Pageantry and Tableaux
Henry VIII is notable for an abundance of spectacle not typically found in Shakespeare’s history plays. In fact, if anything, this historical drama more closely resembles one of his earlier comedies. That the tableaux recreating historical events are intended to be viewed as vital symbols can be gleaned from the stark division in messaging: those covering the first half reveal the presence of evil on the march of progress while those in the last half are celebratory manifestations of the positive message that even after evil has come an insidious presence, it can still be overcome.
He's Henry the VIII, He Is...a Symbol More Than Man
King Henry himself is transformed in symbol as the monarch whose decision to join the Protestant Reformation and establish the Anglican Church not only succeeded in breaking the stranglehold of foreign influence on the affairs of English citizens, but in so doing essentially established the British national identity. The transmutation into something more than human is also intended to help gloss over the fact of that Henry’s life that served to make him somewhat less than human. In fact, the argument is often made that Henry has been stripped entirely of his humanity in the play and services its narrative solely as the personification of the symbolic greatness of England.
The Great Seal
The Great Seal itself is endowed with heavy symbolic value; anything with the stamp of the Great Seal can be trust with assurance that that the decision to mark it so came straight from the king. Unfortunately, it is not the King who is trusted with the Great Seal, but his proxy, the Lord Chancellor. Wolsey has been taking great advantage of that important disconnect, going about and stamping in the name of the King without Henry’s knowledge. The Seal becomes the symbol by which Wolsey loses the one commodity precious above else in the court of the King: Henry’s trust in Wolsey’s loyalty. The demand for Wolsey to turn over the Seal is thus far more than merely ceremonial; the transfer is essentially Wolsey stamping it one last time to seal his doom.
Katherine
Katherine is also a little less than fully fleshed out that one might expect her to be. Since her role in the play is essentially to contrast with Wolsey, she becomes the symbol of goodness and virtue who would also normally be placed in opposition to Anne Boleyn. Since it would be unseemly to drawn attention to the woman whom that symbol of all that is good in England sent to her headless death, however, Boleyn’s role as villain is given over Wolsey. For added emphasis, she has dream right before she dies that sems only to exist for the purpose of making her right with the right god. The Anglican...Protestant god.
The Sun
Any word that is drawn into the discourse as often as "sun" throughout Henry VIII must be symbolic of something. The sun is a recurring symbol throughout Shakespeare’s canon for the power and glory of the monarch. Since Henry is intended to be that symbol, it would seem that indulging in more symbolic imagery such as he does would be overkill, but any dramatist of the time would have understood that sun as a symbolic of absolute power is too efficient to just overlook.
