Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 81

Although two men form the bookends for this section, women actually played at least as important a role. One of the great ironies of English history deals with Henry VIIIHenry VIII’s desire to have a son, a desire so strong that he was busy marrying, divorcing, beheading wife after wife most of his life. His only son, the weak and sickly Edward, barely reigned before dying and leaving the throne to Henry’s two daughters, Mary TudorMary I, Tudor and Elizabeth. And yet another Mary from a different dynasty, the Stuarts, was also to play a role far more important than many of the males of the time. Sounds like a great soap operasoap opera? I remember being hooked as a child on the very popular BBCBBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIIISix Wives of Henry VIII (with six episodes, one for each wife) and Elizabeth RElizabeth R (with a dazzling Glenda JacksonJackson, Glenda as the first Elizabeth); thirty years later another hit televisiontelevision series The TudorsTudors, The made history come alive for audiences in the UK, the US, and in GermanyGermany.