The Other Boleyn Girl
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The Other Boleyn Girl is a historical novel by British author, Philippa Gregory, which is based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat, Mary Boleyn. Reviews were mixed; some said it was a brilliantly claustrophobic look at the palace life in Tudor England, others weren't convinced. In 2004 an American reviewer wrote that, “For the most part, the two Boleyn sisters get on like a couple of catty sorority girls. Given the tone of the novel you're half-expecting Anne to light up her cigarette, whip out this month's edition of VOGUE and then listen to Mary take the COSMO SEX QUIZ… Scintillating, provocative historical literature... it ain't!” Even so, it has enjoyed phenomenal success and popularity since its publication in 2002 and has spawned three sequels - The Queen's Fool, The Virgin's Lover and The Constant Princess.
The Historical Inspiration
Mary Boleyn was the sister of the more famous Anne Boleyn. As such, she is usually mentioned in the numerous biographies that have been written about Anne, but never in any substantial detail.Mary, unlike Anne, was the mistress of two kings - François I of France and England's Henry VIII. She was born sometime between 1499 and 1508, probably around 1500. She was considered in those days the more attractive of the two, and was the one member of the Boleyn family who ultimately was able to avoid the controversies that led to the executions of both her sister Anne and her brother George.
She was married twice, and died in 1543. Philippa Gregory was intrigued by the story of a queen's sister who apparently has been forgotten by history, but seemed to have been the more interesting of the two sisters. Some of the novel's storyline was loosely based on the work of American historian, Retha M. Warnicke, and the books of British historian, Alison Weir. Others, however, were clear dramatic devices.
The Storyline
The story opens in 1521 when Mary's distant cousin, the Duke of Buckingham, is executed on the king's orders. His crime was daring to suggest that Henry could not produce a healthy son. A year later, Mary's elder sister, Anne returns from the French Court where she has lived as a lady-in-waiting for the last few years. Both the Boleyn girls are remarkable beauties, and Mary (despite being only fourteen years old) is already married to the wealthy courtier, Sir William Carey. Mary's life is turned upside down, however, when the 31-year-old King Henry VIII takes an interest in her. Despite being a favourite lady-in-waiting to his wife, Queen Katherine of Aragon, Mary yields to her family's pressure and reluctantly becomes the king's mistress. She is assisted in this process by her two siblings - the quick-witted George and the scheming Anne. To her father's delight, Mary falls pregnant with the king's bastard. She gives birth to two children - Catherine and Henry. However, whilst she is pregnant, Anne sets out to seduce the king and steal him away from her sister. She is successful, and the King flirts with Anne by day and sleeps with Mary by night. In the process he breaks Mary's heart, who has by now fallen in love with him.
By 1527, Henry has made up his mind to divorce his Spanish wife and marry Anne. Mary is pushed into the background and becomes the other Boleyn girl. She is reduced to being Anne's lady-in-waiting. As an act of malice, Anne secretly adopts Mary's son, stealing all legal rights as the child's mother. She becomes consumed by her ambition to be queen, not even bothering to sympathise when Mary's husband dies of the sweating sickness in 1528. Mary comes to suspect that Anne is planning to poison Queen Katherine, and has already attempted to poison a bishop who is opposed to the Boleyns' ambitions.
In 1532 Mary falls in love with a handsome servant, William Stafford, who she secretly marries. A year later, Anne becomes queen. When she discovers Mary has married a commoner, she immediately banishes her from court. Meanwhile, Mary's brother George is trapped in a miserable marriage to Jane Parker and is seeking solace in a secret homosexual affair with Sir Francis Weston. After Anne gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth in 1533, she suffers two miscarriages - being forced to abort one with a witches' potion. When Mary returns to court in 1535, she begins to suspect that the King is impotent and that Anne and George have committed an incestuous affair in order to help her conceive again. Her fears are seemingly confirmed when Anne has another miscarriage in 1536, and the foetus is monstrously deformed.
The novel now hurtles towards its conclusion. Anne is arrested in May, and so is George. He and his homosexual lover are executed as Anne's supposed lovers, Mary is uncertain what to think - knowing that people are telling lies about her sister, but also fearing that they are telling the truth. In an echo of the novel's beginning chapter, The Other Boleyn Girl ends with an execution - Anne's.
Mary lives out the rest of her life in peace, with her common-born husband, William.
Accuracy
A storm of controversy greeted the novel's release, with historians and readers outraged by some of the novel's claims. Smaller inaccuracies include things such as:
- Mary was probably the elder sister in reality
- George Boleyn was not necessarily homosexual
- Mary's two children were very likely not fathered by the king
The suggestion that she was an overly-ambitious seductress was not entirely accurate, but when the suggestion that she had committed incest appeared many were horrified. The reason being that Anne had sworn on the damnation of her soul in 1536 that she was absolutely innocent, and it seemed incredibly disrespectful to distort such a human tragedy in the name of selling books. Also, in 1542, when her brother's widow, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, was executed for her part in Queen Catherine Howard's extra-marital indiscretions, she confessed at her execution that she had falsely accused her husband George of incest with Anne.
Anne was also a generous patron of charity and she also saved many lives from the Inquisition in Europe. Furthermore, none of the sources Gregory listed in her bibliography supported the theory that Anne was guilty of any of the charges at her trial. She had used two biographies of Anne - one by the American historian, Retha Warnicke and another by Marie-Louise Bruce. Both these writers insisted that Anne was innocent, as did books by David Loades, Alison Weir and Lacey Baldwin Smith that Gregory had used when researching the story.
Other inaccuracies existed as well. Mary Boleyn was considered to be fairly promiscuous, and had been sexually active before her first marriage (and was dismissed from service in Paris because of it.) The Boleyns did not encourage Mary's active sex life; quite the reverse, in fact. Furthermore, she was at least seven years older than the novel suggested. Anne and George Boleyn were both genuinely religious, but this was not mentioned in the novel. Historically, Anne Boleyn was never involved in any poison plots or witchcraft, and this detail was possibly taken from several other mistresses of the day who were involved in acts of that nature, and simply labelled to Anne. Her involvement in black magic were simply rumours spread by her enemies in order to discredit her.
Having said that, the novel has enjoyed high commercial success. As entertaining and incredibly romantic, it appealed to popular interest in the Tudor era and in the story of Anne Boleyn's rise and fall. It has been followed by a sequel called The Queen's Fool, set during the reign of Henry's daughters, Queen Mary and Anne's daughter, Elizabeth. The story, which is told through the eyes of a Jewish soothsayer at Queen Mary's court ends with Elizabeth's accession to the throne. The Queen's Fool is being followed by The Virgin's Lover, set during the early days of Queen Elizabeth's reign, in which Gregory once again does not shy away from historical fantasy and controversy by suggesting Elizabeth ordered the assassination of Mary of Guise and Amy Robsart, the wife of Robert Dudley.
The Television Production
In 2003, the BBC made a ninety-minute drama based on The Other Boleyn Girl. Much of the novel's sub-plots were left out, including George's homosexuality. Katherine of Aragon's role was much smaller as well, and Thomas Boleyn was presented more favourably. There was a relatively low production budget of £50,000. The drama was shot using modern camera techniques, and much of the script was improvised. Jodhi May played Anne Boleyn and tried to present her in a more favourable light than the novel, but there was still a scene in which Anne begs George to sleep with her. In the movie, however, they are encouraged by Mary, unlike in the book. Only one of Mary's children is fathered by the king, unlike the two in the book.Natascha McElhone played Mary, Jodhi May played Anne, Steven MacIntosh played George, Jared Harris played Henry VIII, and Philip Glenister played Stafford. It received mixed reviews.
A movie adaptation of the book (by the same title) is planned for a 2007 release. Eric Bana has been cast as Henry VIII, Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn, Rue McClanahan as a member of the Boleyn family and Scarlett Johansson has been cast in the role of Mary.
External links
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