Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons

Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons

Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons is a provoking historical drama. Thomas More, who is considered to be an honest man, is entangled in the politics of the day and having to decide between his own welfare and his personal conscience. Thomas is an absolute saint of the church, but now he had to choose between two different kinds of loyalty. The theme seems to be recurring, regardless of the age or setting. In fact, it is the Common Man who reminds the audience "The 16th century is the century of the common man. Like all the other centuries." By performing different characters with same personalities, “Common Man” enabled the audience to understand the complexities of More’s character in the way of juxtaposition.

The Common Man in the play is actually an alienation device, which was first invented by Bertolt Brecht. Here, the Common Man is an effective device to maintain interest, interpret the action and convey the themes. He just like the Chorus in ancient Greek drama, whose role was to review the action, explores motivations and issues, foretell what might happen and explore any consequences. Both the Common Man and the Chorus relate the play to audience’s everyday life and their frame of reference in modern society. He is the linkage between the audiences and the stage. Just like how he is called, the Common Man, has all the characteristics ordinary people does. He has ordinary morals, ordinary doubts and ordinary concerns, which means he is always ready to compromise, distrustful of martyrdom and plays things low. He is the “Old Adam”, he is “us all”.

Thomas More, who is the Chancellor of England during Henry 8th, is just the opposite of Common Man. At that time, Henry and his wife Catherine had been unable to birth a boy to be the heir of England, so Henry wanted to divorce with her and marry Anne Boleyn, but cannot get permission from the Pope. Henry tried very hard to get help from Thomas More because he is known to be an honest man and had very good reputation across the whole Europe. Henry pointed out extremely clearly that “Because you are honest. What’s more to the purpose, you’re known to be honest.” However, More is a strong principled man who held his belief firmly, he was loyal to the Church, at the same time, as the Chancellor of England, he cannot be disloyal to the King.