Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

I finished ‘Wolf Hall’ on Friday and have passed it along to my mum, in the hope that she’ll like it just as much as me (sadly I think she is currently writing off ‘Nation’ but I think ‘Wolf Hall’ is much more her thing). I’ve already talked about some particular aspects of the first 300 pages of ‘Wolf Hall’ so I think I’ll just do a general wrap up of any other issues I found interesting.

Writers can tell the story of Henry and his wives chronologically, relying on the fact that the period has a thrusting plot line built in for them. It would be hard for any writer to make this particular period in history seem dull, or rob the plot of its pace, it’s a gift of a dramatic set up, that just keep on giving.

What Mantel has done differently is to make ‘Wolf Hall’ focus entirely on the character development of Thomas Cromwell. The novel may sometimes seem to be preoccupied with the action at court, as Cromwell becomes involved in the king’s business, but really this novel is concerned with showing how Cromwell develops, then how his character affects his family and shapes England. One of the most quotable lines from ‘Wolf Hall’ must be that "the fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms…”, a thought that reflects the novel’s curiosity about people. The action almost seems to happen around Cromwell’s thought processes and his daily life, instead of appearing to drive his movements. It is decadent to be allowed to indulge in the detailed development of one character, but the novel doesn’t feel slow despite its lengthy preoccupation with the small details that create a character.

Mantel has taken a standard revisionist line with Cromwell’s story, changing the characters who are usually the saints of the story, into sinners and giving those without a voice room to speak in their own words. Revisionist history has been popular for years with historians and with novelists, but for some reason Cromwell has never received much sympathetic revisionist treatment. This is possibly because raising him up means, to some extent casting down Katherine of Aragon, who is a gigantic symbol of women’s oppression by men. Cromwell is the councilor who facilitates the dissolution of her lawful marriage after all and it seems unlikely that readers can support him without deserting the feminist cause.

I think Mantel understands the impossibility of supporting both Cromwell and Katherine, so she has framed the story in a way which almost avoids acknowledging Katherine and her troubles. Mantel has accomplished this so skillfully that I didn’t fully realise that I was being asked to abandon Katherine for Cromwell, until near to the end of the book. Katherine does not often feature actively in the novel and when she does she is extremely unpleasant to the main character, who readers have been strongly encouraged to support. It’s a sly trick to re-revise history, so that it favours men again and one that I can’t say I really approve of, but it is probably the only way to tell this story from Cromwell’s point of view without throwing historical accuracy into a volcano.

Side lining Katherine allows Mantel to show that Katherine isn’t the only person whose has a story that has been brushed aside and obscured. Cromwell’s poor background offers a great motivation for his enemies to defame his character at the time and to portray him as the evil advisor in historical records. ‘Wolf Hall’ is a convincing claim for Cromwell as a historical figure who has been silenced because of his background and because he proudly championed his class. A logical case is offered for the Protestant religion as a social movement, that aimed to free the underclass from the influence of priests and I have to say this argument moved me, even though I’m not religious at all. While the leaders of the reformation are shown in a balanced way and their faults are illuminated, Mantel’s argument is clearly that their good intentions should be recognised alongside the executions and persecution the reformation is famous for.

‘Wolf Hall’ is well written, convincing and takes an equally deep interest in character, structural experimentation and plot. One minor problem, Thomas Moore’s death is very anti-climatic and it takes ages for Cromwell to let the reader know it’s happened, but as his execution takes place in the last few pages of the book it’s not such a problem (unless you really hate Moore by then). Now, when can we expect the second part of the trilogy?

If you've reviewed this book please leave a link in the comments and I'll add your review at the bottom of my post.

Update: I meant to say that the publisher, Fourth Estate, has printed this book on FSC paper from sustainable forests. Good going Fourth Estate!

Other Reviews

Cornflower Books
Paperback Reader
Medieval Bookworm