Theme Analysis:

A Man for All Seasons - Robert Bolt

Financial vs. Moral Richness

Over the course of the play, Thomas More’s fortune falls metaphorically (as he falls out of the King’s
graces) and literally (as he becomes poorer as a result of his lower social standing). In contrast, More’s
onetime friend Richard Rich becomes wealthier and wealthier from scene to scene—the two men’s
relative fortunes are mirror images. Although from the outside Rich looks like the more successful of the
two men, Robert Bolt demonstrates appearances can be deceiving, by contrasting monetary wealth with
rich morals. A polished, luxurious appearance does not represent a pure heart. Instead, More’s relative
poverty and Rich’s relative wealth represent the opposite of their moral standings.

As Thomas More becomes increasingly committed to his moral position, his social standing decreases.
More begins the play affluent, with many servants, fine clothing, and the ability to gift fine goods, like
the silver cup he passes on to Rich. Rich, who has an eye for luxury, even comments that he wants
“some decent clothes,” specifically a gown like More’s. However, More doesn’t value material goods.
When his fortunes fall he is unperturbed, since his conscience is more important to him than physical
objects and social power. Although his house is cold and food is scarce, he refers to what little he has as
a “luxury.” More’s misfortune is more difficult on his family, but he tries to comfort them by saying,
even “at the worst, we could be beggars and still keep company, and be merry together!” In his mind,
wealth means nothing without his family and personal values, and his family and his values are enough
to support him even in the absence of conventional riches.

As Richard Rich sacrifices any morals and personal integrity, he is rewarded with gold, titles, and power.
In his very first scene, Rich comments that any man can be bought for the right price. Throughout the
play, he proves he can be purchased, as there is nothing he won’t do for the proper payment. Each time
Rich reenters, his status has grown by degrees. In the first scene he remarks how he doesn’t want to be
a teacher because “who would know it?” Although he does not say it, Rich likely also does not want to
be a teacher because he wants the bribes that come with a more prestigious position. Soon after Rich is
working for Norfolk, but trades information about More (who secured him his position with Norfolk)
with Cromwell for an even more prestigious position. In his final appearance, during which Rich lies
under oath, the stage directions note that he is “now splendidly official, in dress and bearing.” During a
moment in which he essentially condemns More to death with a lie, Rich, now the Attorney General of
Wales, is the richest he’s ever been. More even comments upon it, asking his former friend, “For Wales?
Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world…But for Wales!”

Throughout the play characters attempt to bribe each other with money, power, and status. For most, a
bribe is powerful enough to override any previous loyalties or moral reservations. More is one of the
only characters who cannot be swayed by offers of luxury, and although he is forced to suffer, he never
weakens. He is even concerned with appearing to have taken a bribe. He tells his wife, Alice, that he is
unwilling even to take charity from the church, because (despite that they are not paying him for his
writings) “It would appear as payment.” Others have less integrity. More’s Steward sells secrets about
him for money, as does Rich. Still others, notably the Common Man as the Jailer, note the true cost of
bribes. He refuses an offer to report anything More says in prison. The Jailer realizes that taking the
bribe would temporarily benefit him, but it would also involve him in a complicated, potentially deadly
situation. He remarks “fifty guineas isn’t tempting; fifty guineas is alarming…if it’s worth that much now
it’s worth my neck presently.”

When it comes to Thomas More and Richard Rich, monetary wealth indicates a lack of morality. Rich,
whose name even suggests his eventual economic status, has no morals or conscience. As a result, he
happily takes bribes, and gains money and power. Thomas More, in contrast, values a moral richness
over a worldly one. He doesn’t necessarily despise money, but he would rather feel spiritually rich and
true to himself than keep a well furnished, impressive home. Although accepting bribes works out for
Rich in the short run, the Jailer points out that monetary gain can be a stepping stone on the path to the
gallows, and More worries that although accepting bribes can lead to a comfortable life, they would
damn him in the afterlife.

The Meaning of Silence

In A Man For All Seasons, silence is powerful, but only because it is open to interpretation. Thomas More
uses silence as a tool to protect himself and his family, believing that silence is truly neutral. By speaking,
he knows he will incriminate himself, whereas by keeping silent he hopes to remain innocent in the eyes
of the law. Unfortunately, to Cromwell, and—more importantly—to Henry VIII, silence is not neutral; it
is both malicious and (eventually) treasonous. There is no single agreed upon meaning of silence, and
therefore silence represents something different for each of the characters. Because its meaning is
changeable, silence can easily be manipulated by those in power.

Thomas More does not want to go against the King, but his conscience prevents him from signing the
Act of Supremacy. In silence, More finds a compromise. He can keep his conscience clean, and not
incriminate himself, even as he opposes the King. More means his silence to be a truly neutral response
—one not meant to cause offense, but also not meant to signal approval. Before he is imprisoned, More
tells Alice “in silence is my safety under the law, but my silence must be absolute, it must extend to
you.” He believes that, in refusing to take a stance on the King’s marriage, he cannot be persecuted for
going against it. By his logic, if he never says anything against the King, people will assume he’s a fully
supportive subject. During his trial, More argues that “Silence is not denial.” When Cromwell insists that
his silence has “betokened” or indicated some opinion, More responds that his silence should have
indicated consent, if anything. He uses the Latin legal phrase “qui tacet consentire,” or “silence gives
consent.” Based on this reasoning, by staying silent, More agreed that King Henry has a right to the
throne and his title. More acknowledges that he is being punished for his silence, which, ironically, he
hoped would protect him. Though he continues to use silence as a neutral response, he understands
how it can be, and has been, misinterpreted.

Cromwell distinguishes between different types of silences. He chooses to interpret More’s silence on
the validity of the King’s marriage to signify disapproval and denial of the King’s power. Cromwell is
aware that More’s silence speaks louder than words. At first, he is sure that More will “line up on the
right side,” but he is still upset that More will not outright voice his support for the King. Norfolk
wonders why, if More is “silent, why not leave him silent?” to which Cromwell responds, “This ‘silence’
of his is bellowing up and down Europe!” Although More intended his silence to be inconspicuous, it
instead is interpreted nationwide as an opinion in itself. Cromwell argues that every man in the court
and every man in the country knows More’s opinion of the King’s title even though More has not spoken
a word. Therefore, Cromwell argues, More’s silence isn’t silent at all.

Also notable are the numerous characters who stay silent, or remain inactive, when they could speak up.
More’s conviction comes not only because Cromwell found enough people to speak against him, but
because no one chose to speak up in his favor. Although More’s fate is more or less sealed going into
the trial, the nail in the coffin is Richard Rich’s testimony. Rich testifies that More claimed “Parliament
has not the competence,” suggesting that More does not believe in the power of the Parliament. More
did not say this, and so by inventing this lie—by choosing not to be honest about More’s silence—Rich
kills his former friend. Later, the jury is given the opportunity to consider the evidence, but instead they
give a guilty verdict without discussion. In this moment, silence indicates a lack of critical thought. This
lack of critical thought represents a desire to keep in line with Cromwell and the King. Once again,
silence contributes to More’s conviction.

More uses silence as a shield. Unfortunately, though, silence becomes as dangerous as a voiced opinion,
because in the absence of speech his motives are left open to interpretation. Silence can potentially act
as a shield, but few of the characters that have the opportunity to remain silent and save a life do so.
Instead, silence becomes a weapon, useful for whoever has the most persuasive interpretation.

Conscience, Integrity, and Reputation

Consciences are personal moral compasses that help a person tell right from wrong, but in A Man For All
Seasons, private moral codes become public spectacles. King Henry’s guilty conscience over his
(potentially illegitimate) first marriage causes him to demand that the public, and Thomas More,
comfort him and assuage his guilt. More’s conscience, which acts as a religious compass, steers him
towards his eventual death, because he cannot go against his deeply help convictions, even if doing so
would calm the King and save More’s life. Conscience is linked, then, to personal integrity. More, who
trusts his conscience, has great personal integrity, while Cromwell, who is more self-serving and has less
personal integrity, distrusts conscience. Cromwell at one point argues that he often hears criminals talk
about their consciences, suggesting that Cromwell associates any reference to personal conscience with
personal guilt.

Thomas More is guided by his conscience. He is a man of great integrity, and he acts in a manner that he
believes is right and just, even in the face of opposition from the King himself. More’s conscience is
more important to him than his reputation, material wealth, and even his personal safety, because his
conscience is linked to his religion, and disobeying his conscience would be, for More, like disobeying
God. During his trial, More argues “In matters of conscience, the loyal subject is more bounden to be
loyal to his conscience than to any other thing.” Here, More is arguing that loyalty to his conscience is
more important than loyalty to the King.

Further, More believes that public officials can and should be guided by their consciences. He states “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.” He sees a conscience as something solid and moral, a
compass strong enough to guide a ruler in governing his country. When More refers to “public duties”
he doesn’t mean the wellbeing of the people, but instead public reputation. Throughout the play More
stands by his assertion that staying true to one’s own values is more important than giving in to public
pressure.
More also notes that everyone has their own personal conscience, and that what may seem moral or
right to one person will not necessarily seem so to another. When Norfolk pressures More to sign the
act, he reasons that More should see the other people who have already signed it and “come with us,
for fellowship.” More counters that “when we stand before God” Norfolk will be “sent to Paradise for
doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine.” What Norfolk
did doesn’t damn him, according to More, as long as his conscience allowed him to sign the act. But
More’s conscience will not allow him to sign it, and therefore he will not.

Henry’s conscience, and the consciences of the people of England, are troubled by Henry’s second
marriage to Anne Boleyn. Although the King and Parliament have rewritten the laws of the land and the
church, lingering guilt over his first marriage and divorce weigh on Henry’s mind. Bolt notes in the
prologue that Henry’s first marriage “added a bad conscience,” because it was forbidden by the Bible to
marry one’s brother’s widow. The King’s desire to have More acknowledge the nullification of his
marriage, then, seems to be related to his need for a clean conscience. Cromwell later states, “The
King’s a man of conscience and he wants either Sir Thomas More to bless his marriage or Sir Thomas
More destroyed.” This doesn’t seem much like the traditional conscience that helps a person tell right
from wrong. Instead, the King’s conscience here is looking for validation. He wants More to agree with
him that his conscience should be clear, which will help make it so. Cromwell and Henry are interested
in their own definition of conscience. In the same scene, Cromwell uses the circular logic that “If the
King destroys a man, that’s proof to the King that it must have been a bad man, the kind of man a man
of conscience ought to destroy—and of course a bad man’s blessing’s not worth having.” As opposed to
More, who lets his conscience guide him towards what he feels is right, Cromwell and the King use
conscience as a convenient way to justify their behavior.

Thomas More’s commitment to his conscience inspires all of his actions throughout the play. In an effort
to keep his conscience clean, and to adhere to his strict religious beliefs, More tries to stay true to
himself in the face of external pressures. Similarly, many of King Henry’s actions are motivated by his
attempts to clear his guilty conscience—he worries that his marriage to Catherine is illegitimate, and
that he is sinning by remaining her husband. The King persecutes More so aggressively because he
wants More’s blessing, a blessing that will clear his conscience and potentially save his soul. However,
the King’s conscience is also tied to public opinion—he does not want to be seen as living in sin, and a
pure conscience will lead to higher popularity among his subjects. In contrast, More’s reputation is
secondary to his conscience. He doesn’t care what people think of him as long as he knows he is
following his heart.

Man’s Law vs. God’s Law

Thomas More values law and order. He uses the law to work out personal and moral dilemmas, and uses
it as a rational shield against Cromwell and the King. Although More is religious and hopes to be
rewarded for his moral behavior in the afterlife, religion and God’s laws are sometimes confusing to him.
Bolt uses the symbols of water, tides, and the sea to represent religion and the afterlife because water is
“the largest, most alien, least formulated thing I know.” In contrast, man’s laws are like dry land, easy to
navigate, stable, and safe. A religious man and a lawyer, More orders his life by the laws of man because
he understands them, but he ultimately allows his public life to fall apart when it becomes clear to him
that man’s law and God’s law have diverged. To More, it is more important to obey his conscience,
which is accountable to God’s law.
More relies on laws to orient himself in a society that is falling apart. When he can no longer count on
his fellow public officials to obey religious laws or even personal moral codes, he turns to laws created
by men as a final line of defense. Bolt writes in the preface, “If ‘society’ is the name we give to human
behavior when it is patterned and orderly, then the Law extending from empirical traffic regulations,
through the mutating laws of property, and on to the great taboos like incest and patricide is the very
pattern of society. More’s trust in the law was his trust in society…” More describes the country as being
“planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man’s laws, not God’s” and wonders “if you cut them
down…d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow them?” He sees man-
made laws as the last structures keeping English society in place. He believes they are important to
abide by, because without them the world would fall into chaos. This is at least partially due to More’s
lack of faith in his countrymen’s religious devotion. He jokes to Norfolk that “the nobility of England, my
lord, would have snored through the Sermon on the Mount.” But even as More appreciates the way law
shapes and clarifies behavior, others believe More is twisting the law to his own ends. Cromwell accuses
More of “perverting the law—making smoky what should be a clear light,” while More counters that the
law is objective, and cannot be used to obscure. He says, “The law is not a ‘light’ for you or any man to
see by; the law is not an instrument of any kind. The law is a causeway upon which, so long as he keeps
to it, a citizen may walk safely.”

Surprisingly for a religious man, More does not govern his life according to the law of God. The ins and
outs of religion are almost too complex for him to consider. He says, “The currents and eddies of right
and wrong, which you find such plain sailing, I can’t navigate. I’m no voyager. But in the thickets of the
law, oh there I’m a forester.” Christian law is also what has caused much of the conflict in the first place,
since it states that a man cannot marry his brother’s widow, which the Pope overturned to allow Henry
to marry his first wife Catherine. However, when Henry wants to divorce Catherine, he decides his initial
marriage was in fact unlawful. Thomas More’s conflicting feelings come as a result of this backtracking—
should he heed the Pope’s amendment, or Henry’s insistence that the Pope is wrong and without the
authority to make such a decree? Midway through the play, in response to Roper’s accusation that
“law’s your god,” More admits that he finds God too “subtle.” More values religion, but in times of
duress he prefers man’s laws to religion, which is more difficult for him to comprehend.

Although a reader would expect God’s law to govern the lives of the characters in A Man For All Seasons,
the men and women are instead split between closely observing man’s law, or else no law at all. More,
the lawyer, finds solace in the neat order of manmade laws, which he tries and fails to use to protect
himself against Cromwell’s attacks. Cromwell, Rich, the King, and others, meanwhile, seem bound to no
laws at all. They work in their own self-interest, or in the interest of the King, who operates above all
legal systems, privileging instead his own whims and desires and framing them as law.

Friendship

In A Man For All Seasons friendships, which are traditionally sources of comfort and joy, instead become
dangerous. The Duke of Norfolk, for example, is put in danger by his friendship with Thomas More, as it
leads the King and others to assume that the Duke shares More’s traitorous opinions. Other friendships
are harmful because they come with expectations—the King calls More his “friend,” and uses this
connection to sway More politically. Still other friendships pose a threat because they come with no
expectations at all—Richard Rich sees his friendship with More only as a way to personally advance
himself. When it’s convenient, he happily denies his relationship to More, selling him out again and
again. Friendship, then, is a loaded term in the play—characters use it to refer to personal relationships
as well as professional ones; it stands in for political alliances, and can be used as a tool of political
pressure.

Richard Rich’s friendships are almost always lopsided. At first, More believes the two are true friends,
but Rich sees the friendship as a stepping stone to higher ranking acquaintances. In their first scene
together, Rich wonders if he should say he has the “friendship of Sir Thomas More,” or “acquaintance.”
More easily responds that they have a friendship, but Rich describes himself as being “A friend of Sir
Thomas More.” By saying “friend of” instead of “friends with” he shows how one sided the friendship
truly is. Rich doesn’t see himself as having any obligation as a friend, instead expecting More, who is
higher ranking, to help him. Later, Cromwell assumes Rich and More are old friends. Rich is reluctant to
admit they are friendly, first saying “He isn’t really my friend...” and then explaining that More just
recommended him to the Duke, as though the favor was not directly related to the two being friends.
Rich worries that if Cromwell thinks he feels any affection towards More, Cromwell will be less likely to
help him climb the social ladder. Rich also tries to become friends with Cromwell, but just as Rich had
been hesitant to declare himself friends with More, Cromwell says Rich can call them friends “If you
like”—yet he never describes Rich as a friend. For Cromwell, political alliances are more important than
friendship.

The King refers to Thomas More as a friend, but the two are so unevenly matched in power that they
could never have a true, reciprocal friendship. In fact, the King wants More to feel as though he has an
obligation to keep him happy. When political pressure does not immediately change More’s behavior,
the King hopes the pressures of friendship will cause More to weaken. The King thanks God “I have a
friend for my Chancellor,” though suspects More is “readier to be friends, I trust than he was to be
Chancellor.” This is true. More is engaged in a balancing act—he does not want to upset the King, but he
wants to stay true to himself. By introducing the concept of friendship, the King makes it extra difficult
for More, who is now disappointing the King both politically and personally. In the same vein, Alice
cautions More to “stay friends” with the King—meaning that More should stay in the King’s good graces,
politically as well as personally.

More and Norfolk are close friends, but their camaraderie proves dangerous for Norfolk when More falls
out of the King’s good graces. Cromwell even uses Norfolk’s friendship with More to threaten Norfolk,
warning that he will “tell the King of your loyalty to your friend,” which will send a signal that Norfolk is
loyal to More and not to Henry. Later, Norfolk confronts More about his behavior. He argues that More
is not considering how his behavior affects his friends, and tells More he is “dangerous to know!”
Although More values his friendships, he values his integrity even more. When Norfolk confronts him,
More responds that they can simply stop being friends, and Norfolk will then be safe. More insists he
still feels deeply for Norfolk, but that they should just agree to stop being faithful to each other.
Although he is the one at risk, Norfolk has difficulty breaking off an acquaintance so easily. Even later,
when Norfolk has solidly aligned himself with the King as opposed to More, Norfolk looks out for his old
friend and tries to ensure he’s being treated with some dignity.

A Man For All Seasons takes place in what Norfolk describes as “a world of changing friendships.”
Friendships are often unreliable, and when they are reliable they’re dangerous. Bonds of friendship are
taken to signal political alliances, or else exploited for gossip. For More especially, friendships are often
toxic and even deadly. The most important, stable relationships in his life are the bonds of family, which
cannot be as easily manipulated for personal gain.

Important Symbols:
-Water, Tides, and the Sea
Bolt uses many forms of water and water-related objects (the ocean, tides, the currents of the river,
boats) to represent the often unknowable nature of religion and morality. Unlike human laws, which are
represented by dry land, good and evil, like the ocean, are impossible to fully understand. Thomas More
describes the law as a forest in which he is a competent forester. In contrast, when describing “the
currents and eddies of right and wrong,” More claims that he cannot navigate and is no voyager.

-Dry Land
Dry land exists in contrast to water, tides, and the sea. It represents society and the laws of mankind, as
opposed to the laws of religion or personal morality. Dry land is unchanging, predictable, and safe.
Thomas More relies upon human law to protect himself, when he feels like religion is too complicated
and open to various interpretations.

-The Silver Cup

This cup stands in as symbol of corruption. Thomas More receives the cup as a bribe before the play
begins, but immediately gives it to Richard Rich, who happily accepts it. More does his best to follow his
conscience and not let outside forces influence him. In contrast, Rich is happy to accept bribes and
compromise himself if it means his social status will continue to improve.