When Worlds Collide
Robert Bolt deliberately chose a subject that would prove to be difficult for other authors but Bolt managed to get round this and write about it in a very skilful way. The problems that this play may have posed for Bolt would've been how to compress several years of history into a few hours of theatre and the idea that it is highly unlikely that a play which was written in the late twentieth century about a political argument in the fifteenth century, five hundred years earlier, would be appealing to an audience. Bolt wanted the audience to go home thinking and in my opinion they would have. Bolt does this by the wide range of dramatic skills that he used. One of the key themes of the play that Robert Bolt is trying to get across to us is the idea that "No man can serve two masters", this is proven true since both the Common Man and Sir Thomas More are not able to serve two masters. In the play the Spanish Ambassador Chapuys says to the steward (Common Man) "No man can serve two masters" Within the play this statement is proven true for all the characters, especially for the Common Man and Sir Thomas More. The Common Man, shows himself time and again that he truly serves one master and that master is himself; whereas with More
He isnīt a theoretically idealist and stands up for his faiths, he is a pragmatist. However in the play when we do have his music it was on one of his "passing" visits and we donīt see it we only hear it. This would have worked for More if the rest of the departments even the members of the church had stuck with him. Henry only cares about himself and uses his power to his advantage. He leaves everything up to his advisors and Thomas More. Sir Thomas More is not ambitious but Rich is desperate for anything. Bolt creates psychologically realistic characters because they act as we know human beings react and he makes characters more interesting by contrasting them with each other, for example Chapuys and Cromwell, both of them are trying to get the same information about Sir Thomas More. He gets what he wants and doesnīt understand much else about politics. Bolt successfully handles the problem of dealing with a large timescale of history inside three hours and does it in such a way that the audience know what year it is and can still understand what is going on. Bolts skill in the use of language is portrayed since he manages to find a compromise between 20th and 16th century language without confusing the audience too much. Throughout the play Robert Bolt wants his audience to think that constitution is the base of society and that whether the state is more important than the individual. Bolt wrote A Man for All Seasons probably without realising its relevance to modern day teenagers since teenagers need a real example of moral responsibility. Rich tries to flatter Norfolk for a job and Norfolk asks Sir Thomas More whether he recommends him but More just pints him out. I think this shows that More is different than the people against him. More has humour and sarcasm with self-clarity and a generosity of spirit.
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Acceptance Essays
