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Eliza Barton, “The Maid”
Harry Percy is the Earl of Northumberland. He fell in love with Anne Boleyn when she first appeared in court. The two even took vows in front of some witnesses, but at Cardinal Wolsey’s prompting, Percy’s father threatened to disown his son unless he broke off his alliance with Anne. Wolsey declared that the Boleyn family was not noble enough to marry into the Percy family, and Harry was instead married to Mary Talbot. Years later, after Wolsey is accused of treason, it is Harry Percy who is sent to arrest the cardinal from his palace at Cawood near York, so Cromwell suspects that this is Anne Boleyn’s way of getting revenge on Wolsey for breaking up her relationship with Percy and insulting her family. After Harry Percy’s father’s death, he claims that he still loves Anne and that they were in fact married in front of witnesses, which makes his marriage to Mary Talbot invalid. Cromwell threatens him with financial ruin if he doesn’t recant his words, since his claims will offend the king and ruin Anne’s chance to be queen. Cromwell takes great pleasure in doing this because it is his way of taking revenge on Percy for arresting Wolsey. Percy swears on a Bible in front of the king and his council that all his earlier claims about Anne were untrue, and he is allowed to return home.
Harry Percy Quotes in Wolf Hall
The Wolf Hall quotes below are all either spoken by Harry Percy or refer to Harry Percy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: Chapter 2
Quotes
“All along, we were misled, […] because when the king said, Mistress Anne is not to marry into Northumberland, I think, I think, the king had cast his eye on her, all that long time ago.”
[…]
“I wonder,” he says, “how it can be that, though all these people think they know the king’s pleasure, the king finds himself at every turn impeded.” At every turn, thwarted: maddened and baffled. The Lady Anne, whom he has chosen to amuse him, while the old wife is cast off and the new wife brought in, refuses to accommodate him at all. How can she refuse? Nobody knows.
[…] “How has my lord cardinal…” Missed a trick, he wants to say. But that is not a respectful way to speak of a cardinal.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Harry Percy Quotes in Wolf Hall
The Wolf Hall quotes below are all either spoken by Harry Percy or refer to Harry Percy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: Chapter 2
Quotes
“All along, we were misled, […] because when the king said, Mistress Anne is not to marry into Northumberland, I think, I think, the king had cast his eye on her, all that long time ago.”
[…]
“I wonder,” he says, “how it can be that, though all these people think they know the king’s pleasure, the king finds himself at every turn impeded.” At every turn, thwarted: maddened and baffled. The Lady Anne, whom he has chosen to amuse him, while the old wife is cast off and the new wife brought in, refuses to accommodate him at all. How can she refuse? Nobody knows.
[…] “How has my lord cardinal…” Missed a trick, he wants to say. But that is not a respectful way to speak of a cardinal.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
