Did Bolt portray the life of Sir Thomas More accurately? In his Preface, Bolt says he was not interested in More as a religious martyr but in More as a hero of individual conscience. He portrays More as the ideal humanist who thinks for himself. He explains that he wants to draw the lessons that …
Robert Oxton Bolt (CBE) was born in Sale, Cheshire, England, on August 15, 1924. He attended Manchester Grammar School where he became interested in history, particularly the figure of Sir Thomas More. He went to Manchester University, and later after his war service, to Exeter University. After teaching English and history at Millfield School, he …
“The Sixteenth Century is the Century of the Common Man. Like all the other centuries. And that’s my proposition.” Act One, pp. 3, 4. This line spoken by the character The Common Man, who is a narrator and plays different roles in the play, can be taken more than one way. Historically, it could mean …
Integrity Robert Bolt says in his Preface to the play that Thomas More “became for me a man with an adamantine sense of his own self. He knew where he began and left off” (p. xii). In the play More is the only character with such a sense of integrity. Cromwell tells More he is …
The Sea and Dry Land In his Preface to the play, Bolt informs the reader his main metaphors are the sea and dry land, to suggest the supernatural order vs. the human order. The sea is formless, vast, and unpredictable. The land is security, home, order, what is known. Thomas More paradoxically clings to the …
Signor Chapuys Chapuys is the Spanish Ambassador who is trying to prevent the King’s divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the Spanish princess. He believes he can get Thomas More to help him because he knows More is a loyal Catholic and antagonistic to Henry’s departure from Rome. Chapuys is responsible for fostering …
Cromwell and the Common Man change the props for the next scene. The foreman takes off his cap and puts it in the basket. Cromwell pulls a black mask from the basket and puts it on the Common Man, turning him into the executioner. He sets up the block and takes his position with his …
The Common Man takes off his jailer’s hat and puts on a juryman’s hat. He is now John Dauncy, the Foreman of the Jury. They are in Westminster with banners, heraldry, and trumpet fanfares. Norfolk addresses More as being tried for High Treason. More says he prays God will keep him in his honest mind …
The jailer wakes More. His family has come to visit. The jailer lets More out of his cell, and he enfolds his daughter in his arms. The family is poorly dressed. Alice enters on Roper’s arm. Roper is in shock at the torture device, and says what a terrible place it is. More remarks that …
Cromwell, Norfolk, Cranmer, and Rich linger in the Tower, speaking of the situation. Cromwell is worried. He says the King is getting impatient. Norfolk mentions that the King is impatient with Cromwell. Cranmer and Norfolk leave and Rich uses the opportunity to ask Cromwell for the post of Attorney-General of Wales. Cromwell says, not now. …
