Make or Mar: Hilary Mantel's Re-Imagining of Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall

Abstract

This thesis discusses Hilary Mantel's portrayal of Thomas Cromwell as a literary character in her 2009 novel Wolf Hall, building on the portrayals of Cromwell that have been in existence before the publication of Wolf Hall and on the biographies by Tracy Borman (2014) and Robert Hutchinson (2007), in order to reflect on how Mantel has shifted the negative paradigm that Cromwell has existed in both as a historical figure and a literary character.