Jane tells the reader: ‘We are ruled by a madman, and we are all so bereft of our wits that, having started by obeying him, we have gone on to do what he wants before he even asks for it, and now we are all as mad as him.ʼ
Were Jane and her fellow courtiers truly powerless to resist King Henryʼs madness? Is Jane right that ‘All that is needed to defeat a tyrant is the courage to say no?ʼ