A Man for All Seasons
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A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt, first performed on November 22 1961.
The plot is based on the true story of Sir Thomas More, the 16th-century Chancellor of England, who refuses to endorse or denounce the king's wish to divorce his aging wife so that he can marry his mistress. The King is Henry VIII of England and his wife is Catherine of Aragon, the first of an eventual six.
The play portrays More as a man of principle, envied by rivals such as Thomas Cromwell and loved by the common people and by his family.
Paul Scofield, who played the leading role in the West End, reprised it on Broadway in 1962, winning a Tony Award, and played More again in the first of two film versions (1966), winning an Oscar in the process. The film also stars Robert Shaw as Henry VIII, Orson Welles as Wolsey, a young John Hurt as More's nemesis Richard Rich, and an older Wendy Hiller as More's second wife. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann. In addition to the Best Actor award for Scofield, the film won Academy Awards for screenplay, cinematography, costume design, Best Director, and Best Picture.
The 1988 remake stars Charlton Heston (who also directed it) as More, Vanessa Redgrave (who appeared briefly in the 1966 version as Anne Boleyn) as More's wife, and Sir John Gielgud as Cardinal Wolsey.
Quote
More: There is no law against that.
Roper: There is! God's law!
More: Then God can arrest him.
Roper: Sophistication upon sophistication.
More: No, sheer simplicity. The law, Roper, the law. I know what's legal not what's right. And I'll stick to what's legal.
Roper: Then you set man's law above God's!
More: No, far below; but let me draw your attention to a fact - I'm not God. The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find such plain sailing, I can't navigate. I'm no voyager. But in the thickets of the law, oh, there I'm a forrester. I doubt if there's a man alive who could follow me there, thank God....
Alice: While you talk, he's gone!
More: And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the law!
Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? 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.