Refer to the Methuen Notes A Man for All Seasons Methuen Educational 1982 for a discussion of symbolism in this play p. 88.
Hi Cindy, Cromwell and his cronies (and I suspect, even possibly everyone in England) believed that every man had his price; that loss or title, rank and estate was a big enough price to pay for compliance, that no one would go to his death for principles. Remember the bishops fell in with Henry. But More knows this and Cromwell infers through his action that he could force More to agree because he thought every man has his limit ('price').
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Character |
Likely view on the controversy |
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Richard Rich |
opportunity to get advancement; the issue is spiritually irrelevant; it's all about where you are when the music stops; lying is a means to an end. No integrity. |
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Thomas Cromwell |
sees it as a challenge to get back at More; to act as the 'eye and ear of the King' i.e., to do the dirty work and so to win advancement and consolidate his power and position, and it worked. He introduces the Machiavellian element into English politics at the highest level. Is he too cut and dried in the film, made into a ogre? After all, history is the working out of difficult politics. |
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Cardinal Wolsey |
should be embarrassed but was not; English not Roman; a pragmatist and used to bullying others to get his way. More was 'foolish' to oppose him at the Council. Saw himself as a statesman who could do this for the King if he needed to; meeting the dictates of the Roman church was not the issue for him; would try to use this opportunity to enhance his estates and wealth further but died too soon. |
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Thomas Cranmer |
a late starter and an image of the lukewarm, groveling churchmanship of the new order; a loser too. |
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Characteristic |
More |
Rich |
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personality, temperament |
ascetic, restrained, unflappable |
appetites, go for it, unpredictable to himself |
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behaviours, actions, words |
measured, Christian, public |
self seeking, whining, secretive, |
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principles, agendas |
traditional, brave to defy, "big picture' conscience |
unprincipled, like so many at the time |
I have to write an essay on "who is responsible for More's death?" Can you help ? Responsibile, causes, blame
Causes or "blame" comes in at four levels: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/4CAUSES.HTM
material formal efficient and final causes:
final cause - the overall final outcome: the problems of overall moral laxity, general compromise everywhere in England is the social political setting or a cause in itself as it causes More's silence and eventual death because he felt he had to challenge it more than even the bishops would. Final cause looks at inevitability of trends and with More the outcome would indeed be to chop his head off as he taunts Cromwell to do. The final cause or end cause identifies how the progress of events caused this very outcome.
a material cause is the nature of More himself -it all happened in this body, that it was his personality/make-up/formation/ temperament that caused the silence and eventual death; it did not happen to others, it required such a noble, innocent, keen, urbane, courageous and informed man to do what he did. the material cause is that the crucible of these historical events resides in More uniquely
the efficient cause - the act, word, cue that acts as the immediate cause fuse to light the fire is the demand to swear to the bill; all the wider and closer factors narrowed in on this outcome would More swear or not. The timing and response all depended on the coalescence of many local and remote factors which could be seen as causing it. They all come together in this one single and significant demand on More. To swear or not to swear is the efficient cause.
the formal cause is the pattern or shape of things, events, personalities and circumstances that elicited this remarkable response from More. Defining the formal cause identifies that these events would not happen other than with Henry and More and Cromwell. These three in particular created circumstances and the situation for the eventual outcome, they informed the shape of the outcome. The failure of the aristocracy and bishops to contain Henry, the situation pf a king in a feudal society, the influence of the Renaissance (tussle of new versus old ways of thinking), the legal nature of the dispute, the growing definition of monarchy versus parliament, the uncertainty of the Tudor dynasty (remember the Wars of the Roses were only freshly over), and all these factors "cause" or are to blame for what happened. Formal cause describes and shapes the kind of response that happened - so it was a religious and legal process for More not say a crisis of parliament, or a lower versus upper class debate. More's resistance to Henry's dissolution of the monastries act should not be discounted in al this too.Without a powerful surge of public disapporval, More felt he had to take a stand and defined it a personal conscience.
Hope this helps.
Greg
It is overstating to call it cruelty though-
He deprived himself of the comfort of home and family, he took the higher moral road to answer honestly before God. Alice had Margaret to care for her. Alice was very self reliant being from Smithfield London markets -butchers?
Suggest you take each accusation in turn and deal with them separately
That he was assailed on both sides both by friends and enemies is testament to his strong will.
More pointed out the fallacy in his call to "Come with us for friendship's sake."
because everyone has a conscience (NB key term in this play) and is responsible individually to God. Everyone has to take responsibility for his actions; it was not enough to go with the crowd.
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Trait |
AMFAS |
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main character |
indecisive, introspective, human |
decisive, deals with doubt, not without pain, much stronger than human |
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atmosphere |
revenge, death calls |
sustained tension, threatening |
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comic relief |
actors visit, |
boatman, little really, very serious play |
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supernatural |
ghost, mention of creator, superstitious sense |
presumed, post Christian understanding of presence, higher rule of conscience |
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audience's expected reaction |
England is an unneeded garden; lacking in morals, indecisiveness, power of cowardice, evil happens when good men do nothing. |
need for heroic stand, power of principle, fickleness of the times, fruits of optimistic relativism. |
On the significance of Thomas More today: First note he is being studied today 400 years later. Bolt's play (1960) touched a nerve at his time and this site attests to your Faculties' belief that he is worth studying now in the 21st century. The play may be dramatically flawed but the message is perennial. We all need a moral exemplar and he is one who took his stand to the ultimate. See comparisons and comments on this point in these pages. Hamlet & Gatsby, foolish