Introduction

A man of all seasons is a historical film dating back to the 16th century, and it provides us with a view of a person with a persistent heart and a strong conscience as presented by Sir Thomas. The play is showcasing one of the protracted conflicts of wills. There are denial and refusal of a man to go with the intellectual and spiritual convictions wave that come along with the king insistence. Such kinds of disagreement in ideas were usually difficult despite the pyrotechnic nature of either the opponents or the proponents. Sir Thomas, who is a highly valued and respected individual refuses to bow to the swerve and the pressure that was coming from the pope into declaring the marriage of Henry VIII the King and his wife of Spanish origin. These generate more clashes within the monarch. Sir Thomas being a devoted Catholic finds himself in a dilemma, and he stands firm by his religious doctrines and philosophies. He goes on to and leaves the royal court. Unluckily, King Henry alongside his loyalists was not pleased by this and this call for further stern actions. They went ahead and pressed charges of treason to Sir Thomas More with intentions of resolving his mind. This paper will entail a coverage of the philosophical and moral principles that can be derived from this film with a comprehensive explanation of all the moral principles citing examples as portrayed by Sir Thomas More, King Henry and the other people in the film. The paper will cover the ideas stepwise from the moral or philosophical theory, an explanation of the moral principle, reasons as to why it is a problem, how can be addressed and finally the potential challenges and setbacks that might be associated with the analysis.

Background

Thomas as a Hero of Selfhood

Thomas More is more of a symbol of an upright moral individual in society than just an average person. He finds himself between politics of the monarch hence put in a dilemma of deciding between his conscience and his welfare to prove his loyalty. Thomas is a morally upright individual and a more of church saint. The King approached him because he was considered honest and trustworthy by the states people. King Henry had the intentions of using him to convince the pope into marrying the second wife Anne Boleyn after their efforts of bearing a child heir with her first wife Catherine was to no avail. However, Thomas More belief is unshaken, and since he never wanted to take sides for the fear of his life and to be disloyal to the king, he chooses to remain silent.

Thomas More consent is of fundamental significance to the Norfolk and Henry the King, because it will create an appearance and a feel that they are moral. Other people too like Chapuys perceive him as an embodiment of good morals and as a spiritual man. However, Chapuys decides to take comfort in the element that the ideologies that Thomas symbolizes controvert the actions of King Henry. Bolt perceives Thomas as a legend of selfhood who denied sacrificing his self and betraying his morals because of a particular political situation this is defined by his conscience because he later even sacrificed his life. More is brilliant in handling the King’s situation and chooses to remain silent so that he cannot be accused of being an opponent to the King. Additionally, to keep his freedom and safeguard his family, he decides to hang up his public and political, all these with the intentions of keeping his profile low. Later he was pushed to give up his sovereignty and property to save his life. He chooses to preserves and stays true to his integrity at the cost of his life.one can also argue.

Moral Problem and Application

Robert Bolt discourses the ostensible contradictions that exist between Thomas More stern moral sense and his episodic efforts to finding a moral and legal loophole. He strongly opposes henry’s divorce, yet he remains silence in the supremacy Oath idea. He esteems God’s law beyond all the other laws; nonetheless, he again does not sham to knowing it. Therefore, he perceives laws of man as the optimum guide of action, even if at times it challenges the laws of God and let some evildoers get away with certain wrongdoings.

Thomas is Pragmatic, but not like Rich or Cromwell, at the expense of what he believes in. More sometimes portrays the picture a hypocrite; this is because he is attempting to set of scales for his respect to the law and society having his stern self-sense. To imply that we cannot understand the moral configuration of the world but rather wrap it up with a theory that focusses our energy in improving the society and ourselves.

Thomas shows his love and friendship by educating others. The film demonstrates that self-reliance cannot be incompatible with love and friendship. When More was talking to Alice and Norfolk, he clearly demonstrates that he care for them wholeheartedly as his wife and friend, respectively. In the film, he states to his wife that he would not find peace in death if he does not agree with King Henry.

Potential Problems with the Analysis

The shortcomings of this analysis might be that Thomas More does not come out as an individual who attributes to religious doctrines of any kind. He is more of existential than spiritual since he internally looks for his inspirations and does not even consider any external ideologies into guiding his actions and speech. The morals of Thomas are continually fluctuating, and he later surprises Chapuys among other characters with unexpected logicality and a sharp wit.

Thomas More is more of an unstable individual who agrees with ideas that are only within his conscience, if the ideologies are not within his conscience boundaries then he will discard it. This portrays him more of a conservative and selfish individual who cannot agree with new, better and furnished ideologies.

Conclusion

The principles in the film Man of All Seasons are comprehensive, as far as moral or physiological theories are concerned .it clearly showcased how hard it might be to keep up with upright moral standards, guilt, silence, satire, and wit. The characters Thomas More and King Henry bring out the selfhood theme in the film. The King wanted to use the Oath of Supremacy as a springboard to going above the law. However, on the other side Thomas was more of a doctrine guy who won’t do anything to go against God’s law. This drama creates the moral story that can be applied to the modern audiences and society when going through daily life experience. There are several issues that individuals have to deal with in a given society. Some can be difficult while others can be easy. While handling such situations people tend to exercise curiosity about their individual life. The circumstances might bring about various consequences depending on how the people within the society have faced it. Thomas More does not focus on his personal life but rather the life of his time era, this turns him a strong individual who is confronted with intense issues due to his choice of keeping up with his principles.

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