A Man for All Seasons (1960)

Yesterday I spent 30 minutes grouching to my husband about certain changes being discussed at work that clashed with something in my moral makeup. But, instead of letting that be the end (or the beginning) of the matter/habit, I took it to the manager at lunch. Why? Because it's almost impossible to read this story about More and not want to do something--in the right way-- about wrong things.

But not only that, More (as presented by Bolt) argues for authenticity. Not in the bold, in your face, take it or leave it way that is brandished about on social media, but in the silent, true to beliefs, humbly doing the best that you can way that is seen in the best of men*. He makes the emotional, militant, online petition-signing, meme-sharing, armchair activist** seem hollow, volatile, and unstable.

In an unrelated thought, I wonder if this play would have worked quite as well as it did without Paul Scofield. He created this role just as much as Bolt did, embodied him with strength, humor and certainty that few, I believe, could follow. He, and Dame Wendy Hiller, are the reasons I watch the film and will probably never, even if I have the chance, see a live revival of the production. He leaves impossible shoes to fill.

* See the nice guy at the gym on the elliptical on the end, Gordon B. Hinckley, Larry A Call, etc.
**See "Slacktivist." ( )

A gift from a student ( )

This was one of my year twelve books. I don't know if I'd ever have read it otherwise, but I absolutely loved it. I haven't read it for years, simply because I read it SO many times when I was studying it, but it's an excellent play and I was lucky to get the chance to study it in such depth.

Sir Thomas More—the brilliant nobleman, lawyer, humanist, author of such works as Utopia—was a long-time friend and favorite of Henry VIII, ascending to the position of Lord Chancellor in 1529. Yet he was also a staunch Catholic, and when Henry broke with the Church in 1531 after the Pope had refused to grant him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, More resigned the Chancellorship. In 1534, Parliament passed a bill requiring all subjects to take an oath acknowledging the supremacy of England's king over all foreign sovereigns—including the Pope. More refused, was imprisoned, and finally was executed in 1535.

This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast-man's laws, not God's-and if you cut them down-and you're just the man to do it-d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Several years ago I did something stupid, not sure what. It is near certain that I knew at the time. My wife yelled at me. I deserved that, I'm sure of that in hindsight. I sat and read this in one go. It isn't historically accurate but it is compelling. ( )