A Man For All Seasons

A Man For All Seasons

In A Man For All Seasons Robert Bolt uses a lot of symbolism to tell

the story. The main character Sir Thomas More wears plain Grey clothes

which are simple, not fashionable/stylish. This symbolizes that he is

not ostentatious, only cares about God and not peoples opinions and

not boastful. Cardinal Wolsey wears bright, silky clothes that shows

he is very important and rich so he can afford these clothes. Clothes

represent your status. When Cardinal Wolsey dies his clothes are

heaped on the middle of the floor and the steward just flings them

into a basket with no respect at all this symbolizes they have no

meaning anymore and are just plain, ordinary clothes. The king’s

clothes are gold which shows that this person is the most important.

Only the king wears gold clothes and the richest things. The duke is

dressed in green to just represent who he is to every citizen around

him. For the administrator’s black and pinstripe suits are worn once

again to show status. Examples of administrators are Rich and

Cromwell. This symbolism of clothes shows a dress code for all

different types of people there are E.G poor people will wear dirty

rags which might be torn and very worn. Where as rich people like the

king, duke, etc will wear silk, gold and silver. The language used in

the play is also symbolism as when someone speaks to the king they

always say “your grace” this represents the king is very important and

has to be addressed properly. When poor people talk to Cromwell, More,

the Duke and the Cardinal they are always addressed as “Sir” and once

again represents the importance of this person. The common man puts on

the hat and coat; this shows the alienation effect. The audience has

se...

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Cromwell is letting him know that he is not doing a bad thing.

Cromwell knows that he did no wrong and so shall go to heaven. The

common man now has an identity as the headsman. When Cromwell takes

the mask from his sleeve the whole audience can see him doing it and

so again it breaks the realism even at an intense moment. This break

in reality might get the audience to think about the morality of what

is happening to More and whether they think that he should die or not,

this is exactly what Bolt wanted, the audience to be thinking about

the theory.

In Act two we are told the exact stage settings,

"Bars, rack and cage flown swiftly upwards"

This happens all in front of the audience so the idea showing the

audience that it is not real is done here, they can see the change of

scenery so it now is impossible to believe that what they see is real.