Man for All Seasons

¶ … Man for All Seasons

Conflict of Conscience

In the play "A Man For All Seasons" the primary conflicts are those of conscience. The central point of the play is that a person who sacrifices his or her conscience is also sacrificing something in his or her being. A person must be whom he or she is and must stand firm in his or her beliefs regardless of the consequences.

This theme is repeatedly and emphatically demonstrated in the following situations:

More resigned his post as Lord Chancellor due to Henry's stance toward the Catholic Church.

He refused to take the oath that acknowledged the complete sovereignty of Henry and Anne over church and state resulting in his imprisonment in the Tower of London, as well as his indictment for treason.

At the time during the trial that he could have saved his own life by simply acknowledging Henry's right to ecclesiastical power, More refused to do so. Instead, he maintained his defense that he had said nothing.