I thought the TV show held up well considering, but it suffered from not having Bernard Hill as Norfolk and Mark Gattis as Gardiner. My friend agrees that Rylance is miscast, but I could listen to him read the phone book. Overall a remarkable piece of drama, given how much other trash is produced.
I love Mark Rylance but I find him unconvincing as Cromwell. Not big or scary enough! As Claire Ivins said elsewhere in the comments- Ray Winstone is more in the ballpark of how I imagine Cromwell. Damien Lewis was a great young Henry, but harder to believe in as old, corpulent Henry. But my main quibble with the casting was how they cast all the female roles as modern babes. It's a matter of historical record how these people looked- Mary Tudor, for instance, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour- although I do love Claire Foy, and I couldn't help enjoying her Anne.
I also agree with your assessment of The Mirror and the Light as bloated- it is the weakest of the trilogy, Wolf Hall the strongest.
I feel Rylance is a great Cromwell. I never see him as a brute even though he does brutish things. He is calculating and shrewd, and can do the unthinkable when strategy (and his king) demand. Ambitious, yes. But also disdainful of the aristocracy and the Church hierarchy. He’s anti-elitist while aspiring to the elite, which makes him fascinating to me. Rylance captures that simmer under the surface.
I enjoyed your review immensely and agree with you on almost everything, but particularly your analysis of Rylance’s strengths and weaknesses as Cromwell. He’s a wonderful Cromwell in so many ways and I love him, but indeed, he is not the one we know from the book. Is there anyone living who can do both what Rylance does to convey Cromwell’s stillness and the missing carnality and gusto (a bit of Danny Dyer, Ray Winstone?)? Perhaps Gary Oldman? Mantel’s depiction of Cromwell led me to think too well of him, to ignore his darker side, and I think it was to a large extent her depiction of his love for Liz and his dead daughters, his constant attempts to recreate a living and thriving family around him that had that effect on me, but of course that’s completely illogical as even the worst human beings can love and cherish their spouses and children.
Excellent review, but I think it is remarkable how the prose of the third volume is on a different level than that of the first two. The book is too long, but almost every sentence is worth reading. Never flashy or baroque, it is as impressive an achievement of prose style as I have encountered since Penelope Fitzgerald.
Really lovely review, thank you. I enjoyed the tv show despite the odd casting of Rylance for Cromwell, who looks like a night club bouncer in ermine in the Holbein painting. I have not read the books, the Richard Rex take down put me off. But I might add them to my reading list after this review, so much lovely writing. Thank you!
I have just concluded the year-long slow read of the trilogy, our journey being expertly shepherded by Simon Haisell on his Footnotes and Tangents Substack. I think your review of The Mirror and the Light here (and the overview of the first two books that you provide in your review) is the most insightful analysis of Mantel's magic I have read. Thank you! I do have two minor quibbles, both pertaining to minor factual errors: first, Cromwell has had a series of small dogs, all named Bella, since he was a boy, so he is not entirely a "cat person" as you say; second, Chapuys, although a Savoyard (and therefore a Frenchman by nationality), serves not the French king Francois, but the Spanish "Holy Roman" Emperor Charles V, who is Katharine of Aragon's nephew and thus Mary's cousin.
Thank you, Sayandev! Your quibbles are quite right: Cromwell does have dogs (but then, he takes in all sorts: he doesn’t, I think, have hunting dogs the way Norfolk does) — and my mistake about Chapuys was clumsy. I’ll adjust the post.
Also- the country estate Cromwell is walking in after death would be, I believe, Launde: a abbey in Leicestershire which he covets but doesn't own. In the final passage of the book it is Launde in Winter, in the snow, that is mentioned; but in the text of the book it represents his fantasy of escape from his fate- bees in Summer etc. He daydreams that he will take it for himself and retire there. (I had to leave England before watching the final two episodes, so I am just going on your description in this essay.)
Thank you for this. I am 200 pages from finishing The Mirror and the Light, and then must wait til March for the BBC production to air in the US. Sigh.
I like Rylance very much, and he gives Cromwell the sensitivity you mention. But it is Mantel’s writing that astonishes. The passage describing the early morning he is due to be inducted into The Order of the Garter, when he stands in the gutters under the palace, among the filth required to run the Court, gave me the shivers.
Thanks for this, Adam. You mention Rylance’s wonderful acting, but there is another, equally accomplished interpretation. I’ve just finished listening to ‘The Mirror and the Light’ audiobook, in which Ben Miles (who played Cromwell in the stage version) does astonishing work of the gorgeous prose. It also has a lovely discussion between Miles and Mantel at the end, where they relate their collaboration in producing the audio versions of the trilogy.
Thank you for the illuminating comments. I agree with you about Rylance being miscast: for me his acting is all stillness, Mantel's Cromwell is all energy. Do you have anyone in mind who would be better? But I'm enjoying the adaptation nevertheless. I'm not sure why you think pockets are an anachronism - I have found an article on the internet that says they were about in the late 15th Century increasing in popularity in the 16th. Or it Cromwell thinking about the habitual use of pockets rather than as an interesting novelty?
This is the model of an excellent and intelligent review. Thank you.
I thought the TV show held up well considering, but it suffered from not having Bernard Hill as Norfolk and Mark Gattis as Gardiner. My friend agrees that Rylance is miscast, but I could listen to him read the phone book. Overall a remarkable piece of drama, given how much other trash is produced.
I love Mark Rylance but I find him unconvincing as Cromwell. Not big or scary enough! As Claire Ivins said elsewhere in the comments- Ray Winstone is more in the ballpark of how I imagine Cromwell. Damien Lewis was a great young Henry, but harder to believe in as old, corpulent Henry. But my main quibble with the casting was how they cast all the female roles as modern babes. It's a matter of historical record how these people looked- Mary Tudor, for instance, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour- although I do love Claire Foy, and I couldn't help enjoying her Anne.
I also agree with your assessment of The Mirror and the Light as bloated- it is the weakest of the trilogy, Wolf Hall the strongest.
I feel Rylance is a great Cromwell. I never see him as a brute even though he does brutish things. He is calculating and shrewd, and can do the unthinkable when strategy (and his king) demand. Ambitious, yes. But also disdainful of the aristocracy and the Church hierarchy. He’s anti-elitist while aspiring to the elite, which makes him fascinating to me. Rylance captures that simmer under the surface.
I enjoyed your review immensely and agree with you on almost everything, but particularly your analysis of Rylance’s strengths and weaknesses as Cromwell. He’s a wonderful Cromwell in so many ways and I love him, but indeed, he is not the one we know from the book. Is there anyone living who can do both what Rylance does to convey Cromwell’s stillness and the missing carnality and gusto (a bit of Danny Dyer, Ray Winstone?)? Perhaps Gary Oldman? Mantel’s depiction of Cromwell led me to think too well of him, to ignore his darker side, and I think it was to a large extent her depiction of his love for Liz and his dead daughters, his constant attempts to recreate a living and thriving family around him that had that effect on me, but of course that’s completely illogical as even the worst human beings can love and cherish their spouses and children.
Excellent review, but I think it is remarkable how the prose of the third volume is on a different level than that of the first two. The book is too long, but almost every sentence is worth reading. Never flashy or baroque, it is as impressive an achievement of prose style as I have encountered since Penelope Fitzgerald.
Really lovely review, thank you. I enjoyed the tv show despite the odd casting of Rylance for Cromwell, who looks like a night club bouncer in ermine in the Holbein painting. I have not read the books, the Richard Rex take down put me off. But I might add them to my reading list after this review, so much lovely writing. Thank you!
That's a fine piece of imagery; A nightclub bouncer in ermine
Amazing review.
Such a perceptive review. Wonderfully rendered.
Thank you!
I have just concluded the year-long slow read of the trilogy, our journey being expertly shepherded by Simon Haisell on his Footnotes and Tangents Substack. I think your review of The Mirror and the Light here (and the overview of the first two books that you provide in your review) is the most insightful analysis of Mantel's magic I have read. Thank you! I do have two minor quibbles, both pertaining to minor factual errors: first, Cromwell has had a series of small dogs, all named Bella, since he was a boy, so he is not entirely a "cat person" as you say; second, Chapuys, although a Savoyard (and therefore a Frenchman by nationality), serves not the French king Francois, but the Spanish "Holy Roman" Emperor Charles V, who is Katharine of Aragon's nephew and thus Mary's cousin.
Thank you, Sayandev! Your quibbles are quite right: Cromwell does have dogs (but then, he takes in all sorts: he doesn’t, I think, have hunting dogs the way Norfolk does) — and my mistake about Chapuys was clumsy. I’ll adjust the post.
Also- the country estate Cromwell is walking in after death would be, I believe, Launde: a abbey in Leicestershire which he covets but doesn't own. In the final passage of the book it is Launde in Winter, in the snow, that is mentioned; but in the text of the book it represents his fantasy of escape from his fate- bees in Summer etc. He daydreams that he will take it for himself and retire there. (I had to leave England before watching the final two episodes, so I am just going on your description in this essay.)
Oh I hadn't realised that: that's interesting.
Thank you for this. I am 200 pages from finishing The Mirror and the Light, and then must wait til March for the BBC production to air in the US. Sigh.
I like Rylance very much, and he gives Cromwell the sensitivity you mention. But it is Mantel’s writing that astonishes. The passage describing the early morning he is due to be inducted into The Order of the Garter, when he stands in the gutters under the palace, among the filth required to run the Court, gave me the shivers.
Agreed: wonderful writing.
Wish I had space in my life to read these.
Thanks for this, Adam. You mention Rylance’s wonderful acting, but there is another, equally accomplished interpretation. I’ve just finished listening to ‘The Mirror and the Light’ audiobook, in which Ben Miles (who played Cromwell in the stage version) does astonishing work of the gorgeous prose. It also has a lovely discussion between Miles and Mantel at the end, where they relate their collaboration in producing the audio versions of the trilogy.
Thank you for the illuminating comments. I agree with you about Rylance being miscast: for me his acting is all stillness, Mantel's Cromwell is all energy. Do you have anyone in mind who would be better? But I'm enjoying the adaptation nevertheless. I'm not sure why you think pockets are an anachronism - I have found an article on the internet that says they were about in the late 15th Century increasing in popularity in the 16th. Or it Cromwell thinking about the habitual use of pockets rather than as an interesting novelty?
This last, yes: the phrasing is not a specific reference to pockets I think, but a way of saying "take all your money". But I may be being pedantic.