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Essay / The Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt: A Review
A Man for All Seasons written by Robert Bolt integrates both language and action to convey meaning and develop characters accordingly. In this particular excerpt in which Cromwell, an enemy of More, allowed More's family to visit him. Robert Bolt uses language and action in More's interaction with his family More is developed as a man who is wrongly imprisoned by his standards and conflicted with his actions being the product of a choice between God and his family . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Robert Bolt begins the excerpt with Margaret's vocative linguistic interaction with her father, More. Using this interaction, Bolt highlights how worn out More has become over the past couple of years. Margaret's language introduces irony into the extract, which introduces a sense of pathos into the atmosphere of the prison encounter. This idea of irony is introduced when Margaret and More exchange greetings by repeatedly saying “hello” to each other. This interaction is ironic, because indeed the morning is not a “good” one contrary to what they seem to describe. This irony further leads to More's worn-out well-being described as such by the modifier "aged" and presents More as being a man who has endured much over many years, further providing a foil in the form of literature to the irony “hello” said by the father and the daughter. Furthermore, in this passage there is a development of falsity in More's speech. This occurs when More states "it's not so bad" in reference to the conditions of his imprisonment. This statement is key to More's presentation because it shows how he tries to use euphemisms to hide his psychological distress from his family. Saying that “[prison] is not so bad” is essential to the illustration of More as a conflicted person, as it depicts More's criticism of society in the 16th century. This act of More removing his own experience from his family further foreshadows his speech dealing with his critiques of the society in which he inhabits. More responds to this criticism by stating that the prison is "remarkably like any other place." Using this symbolic language, Bolt more subtly describes the world as a prison itself, as the rights of the people are suppressed by traditional society, reinforcing More's perception that the prison is "not so bad” because it is no different from outside the prison bars. the presentation increases further as the conflict between More and his family is introduced. This conflict between father and child begins when Roper first exclamatively begs that More “swear to action!” " and admits in Margaret's presence that she is "under oath" to persuade More. Following this, Margaret begins to try to persuade her father by her own old moral standards against him, thus contributing to the idea that More is "old". Margaret tells her father that "God values the thoughts of the heart more than words." An emotional divide having been established between the family, More takes action and defends his decision by explaining the importance of an oath for a man, determining his identity. This idea is illustrated by More's analogy which states that "when a man takes an oath, Meg, he stands in his hands. Like water." In the summary of the extract, More's impact on his family is finally reinforced. This improvement occurs as Margaret recognizes the void that More will leave after his departure, having understood that he will be executed for high treason. Illustrating.