Hi everyone,
Recently I finished reading the book The Other Boleyn Girl from Philippa Gregory and thought I would do a quick review of it. Let me just summarize the story to you before I get to my opinions. The Other Boleyn Girl is about Mary Boleyn who is the sister of the infamous England queen Anne Boleyn who was married to Henry VIII. The book is based during the Tudor period, one of the most famous period of monarchy in England. It starts from the day, Anne Boleyn returns from French court and joins her sister Mary in the English court. There is a lot of love-hate relationship between the 2 sisters. Henry is married to Catherine of Aragon who is unable to produce a male heir for the kingdom. When it becomes apparent that Catherine will not be able to produce any more children, Henry's attention starts wavering and it falls on Mary Boleyn. Mary's family pushes her to become Henry's mistress and leave her own husband. Mary gives birth to 2 of Henry children: Catherine and Henry. But by the time the second child is born, Henry is besotted with her sister Anne and starts Pursuing her. Anne, does not consent to sleep with him until he marries her. Henry annuls his marriage with his first wife to marry Anne, this also results in England church breaking up with the Roman church giving rise to the protestant church in England. When after 3 years of marriage, Anne is only able to produce a female heir Elizabeth and is unable to produce a male heir, Henry's attention starts wavering again. This leads Anne to take desperate measures and she sleeps with her brother George in hope of producing a male heir. When the child is born, it is seriously dis formed, which leads the king to arrest Anne and he finally beheads her under the charge of incest, treason and witchcraft.
The book contradicts itself a lot. The author has made Anne look very evil while she has made Mary look extremely innocent and dumb. There are instances in the book where Anne is just plain vile and evil. She has everything and yet she wants to keep taking more from others. She actually banishes Mary from the court when she finds out that Mary has married William Stafford( a commoner ) for love, when Mary has been nothing but good to her. And yet, Mary names her child with Stafford as Anne which is weird after what Anne has done to her which makes you feel like Anne has done nothing but good to Mary, which the book doesn't show. Instances like these just prove that in reality, Mary is not as innocent as its portrayed and Anne is not as vile. When you research about Mary and Anne Boleyn, you will find that Mary was a mistress to the french king when she was younger and was hence thrown out of the France court before she came to England and became Henry's mistress. This in itself is enough proof to show Mary is cunning in her own way which the author has chosen to ignore. Also, King Henry had a son named Henry FitzRoy with another mistress named Elizabeth Blount, whom he acknowledged and made him the Duke of Richmond. But he never once acknowleged Mary's children as his own nor gave them ANY titles. This makes you feel that he never fathered Mary's children. And in history, Anne Boleyn is seen somewhat as a Key figure by feminist. In contrast the author completely makes Anne look vile. Famous historians also claim that Anne did not commit incest and it was a false charge against her to get rid of her. I am not sure about this though. He could have just annulled his marriage with her instead of beheading her if the claims were false. Also, another nagging question I have: If the king wanted to marry again only to have a male heir, then why does he not marry Mary when she gives birth to their son? and instead runs behind her sister to start the process all over again? It seems so pointless!
Having said all this, the author none the less draws light to certain subtle things. No, matter how vile she has made Anne look, there must be some truth in it, as it is not easy to bring a queen down and become a queen from a commoner. you would need to use all the cunning u have to achieve this and i am sure Anne was cunning enough to achieve the task of capturing Kings attention and holding it.
So, I can conclude that the book makes you think. And also Philippa Gregory likes to portray famous historical characters in a different light than what is known.
Recently I finished reading the book The Other Boleyn Girl from Philippa Gregory and thought I would do a quick review of it. Let me just summarize the story to you before I get to my opinions. The Other Boleyn Girl is about Mary Boleyn who is the sister of the infamous England queen Anne Boleyn who was married to Henry VIII. The book is based during the Tudor period, one of the most famous period of monarchy in England. It starts from the day, Anne Boleyn returns from French court and joins her sister Mary in the English court. There is a lot of love-hate relationship between the 2 sisters. Henry is married to Catherine of Aragon who is unable to produce a male heir for the kingdom. When it becomes apparent that Catherine will not be able to produce any more children, Henry's attention starts wavering and it falls on Mary Boleyn. Mary's family pushes her to become Henry's mistress and leave her own husband. Mary gives birth to 2 of Henry children: Catherine and Henry. But by the time the second child is born, Henry is besotted with her sister Anne and starts Pursuing her. Anne, does not consent to sleep with him until he marries her. Henry annuls his marriage with his first wife to marry Anne, this also results in England church breaking up with the Roman church giving rise to the protestant church in England. When after 3 years of marriage, Anne is only able to produce a female heir Elizabeth and is unable to produce a male heir, Henry's attention starts wavering again. This leads Anne to take desperate measures and she sleeps with her brother George in hope of producing a male heir. When the child is born, it is seriously dis formed, which leads the king to arrest Anne and he finally beheads her under the charge of incest, treason and witchcraft.
Having said all this, the author none the less draws light to certain subtle things. No, matter how vile she has made Anne look, there must be some truth in it, as it is not easy to bring a queen down and become a queen from a commoner. you would need to use all the cunning u have to achieve this and i am sure Anne was cunning enough to achieve the task of capturing Kings attention and holding it.
So, I can conclude that the book makes you think. And also Philippa Gregory likes to portray famous historical characters in a different light than what is known.
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