A Man for All Seasons
"I'm breathing...Are you breathing too?...It's nice, isn't it? It isn't difficult to keep alive, friends-just don't make trouble-or if you must make trouble, make the sort of trouble that's expected. Well, I don't need to tell you that. Good night. If we should bump into one another, recognize me." (He exits). Curtain. (End of play)
Common Man
"It is perverse! To start a play made up of Kings and Cardinals in speaking costumes and intellectuals with embroidered mouths, with me."
Common Man
"Mm...Oh, when I can't touch the bottom I'll go deaf, blind, and dumb."
Common Man
50 Shillings
Amount of money Rich sold the Italian silver cup for in order to use the money to buy fine clothing
Cranmer
Archbishop of Canterbury
"I believe that you believe that. You're a constant regret to me, Thomas. If you could just see facts flat on, without that horrible moral squint; with just a little common sense, you could have been a statesman."
Cardinal Wolsey
"More! You should have been a cleric!"
Cardinal Wolsey
"No, Catherine's his wife and she's as barren as a brick. Are you going to pray for a miracle?"
Cardinal Wolsey
Mutable
Changeable
"My master Thomas More would give anything to anyone. Some say that's good and some say that's bad, but I say he can't help it-and that's bad...because some day someone's going to ask him for something that he wants to keep; and he'll be out of practice. There must be something he wants to keep. That's common sense."
Common Man
"Now, damn me, isn't that them all over!...Miss?...He...Miss?...Miss me?...What's in me for him to miss?..."
Common Man
"Oh, he's a deep one that Sir Thomas More...Deep...It takes a lot of education to get a man as deep as that...and a deep nature to begin with too."
Common Man
"The Loyal Subject...A pub."
Common Man
"The Sixteenth Century is the Century of the Common Man. Like all other centuries. And that's my proposition."
Common Man
"The great thing's not to get out of your depth...What I can tell them's common knowledge! But now they've given money for it and everyone wants value for his money."
Common Man
Matthew
Household steward of Sir Thomas More (the common man)
"I have no Queen! Catherine is not my wife and no priest can make her so, and they that say she is my wife are not only liars...but traitors! Mind it, Thomas!"was
King Henry VIII
"Oh Lady Alice, I must go. I want to catch the tide. To tell the truth, Lady Alice, I have forgotten in your haven how time flows past outside. Affairs call me to court."
King Henry VIII
"The Great Harry...I steered her, Thomas, under sail."
King Henry VIII
"Thomas, Thomas, does a man need a Pope to tell him when he's sinned? It was a sin, Thomas; I admit it; I repent. And God has punished me; I have no son..."
King Henry VIII
"Thomas, that I stand in peril of my soul. It was no marriage; she was my brother's widow. Leviticus: 'Thou salt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife.' Leviticus, Chapter eighteen, Verse sixteen."
King Henry VIII
"Well, I dance superlatively! That's a dancer's leg, Margaret!...Shall I show them, Howard?...Shall I?"
King Henry VIII
Less fastidious
Less concerned with details
"In any State that was half good, you would be raised up high, not here, for what you've done already. It's not your fault the State's three-quarters bad. Then if you elect to suffer for it, you elect yourself a hero."
Margaret More
Cleric
Priest
"But every man has his price!"
Richard Rich
"He said, 'Parliament has not the competence.' Or words to that effect."
Richard Rich
"I'm adrift. Help me."
Richard Rich
"I'm lamenting. I've lost my innocence."
Richard Rich
"It would depend what I was offered."
Richard Rich
Who NOT found guilty of high treason?
Richard Rich and the Common Man ~ They both died in their beds instead, and the common man says he hopes everyone in the audience does as well - Most selfish (Rich) died peacefully and most selfless (More) was executed ~ Richard Rich became a Knight and Solicitor-General, a Baron and Lord Chancellor
Author of A Man for All Seasons
Robert Bolt
Ascetic
Self-Disciplined ~ Example: fasting
Great Harry
Ship that King Henry VIII guided down the river
Vestige
Small remnant/Sliver
Chapuys
Spanish ambassador ~ Has an attendant
"And what would you do with a water spaniel that was afraid of water? You'd hang it! Well, as a spaniel is to water, so is a man to his own self. I will not give in because I oppose it-I do-not my pride, not my spleen, nor any other of my appetites, but I do-I!"
St. Sir Thomas More
"And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?"
St. Sir Thomas More
"At eight o'clock Lady Anne likes to dance."
St. Sir Thomas More
"For Wales? Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...But for Wales!"
St. Sir Thomas More
"I can't relieve you of your obedience to the King, Howard. You must relieve yourself of our friendship. No one's safe now, and you have a son."
St. Sir Thomas More
"I neither could nor would rule my king. But there's a little...little, area...where I must rule myself. It's very little-less to him than a tennis court."
St. Sir Thomas More
"If Wolsey fell, the splash would swamp a few small boats like ours. There will be no new chancellors while Wolsey lives."
St. Sir Thomas More
"Listen, Roper. Two years ago you were a passionate Churchman; now you're a passionate Lutheran. We must just pray that when your head's finished turning your face is to the front again."
St. Sir Thomas More
"No, sheer simplicity. The law, Roper, the law, I know what's legal not what's right. And I'll stick to what's legal."
St. Sir Thomas More
"Not so, Master Secretary, the maxim is 'qui tacet consentire.'...The maxim of the law is 'Silence gives consent.' If, therefore, you wish to construe what my silence 'betokened,' you must construe that I consented, not that I denied."
St. Sir Thomas More
"Now listen, Will. And, Meg, you listen, too, you know I know you well. God made the angels to show him splendor-as he made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man he made to serve him wittily, in the tangle of his mind! If he suffers us to fall to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle as best we can, and yes, Will, then we may clamor like champions...if we have the spittle for it. And no doubt it delights God to see splendor where He only looked for complexity. But it's God's part, not our own, to bring ourselves to that extremity! Our natural business lies in escaping-so let's get home and study this Bill!"
St. Sir Thomas More
"Oh, Sweet Jesus! These plain, simple men!"
St. Sir Thomas More
"Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you-where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast, man's laws, not God's-and if you cut them down-and you're just the man to do it-d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of the Law, for my own safety's sake."
St. Sir Thomas More
"That you should put away Queen Catherine, Sire? Oh, alas as I think of it I see so clearly that I can not come with Your Grace that my endeavor is not to think of it at all."
St. Sir Thomas More
"That's very neat. But look now...If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust, and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice, and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all...why then perhaps we must stand fast a little-even at the risk of being heroes. "
St. Sir Thomas More
"The Apostolic Succession of the Pope is-...Why, it's a theory, yes; you can't see it; can't touch it; it's theory. But what matters to me is not whether it's true or not but that I believe it to be true, or rather, not that I believe it, but that I believe it...I trust I make myself obscure?"
St. Sir Thomas More
"The nobility of England, my lord, would have snored through the Sermon on the Mount. But you'll labor like Thomas Aquinas over a rat-dog's pedigree. Now what's the name of those distorted creates you're all breeding at the moment?"
St. Sir Thomas More
"Then it's a poor argument to call it 'neat,' Meg. When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. (He cups his hands) And if he opens his fingers then-he needn't hope to find himself again. Some men aren't capable of this, but I'd be loathe to think your father is one of them."
St. Sir Thomas More
"Well...I believe, when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties...they lead their country by a short route to chaos. And we shall have my prayers to fall back on."
St. Sir Thomas More
"Yes, Your Grace. But Deuteronomy-"
St. Sir Thomas More
"You see, we speak of being anchored to our principles. But if the weather turns nasty and you up with an anchor and let it down where there's less wind and the fishing's better. And 'look,' we say, 'look I'm anchored!...To my principles!'"
St. Sir Thomas More
4,000 Pounds
The amount of money the bishops tried to bribe Thomas More with
A Defence of the Seven Sacraments
The book that Thomas More basically wrote in the King's name ~ The king was named "Defender of the Faith" by the pope for this book
Where does More go for vespers?
The chapel
John Dauncey
The foreman of the jury (the common man)
"Are you coming in my direction, Rich?"
Thomas Cromwell
"But, Gentlemen of the Jury, there are many kinds of silence. Consider first the silence of a man when he is dead. Let us say we go into the room where he is lying; and let us say it is in the dead of night-there's nothing like darkness for sharpening the ear; and we listen. What do we hear? Silence. What does it be token, this silence? Nothing. This is silence, pure and simple. But consider another case. Suppose I were to draw a dagger from my sleeve and make to kill the prisoner with it, and suppose their lordships there, instead of crying out for me to stop or crying out for help to stop me, maintained their silence. That would betoken! It would betoken a willingness that I should do it, and under the law they would be guilty with me. So silence, can, according to the circumstances, speak. Consider, now, the circumstances of the prisoners silence. The oath was put to good and faithful subjects up and down the country and they had declared His Grace's title to be just and good. And when it came to the prisoner he refused. He calls this silence. Yet is there a man in this court, is there a man in this country, who does not know Sir Thomas More's opinion of the King's title? Of course not! But how can that be? Because this silence betokened-nay, this silence was not silence at all but most eloquent denial."
Thomas Cromwell
"Get sure...No, it's not like that, it's much more a matter of convenience, administrative convenience."
Thomas Cromwell
"I think you'd make a good Collector of Revenues for York Diocese."
Thomas Cromwell
"You're the Foreman of the Jury."
Thomas Cromwell
Who was found guilty of high treason?
Thomas Cromwell, Duke of Norfolk, Cranmer, and Thomas More ~ The Duke of Norfolk did NOT actually get executed because the king died of Syphilis before he could sign the warrant ~ Most selfless (More) was executed and most selfish (Rich) died peacefully
"I am sorrier for your perjury than my peril."
Thomas More
1:00 AM
Time that Thomas arrived at Wolsey's
11:00 PM
Time that Thomas left for Wolsey's
1:00 AM
Time that the jailer came to get Thomas More to have him meet with Cromwell, Norfolk, and Cramner
"Must everything be made convenient? I'm not a convenient man, Meg-I've got an inconvenient conscience!"
Will Roper
"The Church is heretical! Doctor Luther's proved that to my satisfaction."
Will Roper
Cardinal Wolsey
~ "A big decayed body in scarlet" ~ Has "an almost megalomaniac ambition unhappily matched by an excelling intellect" - Mega~ big - Maniac~ crazy ~ Lives in "a lonely den of self-indulgence and contempt" ~ Corrupt ~ Chancellor of England - Non-royal and secular position appointed by the king ~ Like the position of Prime Minister at that time ~ Lives at the king's palace
Fortnight
2 weeks
Law
A reasonable ordinance made by proper authority must be properly promulgated for the common good ~ It's the very pattern of society
Legalist (Duke of Norfolk)
"Held together by a rigid adherence to the minimal code of conventional duty"
"Two years. During that time a lot of water's flowed under the bridge, and one of the things that have come floating along on it is... (reads) 'The Church of England, that finest flower of our Island genius for compromise; that system, peculiar to these shores, the despair of foreign observers, which deflects the torrents of religious passion down the canals of moderation."
Common Man
"Whether we follow tradition in ascribing Wolsey's death to a broken heart, or accept Professor Larcomb's less feeling diagnosis of pulmonary pneumonia, its effective cause was the King's displeasure...England's next lord chancellor was Sir Thomas More..."
Common Man
"You know the old adage? Better a live rat than a dead lion, and that's about it." (Goes on to explain which characters were found guilty of high treason and which survived)
Common Man
"You understand my position, sir, there's nothing I can do; I'm a plain, simple man and just want to keep out of trouble."
Common Man
Howard
Duke of Norfolk
Vespers
Evening prayer
Why couldn't More get a boat after leaving the meeting with Cromwell?
NO common men want to associate with him because they fear retaliation from the king (want to stay out of trouble) ~ Everyone except More who had gone against the king up to this point had been executed
Richard Rich
~ "An academic hounded by self-doubt to be in the world of affairs and longing to be rescued from himself" ~ Wants the following 3 things from Sir Thomas More: - Power - Prestige - Possessions ~ Thomas More views him as a friend, but he ONLY wants to be More's friend in order to get things ~ Thomas More offered him a job as teacher but he declined ~ More gave him the silver cup/goblet - Then, he sold it for 50 shillings which he used to buy fine clothing ~ Became the Duke's librarian but elevated his position when speaking to Cromwell by calling himself the Duke's Secretary ~ Became the Collector of Revenues for York Diocese ~ Then became the Attorney-General for Wales
Common Man
~ "Crafty" ~ "Loosely benevolent" ~ "Base humor" ~ One major purpose and goal is to pull the audience into the play ~ Has multiple roles: - Narrator - Household Steward of Sir Thomas More (Matthew) - Boatman - Publicant (in charge of the pub) - Jailer - Foreman of the Jury (John Dauncey) - Headsman
Duke of Norfolk
~ "Held together by a rigid adherence to the minimal code of conventional duty" - Legalist ~ Heavy ~ Active ~ Sportsman ~ Soldier ~ First name: Howard ~ Close, personal friend of Thomas More who is his equal
King Henry VIII
~ "The Golden Hope of the New Learning throughout Europe' ~ "Only the levity with which he handles his absolute power foreshadows his future corruption" ~ Renaissance man ~ Spoke Latin but was NO match for St. Thomas' daughter ~ Lives in Richmond
Thomas Cromwell
~ "The king's ear" ~ "A self-conceit that can cradle gross crimes in the name of effective action." ~ "In short, an intellectual bully" ~ Renaissance man (like the king) ~ Master Secretary
Will Roper
~ Future son-in-law of Sir Thomas More ~ His request to marry Margaret was NOT originally approved by St. Thomas More because he considered him a heretic since he was Lutheran - Before the play (2 years ago), Roper was Catholic ("a passionate Churchman") - He and Meg are married later in the play ~ Lawyer
St. Sir Thomas More
~ Main character ~ Has "an adamantine sense of his own self" - A man with a strong sense of his own self ~ "Hero of selfhood" ~ Good man who everyone knew was a good man - This is why the king wanted his signature on the dispensation so badly ~ Could NOT be accused of any incapacity for life ~ Man of conscience ~ Moral man ~ Ascetic ~ Lawyer ~ Lives in Chelsea
Margaret (Meg) More
~ St. Thomas More's daughter ~ Marries Will Roper ~ Fluent in Greek and Latin - Spoke Latin better than King Henry
Alice More
~ St. Thomas More's wife ~ Described by Thomas More as a "lion" ~ "Absurd at a distance" (over dressed) ~ Worships Thomas and society, and so is troubled by both of them
Catherine Anger
~ The "woman" ~ Came from Lincoln ~ Had a property case in the Court of Requests that More was presiding over ~ Tried to bribe More with an Italian silver cup/goblet that she bought for 100 shillings ~ More got rid of it by giving it to Richard Rich
4 Reasons Why King Henry Had to Leave Thomas More's
~ Tides changing ~ Court affairs ~ Anne Boleyn likes to dance at 8:00 ~ Implicit Reason~ did NOT get the answer he was looking for
How does Roper get to and from the Mores' house?
~ Walks there ~ Rides a horse from their stables back home