A Man For All Seasons Essay -- English Literature

A Man For All Seasons In A Man For All Seasons Robert Bolt uses a lot of symbolism to tell the story. The main character Sir Thomas More wears plain Grey clothes which are simple, not fashionable/stylish. This symbolizes that he is not ostentatious, only cares about God and not peoples opinions and not boastful. Cardinal Wolsey wears bright, silky clothes that shows he is very important and rich so he can afford these clothes. Clothes represent your status. When Cardinal Wolsey dies his clothes are heaped on the middle of the floor and the steward just flings them into a basket with no respect at all this symbolizes they have no meaning anymore and are just plain, ordinary clothes. The king’s clothes are gold which shows that this person is the most important. Only the king wears gold clothes and the richest things. The duke is dressed in green to just represent who he is to every citizen around him. For the administrator’s black and pinstripe suits are worn once again to show status. Examples of administrators are Rich and Cromwell. This symbolism of clothes shows a dress code for all different types of people there are E.G poor people will wear dirty rags which might be torn and very worn. Where as rich people like the king, duke, etc will wear silk, gold and silver. The language used in the play is also symbolism as when someone speaks to the king they always say â€Å"your grace† this represents the king is very important and has to be addressed properly. When poor people talk to Cromwell, More, the Duke and the Cardinal they are always addressed as â€Å"Sir† and once again represents the importance of this person. The common man puts on the hat and coat; this shows the alienation effect. The audience has se... ... if Cromwell is letting him know that he is not doing a bad thing. Cromwell knows that he did no wrong and so shall go to heaven. The common man now has an identity as the headsman. When Cromwell takes the mask from his sleeve the whole audience can see him doing it and so again it breaks the realism even at an intense moment. This break in reality might get the audience to think about the morality of what is happening to More and whether they think that he should die or not, this is exactly what Bolt wanted, the audience to be thinking about the theory. In Act two we are told the exact stage settings, "Bars, rack and cage flown swiftly upwards" This happens all in front of the audience so the idea showing the audience that it is not real is done here, they can see the change of scenery so it now is impossible to believe that what they see is real.