A Man For All Seasons essays

A Man For All Seasons essays The definition of humanism is A philosophy centered on the values, interests and potential of human beings (Websters Dictionary 1984, p. 340). In the play, A Man for all Seasons by Robert Bolt, Thomas More is a humanist as he knows his own values, interests and potential, and observes those of other people. Thomas More was a man who held onto his values no matter what. Thomas More believed in what the church said greatly. The king had a dispensation so that he would be able to marry Catherine. When the king wanted a divorce without a true reason, Thomas More wouldnt throw his beliefs away and refused to say that he agreed with the divorce. When Thomas More refused to swear to the act he was put in prison. He was charged with high treason and was beheaded. Thomas More saw that the people in his country held no value on being true to their religion, but he did. Hear me out. You and your class have given in-as you rightly call it-because the religion of this country means nothing to you one way or the other. (p. 122). Thomas More knew that the people had given up something they once had claimed to believe in. He knew that they gave up on what their religion said because they didnt want to stand up for it. They didnt have a high enough value on it to stand up for it. Thomas More on the other hand refuses to drop what his religion says because he believed it. I will not give in because I oppose it-I do-not my pride, not my spleen, nor any other of my appetites but I do-I! (p. 123). Thomas More was against the king getting a divorce because it was a value he held. The values that Thomas More had he held onto dearly and he wouldnt change them for convenience. He did not hold a value for popularity, he held a value because it is what he truly believed to be the right thing to hold onto. Thomas More believed that a person...