Myth and Storytelling Theme Analysis

Wolf Hall is a historical novel in which the author has fleshed out historical facts and characters with her imagination—she has imagined their loves and fears, their motivations and conversations. The novel is an imagined history, and Mantel consciously draws attention to this fact by frequently alluding to storytelling, mythology, and the theater in the novel. By pointing out repeatedly that the characters are just that—characters—Mantel reminds readers that Wolf Hall is just one version of events, and that ultimately, any record of history is just one version among many—that is, every history is also a kind of myth.

In several sections in the novel, Thomas Cromwell thinks of various people around him as being like characters in a play. This is one way in which Mantel reminds readers that the characters in the novel are playing parts. For instance, when Cardinal Wolsey is thrown out of his house after falling out of favor with the king, Cromwell thinks of them all as being “figures in an allegory of Fortune. Decayed Magnificence sits in the center. Cavendish, leaning at his right like a Virtuous Councillor, mutters words of superfluous and belated advice[.]” Even at moments in the story in which Cromwell is emotionally invested—like this one in which he witnesses the disgrace experienced by the cardinal—he is able to distance himself and view the scene with wit by describing it theatrically. Here, when he thinks of it as an allegory, he seems to see the situation with humor and clarity.

Mantel also suggests that viewing history as a kind of story can offer valuable new perspectives on the facts. When Cavendish, the cardinal’s usher, explains to Cromwell how Anne Boleyn and a young nobleman named Harry Percy had wanted to marry and the cardinal refused to allow it, Cavendish insists that he and Cromwell act out the scene like a play, with one of them playing the part of “quaking Harry Percy” and the other the cardinal. Again, the scene is a humorous one and it also serves as a reminder that stories—and histories—are versions of events that change in the telling. In comparison to Cavendish’s lively and melodramatic version of the same events, Cromwell had previously heard only “the cardinal’s chilly and dismissive rendition.” After hearing Cavendish’s version, Cromwell comes to believe that Anne detests the cardinal for breaking up her romance with Percy and is out to get revenge on him, but he hadn’t thought of this when he’d heard the cardinal’s version.

Additionally, histories and events are narrated as stories within the novel, which suggests that much goes into a history that is not strictly factual. However, Mantel implies that this does not make them less important since facts are always filtered through people’s sensibilities. For example, the novel contains a short history of England, which is a fascinating mixture of myth, magic, and fact. It begins with the 33 Greek princesses who arrived on England’s shores hundreds of years ago and “mated with demons and gave birth to a race of giants.” It continues in this same mythic tone to describe Anne Boleyn, who “appeared at court at the Christmas of 1521, dancing in a yellow dress.” Especially when read by readers hundreds of years after these events took place, Anne Boleyn in her yellow dress holds as much mythic power as the Greek princesses, and she takes her place among the various people who defined the history of England.

In another instance, Cromwell watches a play by some law students in which they satirize Cardinal Wolsey after he has been ousted by the king. While Cromwell views the cardinal with affection and respect, the law students portray him as corrupt and undignified, using bawdy humor that Cromwell finds distasteful and infuriating. However, after walking out of the play in anger, Cromwell calms down and admits to his family that the play was entertaining. Even though the ideas in the play were opposed to his own, he allows that others might hold them and that, in their own way, they are valuable too. Mantel paints this as one of Cromwell’s strengths, which highlights the broader importance of considering alternate versions and histories.

Mantel’s subject and style of narration also emphasize the possibility of various retellings of history. In many accounts of Henry VIII’s court (like in Robert Bolt’s famous play A Man for All Seasons), Thomas More is held up as a man of principles while Thomas Cromwell is vilified for his corruption. Similarly, in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey is the chief villain while he is a sympathetic character in Wolf Hall. By reversing these popular viewpoints and turning Cromwell into a sympathetic character that readers will root for and understand, Mantel seems to argue that there are always alternate histories and that it’s important to consider them.

Even though the events in the novel took place hundreds of years ago, Mantel chooses the present tense to tell their story, which makes the entire novel feel as if the events are still fluidly unfolding, rather than seeming like established facts that will remain unchanged. Through this stylistic choice, Mantel again emphasizes that there is always more to history than just what is on the page, as history depends on who is telling it.