move to claim that he, not the pope, was the head of the church in England. In 1533, when Henry marries Anne Boleyn, he is excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
On other political fronts, Queen Katherine, Henrys first wife, lost favor not only because she did not bear a son for Henry but also because her nephew, Charles,
who became Emperor Charles V of Spain, turned against King Henry by not supporting British forces in Henrys bid to take over France. Henry wanted to be king
of both England and France and was led to believe that Charles would help him in this move. However, as it turned out, Charles was interested in expanding his own power.
He captured the northern portion of France and Italy instead and claimed himself emperor.
There had never been a female monarch at this time in England, for instance. Women were taught they were inferior to men and in some cases, women were
considered the instruments of the devil. From an early age, women were taught to obey their parents without question. This belief was carried into marriage, where
women would do the same with their husbands. It was rare that a woman received an education. Jane Seymour, whom King Henry married after Anne Boleyn, could barely
read, though Anne Boleyn was highly educated. In terms of marriage, it was rare that a woman of noble birth would choose her own husband. Marriages in the nobility
were based on political or economic gain for the womans family. Royal marriages were largely arranged for political and military power. Often kings and queens did not
see one another until their wedding day. Because of the lower ranking of women, a male heir was the only assurance of passing titles and family wealth from one
generation to the other. Thus the crazed need, as perceived by Henry, for a son.
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CHAPTER IV MATERIALISM IN THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL
