A Man for All Seasons Data Sheet
Title of Text: A Man for all seasons______Author________________
Date of Publication________________
Characterization
Name and Role in the
Text
Sir Thomas More:
Sir Thomas More is the lawyer of England. He is the only honest and unbiased voice, and attempts to stay silent throughout the play. He is Vice Chancellor of
England and former friend of the King.
Cromwell: Cromwell is the principal antagonist in the play. He works his hardest to imprison or condemn more and place accusations against him from the king. Margaret:
Margaret is the loyal daughter of Sir Thomas
More and plays
Significance
(to plot, theme, other characters) Adjectives
Moore is the key figure on the play for the role of moral ambiguity.
Instead of doing what’s morally wrong or speaking against the king he tries to stay silent. His beliefs don’t have a big enough price.
Honest
Quiet
Appropriate
Cromwell has major contribution to the plot because he achieves his goal of convicting
Moore of treason, ironically, using the debate of morality in his favor. Cruel
Manipulative
Deceiving
Hypocrite
Margaret unlike her
Educated
mother is educated. She Objective is in love with William understanding roper. She is close to her father and there is mutual trust. Margaret is the one who removes the chain from her father, which shows her role in the play as a
whole.
Richard does not listen to his conscience and only lets his ambition drive his actions, which shows that complete difference between him and
Moore. He also betrays
Thomas who tried to help him in the first place.
Ambitious
Liar
Selfish
Malleable
Alice shadows all of Moore’s plans and decisions throughout the play. Despite this she can not go through with taking off the chain of chancellor off Richard. She values his life too much and does not agree with what he is doing.
Loyal
Outspoken
Stubborn
The Common man
The common man represents and is a mixture of qualities hat you can find in all humans. He narrates the play and is found as various characters and representations. The common man is also always wearing black.
The common man relates to the major theme of the play“the consequence of silence.”
His characters usually just obey or go along and do not speak, and suffer the consequence. Immoral
Opinion-less
Irresponsible
Norfolk
Norffolk is Mores assistant and is not the brightest. He actually gets tricked into getting more on trial and does not have bad intentions.
Norfolk also plays a huge rule in advancing the play because his actions get
Moore into trial. This leads to the end of the pay and finalization of everything.
Innocent
Naïve
Impulsive
Goodhearted
Richard Rich: A man in the play that is ambitious as is one of the first we see in comparison to Thomas
Moore.
Alice
Alice is Moore’s wife who is uneducated and extremely outspoken. The opposite of
Moore who strives for silence. She is a very ambiguous character because she loves society but has a constant struggle in her mind. Setting (time and place)
Symbols/Motifs/Re-occurring
Imagery or Metaphors
A Man of All Seasons took place from
1529 to 1535, when More was appointed Lord chancellor until the time of his executions. Taking place in England, King Henry was the king and was trying to get the support for his marriage to Anne Boleyn, which also meant his divorce from
Catherine. The two main p[laces the novel occurs is the Court in Hampton in act 2, more’s home in Chelsea.
The River is also an important and representative setting as well as
Chelsea and the Tower of London, which held so many executions throughout history.
Memorable Quotations
A man for all seasons shows how
Moore starts his downfall in the play, however it is of status and not of morality. As he falls Richard rises, but through corruption which makes him a worse person at the play progresses. There
