A Man For All Seasons
Fred Zinneman's film, A Man For All Seasons, based on the play by Robert Bolt, is a very good account of the conscientious stand of Sir Thomas More during a very short period of time during the English Reformation. It focuses on the time when King Henry VIII seeks a divorce from his queen, Catherine of Aragon. Zinneman recreates renaissance politics while giving viewers interesting character developments in the persons of Thomas More, King Henry, More's wife, daughter, son-in-law, and Cromwell. The cast of actors is top notch: Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Dame Wendy Hiller, and Susannah York. An historical drama, it is a very good story of how one man withstood the pressure from a powerful king and his officials during a powerful political time and kept his integrity intact by following his conscience, doing what he felt was right for him as an individual. His principles would not allow him to swear an oath in support of the Act of Succession of 1534, which was an act of parliament by which Henry declared himself the "Supreme Head of the Church of England" , and thus, allowed him to divorce Queen Catherine. Queen Ann was to be acknowledged as his queen and their offspring to be heirs to the throne. In April, 1534, Mor
Cromwell worked behind the scenes to set More up for high treason, punishable by death. The film used this example to show how corruption was present among the King's officials. People strived to better their social position because of greed coupled with ambition, as seen in the subplot of Richard Rich starting as the son of a butcher, becoming a scholar under More's tutelage, and then filling various official posts as he compromised with Cromwell and agreed to perjure himself in order to condemn More at his trial and at the same time, become Attorney General of Wales. At the end of the film, it mentions that Cromwell and Archbishop Cranmer were executed but Rich became Chancellor of England and was never executed. The director provided the viewer with a great sense of 16th Century England colourful life with his attention to detail, architecture, costume, language and design. Zimmeman presented a small period of historical time in the latter part of medieval England, the beginning of Reformation England, 1529-1535. His focus was on an expansive interpretation of the philosophical/heroic stand of an admired historical man, Sir Thomas More. He touched superficially on the other historical events at the beginning of Reformation, which was the cause of More's moral stand.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Henry VIII, Oath Succession, Chancellor England, Considering Leviticus, Sir Thomas, Hampton Court, English Church, Susannah York, England Cromwell, Ann Boleyn, individual conscience, sir thomas, church england, king henry, head church england, swear oath, male heir, historical drama, chancellor england, head church, english reformation, period english reformation, king henry viii, allow swear oath, more's moral stand,
Approximate Word count = 1708
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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