Examples Of Reason In A Man For All Seasons

A Man For All Seasons: The Belief in Reason The voice of reason and the desire of the heart are often two opposing forces. A Man For All Seasons illustrates this concept with its two most prominent characters: the impulsive young King Henry and the wise Lord Chancellor Thomas More. More seeks safety in his knowledge of the law, while Henry strives to alter whichever part of the ruling defies his intentions. Sir Thomas More's devotion to higher concepts like law and reason oppose much more changeable wishes of King Henry's. Thomas More is a very religious man; however, he puts his faith in law because it is a principal he can understand. "The law requires more than an assumption; the law requires a fact," More says during his questioning in
To More, God is the powerful but mysterious ocean, and the human law is his island upon which he can walk and build a shelter for himself and his family. In his quarrel with Roper, Margaret's beloved, More admits that God is "rather too subtle" and that he does not "know where he is nor what he wants" (Bolt 67). He argues that his power is in understanding the law, not the principles by which God rules. To Roper, using the sea metaphors to stand for religion, "The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find so plain sailing, I can't navigate ... But in the thickets of the law, oh, there I'm a forester" (Bolt 66). More believes that his expertise in the law will protect him, and intends to hide himself and his family in the "thickets of the
He thinks that basic laws can be stretched and modify to accommodate his needs. The fact that he asked for a dispensation to marry Catherine, his brother's widow, and then, again, for overturn of said dispensation illustrates how little regard Henry has for the Catholic law. "Is is my duty to put away the Queen ... How is it that you cannot see? Everyone else does," the King says in his conversation with More, attempting to appeal to him with public opinion rather than religious laws (Bolt 54). To King Henry, the people's position, however fickle and uneducated, is more important than the voice of reason and intellect. When More asks him why he so desires More's support, Henry answers, "because you are honest. What's more to the purpose, you're known to be honest" (Bolt 55). King Henry knows Sir Thomas's good reputation in the public's eyes, and understands that it is vital in acquiring support for his decision about Queen Catherine. If he could have More, a respectable honest man, as his ally, then his actions would also be deemed righteous. This is exactly the kind of manipulating of the truth that More is opposed