The Sun
Shakespeare returns to his favorite imagery for symbolizing the monarchy in this play; one he uses extensively throughout history plays. Early on both the Kings of England and France are referred to as “those suns of glory, those two lights of men.” The metaphorical imagery is extended as Cardinal Wolsey attempts one final time to vainly ingratiate himself back into the good graces when he urges Cromwell to return to the king with the subtle reminder that “that sun, I pray, may never set.” Throughout the play are liberally sprinkled images of Henry as a shining light of glory.
The Body
The dominant imagery of the play is that which compares nearly everything to the body. Buckingham kicks things off in the first scene by asking who arranged the hunting party in a most peculiar manner: “who set the body and limbs of this great sport together.” The peculiarity becomes less odd as the bodily imagery piles up: “these are the limbs of the plot,” ‘He dives into the king's soul, and there scatters Dangers, doubts, wringing of the conscience,” and “The hearts of princes kiss obedience, So much they love it.” In addition, affairs are said to walk and Cranmer is described as crawling into the favor of the king.
Fortune
Fortune in the sense of either being blessed with good or cursed by not being blessed is a pervasive image touched upon by many characters throughout the play. It is Buckingham once again who quickly establishes the thematic significance of the image of fortune’s favor: f”those you make friends / And give your hearts to, when they once perceive / The least rub in your fortunes, fall away /Like water from ye, never found again.” The central figure here who becomes almost the personification of the consequences of having good fortune and then losing it is Cardinal Wolsey, “the eldest son of fortune.” At least, according to his detractors. Wolsey might argue that fortune is not quite invested with all the power those who envy him suggest.
Rome
Cardinal Wolsey refers to Rome as “the nurse of judgment’ meaning that it has been the nurturer of all that anyone has learned or know about God’s judgment and mercy. To attain salvation and redemption, one must go through the Rome, the Vatican, the Catholic Church. Rome thus becomes an imagery that is shorthand for tradition and the extent of attained knowledge while at the same time representing a yoke upon the progression of Britain to establish its own identity and create its own rules for judgment of itself.
