Shakespeare used his Roman plays to explore the interplay of greatness and frailty, and of public and private interests, in the free political arena of a republic. Returning to England for his last political play, Henry VIII, he continues this exploration but takes it in new directions. Once again we are under the aegis of a monarchy: the political system is fixed, its central office clear. The underlying security of the state is if anything greater than in the earlier history plays, since Henry’s right to hold his office is not questioned for a moment. The pressure put on Shakespeare’s Plantagenet kings is not put on him. This may help to account for the relaxation, the lack of urgency, the avoidance of conflict, that make this play a striking departure from its predecessors. The high and low views of characters like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Cleopatra, like the views of Coriolanus as wartime hero and peacetime nuisance, were brought into tense opposition, and struck sparks off each other. Henry VIII also combines high and low views of its characters, but in a manner that is more eclectic, tolerant and accommodating. The realistic and idealizing manners we have followed through this study shade delicately into each other here.