A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt - Essay Example

More is portrayed as a quiet make who wants to stand by his own conscience, but does not want to cause waves in society. Roper, on the other hand, has no problem with telling everyone about his ideas on morality, no matter who it offends. Through these actions, we can see that these two men have similar thoughts on a moral society, but Roper's personality turns him into an exaggerated version of More. William Roper is an exaggeration of Thomas More because of his religious fanaticism. At the beginning of the play, Roper is a Lutheran and stands behind his values completely.

More, on the other hand, is a devout Catholic, even though he does not feel the need to tell everyone about it. Eventually, Roper converts to Catholicism, so that he can marry Margaret. This shows that for all of the grandstanding that he did about his own religion, his beliefs were not nearly as strong as those of More. More tells Roper at one point, “Listen, Roper. Two years ago you were a passionate Churchman; now you're a passionate-Lutheran. We must just pray that when your head's finished turning, your face is to the front again” (Bolt 31).

The reader can view this as religious excess, since Roper could have been attempting to cover up for his lack of true belief in his convictions by speaking so openly and loudly about them. Roper is also a very outspoken character who wants everyone to know what is on his mind. When questioning More’s faith, Roper states that “the time has come for decent men to declare their allegiance. to the Church” (Bolt 82). This shows that he consistently feels the need to grandstand and get his point across to all who will listen.

He takes his opinions into public on a regular basis and does not care who he offends. More, on the other hand, has his own beliefs, but does not feel the need to announce them to everyone. He does not take a stand at any time in the play, which could be symbolic of his unwillingness to sacrifice his own reputation for his cause. He has his own ideas, which he sticks to, but does not need to keep everyone else involved with this process. Every time Roper appears in this play, he makes More's life more difficult because he is making another issue public.

In every case, these opinions differ from those of More. This could have caused More to turn his back on his decision making process, which calls for him to keep to himself more often than not. More never wavers, however, although it is up to the reader to decide whether or not his makes him a less sympathetic character. The reader is led to believe that if More had a personality similar to that of Roper, that he would sound similar because of his convictions. The ideas by which Roper and More live their lives are not all that different.

The main difference is that Roper believes himself to be on a higher moral level than those around him, while More is much more level-headed. More knows that he is not better than other people in the community and thinks that the laws that humanity currently uses are the best way to keep everyone in check. This is a much more realistic version of morality, since it does not involve higher thinking in order to come to conclusions. These high-minded ideals can often lead to inconsistencies in morality, which could lead to problems in some people.

More thinks that everyone should abide by the same rules, just to avoid confusion. In the end, they both have strong ideas about morality, but Roper takes these ideas to an extremely, rather than keeping them simple. At one point, he says to More, “I have long suspected this; this is the golden calf; the law's your god”