A Man for All Seasons

Ahmad Sharabiani

Rating: really liked it
A Man for All Seasons: a Play in Two Acts, Robert Bolt

A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt based on the life of Sir Thomas More.

The plot is based on the historical events leading up to the execution of Sir Thomas More, the 16th-century Chancellor of England, who refused to endorse King Henry VIII's wish to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, who did not bear him a son, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the sister of his former mistress.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و چهارم ماه ژوئن سال 2009 میلادی

عنوان: مردی برای تمام فصول؛ نویسنده: رابرت بالت؛ مترجم فرزانه طاهری؛ تهران، نشر قطره، 1385، در 200ص؛ شابک 9789643416256؛ چاپ دوم 1392؛ چاپ سوم و چهارم 1393؛ چاپ پتجم 1395؛ موضوع نمایشنامه های نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 20م

داستان درباره ی ایستادگی «سر توماس مور» در برابر پادشاه «هنری هشتم» است، که میخواهد بر خلاف قانون کلیسا، همسر خود را طلاق دهد، و دوباره ازدواج کند.؛ رودررویی پادشاه یک‌دنده با کلیسا و قوانینش، نیاز به یک قربانی دارد، و قربانی کسی نیست جز مشاور پادشاه، «سر توماس مور»، که پس از درگذشت «کاردینال»، به مقام «صدراعظمی» رسیده، و پادشاه اصرار دارد، با توجه به صداقت و اعتباری که «سر تامس مور» میان مردم دارد، وی ازدواجش را تایید کند، تا نیازی به تایید «پاپ» نداشته باشد، اما «سر توماس» که به اخلاق و اصولش پایبند است، نمیتواند تن به آن خواسته بدهد، و همه مشکلات را به جان میخرد، تا اصولش را زیر پا نگذارد...؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 13/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

booklady

Rating: really liked it
This was one of my favorite movies growing up. The rapid fire repartee left me longing for subtitles or ‘pause’ and ‘rewind’ buttons before I even knew what they were; that’s how much I hungered to know exactly what was said. Repeated viewings ensured eventual clarity; living in the Catholic city of St. Louis one was sure to catch this on late night reruns several times a year.

The book is a quick read. I polished it off in two long sittings, but will read it again. I gobbled it this time, partially because it was so good, but also because I want to share it with my Dad when I go home this weekend.

The book varies from the movie somewhat, as there are some theatrical effects which the movie does away with and grandiose things the movie adds not found in the play. However, the important thing—the amazing dialogue, Sir Thomas More’s amazing mind and wit captured so elegantly through Bolt’s writing—is all there. Finally! Having just read A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation I could see shades of that in there. Need to reread both this and Utopia to see if it is there.

ENJOY!

Jonathan Terrington

Rating: really liked it

A Man For All Seasons is a play concerned with morality, politics and the common man. It is a play that though written decades ago, holds great wisdom for the individual of today and in its own particular way utilises a known historical event to address particular issues.

The core argument of this play is whether morality and law or religion and law must be separated. Whether it should or should not be is a separate debate to this review, however Robert Bolt's argument appears to be that a man or woman must stick to their beliefs. That to do otherwise and to compromise lacks moral integrity.

The suggestion through the play is that morals can be seen as just a gesture. And any gesture is of course not important when contrasted against any form of legality. However, the protagonist of the play, Thomas More, takes the stand that morals are above the law, not mere gestures, for they define a man. And a man's self is all he has in the end according to More. To that end morality comes over man made laws because to More morality essentially stems from God.

The history of this play was defined in the preface by the author. Many will know the popular version of the story, of how Henry the VIII decided to first marry his brother's widow Catherine, getting the Pope to change laws based on Biblical ideals, and then to divorce her in favour of one Anne Boleyn. All of which led to the known history of Henry VIII's wives of course. That aside, the means by which he divorced Catherine is what forms the real conflict of the play. For Henry VIII decided that the Pope was nothing but a Bishop of Rome rather than God's representative as was thought at the time. As such this lead to Henry VIII deciding that all bishops (including the Pope) were under the ruler-ship of a King and then he appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury which led to the formation of the Anglican Church - the Church of England. The rest as they say is history.

Thomas More as a character in this play, stands in opposition to these acts by the king. He presents the view that the Magna Carter protects the Church from the throne as well as indicating that God and his representatives are above the throne. Everything boils down, therefore, to More refusing to swear an oath despite his children telling him that surely words mean nothing if not meant in the heart. And yet More, dramatically refuses to swear this oath for to swear a false oath before God would be a grave compromise.

It is fascinating how political this play is, (view spoiler)[and also that it features an execution with a set conclusion - with a rigged trial (hide spoiler)] considering that so much pageantry surrounds politics (view spoiler)[and trials (hide spoiler)]. It is also fascinating that the main narrator for the play is called the Common Man and plays a variety of roles, occasionally breaking the fourth wall to speak to the audience. The most interesting aspect of this character is that he does nothing to prevent the disaster that occurs in the play, hinting that Bolt is aiming to show his audience that when the common individual does nothing to prevent it, tragedy will triumph.

A Man For All Seasons is the story of a man who essentially does not bow to others putting pressure on his beliefs in regards to politics, religion and one state Marriage (a marriage that Henry VIII argued semantically, was invalid). Whether we are meant to be that man for all seasons is a question for the reader or observer to consider. The key issue of importance appears to be that one should recognise what they can do to prevent disaster from striking.

Feel free to debate any of these issues in the comments section. As long as all comments are civilised I'm certain they will prompt interesting discussion.

Melindam

Rating: really liked it
I'm currently listening to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and will have to re-read this play as well.

I know I loved it on first read many, many years ago, but I may re-evaluate.

Jonfaith

Rating: really liked it
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 law, for my own safety's sake.

Several years ago I did something stupid, not sure what. It is near certain that I knew at the time. My wife yelled at me. I deserved that, I'm sure of that in hindsight. I sat and read this in one go. It isn't historically accurate but it is compelling.

James Madsen

Rating: really liked it
This is two gems in one: The play itself is unforgettable, and Bolt's introduction is equally so. As Bolt, explains, why did he, a rationalist who is Christian only in the broadest cultural sense of the term, take as his hero a Catholic saint? The answer is More's simultaneous enthusiasm for life in the here and now with his immovable commitment to an idea and to ideals for which it would be no question in his mind to sacrifice the life that he loved so dearly. Bolt thinks that the key lies in More's idea of his self and ponders whether any society without a transcendent basis for the idea of selfhood can generate the kind of commitment that More had. I have my own ideas on selfhood and its importance even if there ends up being no transcendent foundation for individual identity, and I think that even if it turns out to be true that what we call the self is only a temporary assemblage of synaptic connections, the sense of self is a vital element that needs to be individually recognized and explored and delimited before any search for transcendence can be realized. At any rate, I applaud this book, one of my very favorites for decades, and Bolt's introduction. As J.R.R. Tolkien once suggested in his own introductory comments to Smith of Wootton Major, introductions should be read *after* the first reading of the main text; so read the play first, then read the introduction. Then read the play again, and be sure not to miss the Academy Award-winning 1996 movie adaptation, in which Paul Scofield reprised his role in the West End production of the play. Truly a play for all seasons!

Claire

Rating: really liked it
I'm not going to lie. After reading this book, I'm a little bit in love with Sir Thomas More.

You can't help it after reading Robert Bolt's play, though. He's so witty and charming and kind and gentle, yet so passionately certain of what is right and wrong and what things are worth dying for. King Henry VIII is such a great character in this play, such an overly-jovial spoiled baby, that More looks even more noble by comparison. (In my head I picture him looking a little bit like Clark Kent. I don't know why.)

Bolt's preface to the play, talking about how he came to choose this particular subject matter when he's not even really a Christian, is almost as interesting and compelling as the play itself; he describes how he came to More with an outsider's eye and without really being able to believe in what More believed, he was still struck by the firmness of More's commitment to stand by the oath he swore, even knowing that it meant death at the hands of the King who was once his best friend.

This play has one of the best courtroom scenes in all of modern drama, rivaling anything in "Twelve Angry Men."

Gary

Rating: really liked it
A Man For All Seasons This review is dedicated to prisoners of conscience and those who swim against the tide by putting their own consciences first This play revolves around Sir Thomas More who out of his own religious and political conviction refuses to endorse the divorce of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon .As a result he is condemned to die but refuses to renege right up to his executioner is a universal work which embodies the principals of freedom and conscience; the self-assurance to do what one knows to be right regardless of swimming against the . tide. In the age of political correctness it is as important to stand firm on ones own convictions and sense of right and wrong no matter what the consequences More refuses to bow down to the maxim that `every man has his price' and is an early political dissident -the forerunner of so many true prisoners of conscience throughout .More can be seen as the Danton , the Pastor Niemoller , the Lech Walesa the Vaclav Havel or one of the countless persecuted dissidents in dictatorships existing today such as Zimbabwe , Iran, North Korea and Red China I 'But it is far more than just a political work -it is full of human emotion and explores human theme it is wonderful to see how More' s wife and daughter stand by him to the end And the biting humor of the narrator presented as The Common Man adds a special quality to the play much like Shakespeare's Fallcroft A Man For All Seasons is definitely a literary masterpiece

Diana Long

Rating: really liked it
For those who are history buffs this is a play about Sir Thomas More and his refusing to submit to pressures of Cromwell to recognize the union of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn against the Roman Catholic Church. The play was intense and shows a man, More, who actually loved his sovereign but loved God more. The fact that More never spoke out against Henry and the charges against him were manufactured and the laws misused would eventually turn More into a Saint and Martyr. I read the director's/actor's script of the play and every countenance of the characters or discourses were minutely detailed so the reader had a good concept of how the actual play should be performed. I would recommend this play as one that is well written, clearly defined characters and highly dramatic.

Eric

Rating: really liked it
One of the great stories about conscience. Would you give up your life on principle for what you believe is right?

Whether from our 21st century point of view, Thomas More was right or not matters little. The play has value as a psychological portrait of a man who digs in his heels and refuses to sign an oath for reasons of conscience, though he knows that doing so will mean his death. He doesn't want to die, and as a lawyer he tries every semantic and legalistic way to avoid his fate. But that fate follows inexorably.

Perversely, this play makes me think of Ammon Bundy and his crew, and the recent death of their compatriot LaVoy Finicum, even though I in no way believe in their cause. Unlike them, More does not take up arms against his perceived sea of troubles, but is martyred. Still, you have to consider what compromises you would be willing to make if you believed all of society had taken a wicked turn and it came down to you to make a decision to follow along or not.

In Thomas More's case, no lives were at stake in the stand he took. Only his soul, which to him was as real as anything else.

A great portrait of a time and place (16th century England). For another view of More and Thomas Cromwell, in which the hero/villain roles are reversed, see Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

And now I must start memorizing lines. I have three weeks before I open in this play. I just stepped in to play More after the previous actor dropped out.

Edit: In rehearsal, I've found it's about the sanctity of the SELF rather than any other thing.

John Dishwasher John Dishwasher

Rating: really liked it
This play balances a character of constancy, principle and conscience against a whole mob of shitheads who enjoy none of these qualities. Interesting to me is the mixture of respect and resentment that this character of conscience creates in those characters who live according to convenience and expediency. This play is probably a nice description of just about every martyrdom in every land across all the ages. And it shows why there are so few martyrs. It’s really really easy to bend your inner rules.

This is a two act play without scene breaks, which is an interesting formulation. Bolt’s use of a single character to thread together the contiguous scenes recalled to me Our Town.

Ben Loory

Rating: really liked it
this is a very famous play and i'm not really sure why. thomas more makes an inspiring main character but neither he nor anybody else ever changes and there's not a single surprise or twist in the whole play. just a straight line to martyrdom from page one. it's like one long speech about standing up for principles. it's a well-written speech, but still.

pantea

Rating: really liked it
not my first read in over a month being for school:,) i can't wait to graduate

Diabolica

Rating: really liked it
I didn't expect to like this book/play as much as I did.

Story goes, our English teacher brings in the book and has us read the super long, boring prologue. Literally, the most boring thing in the entire book. Other than that, the book/play of fly.

Set during King Henry VIII's rein, poor Sir Thomas More struggles to keep his family safe while struggling to resolve an issue against his moral conscience. It's all great. No spoilers, since it is history.

Ray LaManna

Rating: really liked it
A reread this play after some 35 years...it's still as powerful as it was 3 decades ago. I'll be attending its Broadway revival in a few weeks...this was Bolt's masterpiece.