Elizabeth Bear, the author of the book Range of Ghosts writes, “If you could disagree with kings, were gods so far above?” Bear compares the power of a king to that of a god by saying, those who dare to oppose their king are also challenging their god. On the same token, Thomas More’s disapproval of King Henry the VIII's divorce indicates that More holds the true authority. In Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, the author characterizes Thomas More as honest, inflexible, and moral to demonstrate how righteous leadership is the most powerful.
First, Robert Bolt, the author, demonstrates Thomas More with an honest reputation to illustrate the table turning point of his role as a Church leader. At the beginning of the play, Sir Thomas More is described …show more content…
In the play A Man for All Seasons, the jailer says “Better a live rat than a dead lion”(Bolt 127) meaning that it is better to live immorally than to die as a moral man. To start with, More reveals to the reader that he is a moral Churchman as he had never accept bribe before. Although More had accepted the silver cup from the woman, he gets rid of it right away once he realized it is a bride(Bolt 7); This shows that he is a leader with moral unlike most Catholic Chancellors. It seems as though that More tells Rich that he wants to get rid of the silver cup to set an example for Rich; More does not want Rich to be corrupted. In the play, the silver cup represents corruption and immorality that More wishes to excavate. Furthermore, More is willing to sacrifice his reputation to protect his family from becoming dishonest. When Alice asks More why he is keeping his opinion a secret even to his family, More says “ A man would need to be half-witted not to trust you but- (Impatiently) Look- (He advances on her) I'm the Lord Chief Justice, I'm Cromwell, I'm the King's Head jailer --and I take your hand (He does so) and I clamp it on the Bible, on the Blessed Cross (Clamps her hand on his closed fist) and I say: ‘Woman, has your husband made a statement on these matters?’ Now-on peril of your soul remember-what's your answer?”(Bolt 94). Through More’s words, it is clear that Thomas More keeps …show more content…
Now a day, it is hard to find someone like Thomas More because everyone choose to only cause troubles that are widely acceptable. We as human are sometime scared of raising our voice and saying the controversy so we choose to become an alive rat. Yet we have never think of the fact that alive rats will die too. The jailer reads from the envelope“ With reference to the old adage: Thomas Cromwell was found guilty of High Treason and executed on 28 July, 154o." as an alive rat, Cromwell is also executed for High Treason, this prove to us all that even alive rats do not live that long. If we will die either way, why not chose to take control of our lives and live like a dead lion? Is it not better to live with candidness, morality and unbending principles? Chose to become a dead lion and a righteous leader because after all we only live
First, Robert Bolt, the author, demonstrates Thomas More with an honest reputation to illustrate the table turning point of his role as a Church leader. At the beginning of the play, Sir Thomas More is described …show more content…
In the play A Man for All Seasons, the jailer says “Better a live rat than a dead lion”(Bolt 127) meaning that it is better to live immorally than to die as a moral man. To start with, More reveals to the reader that he is a moral Churchman as he had never accept bribe before. Although More had accepted the silver cup from the woman, he gets rid of it right away once he realized it is a bride(Bolt 7); This shows that he is a leader with moral unlike most Catholic Chancellors. It seems as though that More tells Rich that he wants to get rid of the silver cup to set an example for Rich; More does not want Rich to be corrupted. In the play, the silver cup represents corruption and immorality that More wishes to excavate. Furthermore, More is willing to sacrifice his reputation to protect his family from becoming dishonest. When Alice asks More why he is keeping his opinion a secret even to his family, More says “ A man would need to be half-witted not to trust you but- (Impatiently) Look- (He advances on her) I'm the Lord Chief Justice, I'm Cromwell, I'm the King's Head jailer --and I take your hand (He does so) and I clamp it on the Bible, on the Blessed Cross (Clamps her hand on his closed fist) and I say: ‘Woman, has your husband made a statement on these matters?’ Now-on peril of your soul remember-what's your answer?”(Bolt 94). Through More’s words, it is clear that Thomas More keeps …show more content…
Now a day, it is hard to find someone like Thomas More because everyone choose to only cause troubles that are widely acceptable. We as human are sometime scared of raising our voice and saying the controversy so we choose to become an alive rat. Yet we have never think of the fact that alive rats will die too. The jailer reads from the envelope“ With reference to the old adage: Thomas Cromwell was found guilty of High Treason and executed on 28 July, 154o." as an alive rat, Cromwell is also executed for High Treason, this prove to us all that even alive rats do not live that long. If we will die either way, why not chose to take control of our lives and live like a dead lion? Is it not better to live with candidness, morality and unbending principles? Chose to become a dead lion and a righteous leader because after all we only live