Thomas More On The Other Hand example essay topic

The definition of humanism is A philosophy centered on the values, interests and potential of human beings (Webster's Dictionary 1984, p. 340). In the play, A Man for all Seasons by Robert Bolt, Thomas More is a humanist as he knows his own values, interests and potential, and observes those of other people. Thomas More was a man who held onto his values no matter what. Thomas More believed in what the church said greatly. The king had a dispensation so that he would be able to marry Catherine. When the king wanted a divorce without a true reason, Thomas More wouldn t throw his beliefs away and refused to say that he agreed with the divorce.

When Thomas More refused to swear to the act he was put in prison. He was charged with high treason and was beheaded. Thomas More saw that the people in his country held no value on being true to their religion, but he did. Hear me out. You and your class have given in -as you rightly call it-because the religion of this country means nothing to you one way or the other. (p. 122). Thomas More knew that the people had given up something they once had claimed to believe in.

He knew that they gave up on what their religion said because they didn t want to stand up for it. They didn t have a high enough value on it to stand up for it. Thomas More on the other hand refuses to drop what his religion says because he believed it. I will not give in because I oppose it-I do-not my pride, not my spleen, nor any other of my appetites but I do-I! (p. 123). Thomas More was against the king getting a divorce because it was a value he held. The values that Thomas More had he held onto dearly and he wouldn t change them for convenience.

He did not hold a value for popularity, he held a value because it is what he truly believed to be the right thing to hold onto. Thomas More believed that a person should follow what their conscience told them to do. A person who did not follow their conscience, Thomas More believed would be sent to hell, but he also realized that people's consciences would differ from other peoples. And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship? (p. 132).

Thomas More realized if he would swear to the act, he would not be following his conscience, and would therefore be eternally condemned to hell, whereas some of the other men who had signed the act may go to heaven because their conscience might have told them that signing it was the right thing to do. I have no window to look into another man's conscience. I condemn no one. (p. 132). Thomas More couldn t tell if another person was going to end up in heaven or hell because he couldn t know exactly what their conscience said verses what the person did with what their conscience told them. Thomas More believed that doing a specific thing can t determine whether a person will be condemned to hell, it is whether they did according to their own conscience that would determine where their soul would go for eternity. Thomas More believed that an oath was something that needed to be taken seriously, as it was directed to God and a person's self.

What is an oath then but words we say to God? (p. 140). Thomas More knew that when a person took an oath, his words went directly to the ears of God. When a man takes an oath, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then-he needn t hope to find himself again. (p. 140). He believed that an oath is what a person truly believes.

If a person makes an oath that is not what he really believes, they will begin to lose themself in the lies and will no longer be able to see what they really hold as a true value. It will seem to them that the lies are true and they will begin to act on them, and will never be able to return to who they really are. Thomas More believed deeply in his values and could not do anything that would result in changing them. He observed other people doing so and knew that they were no longer their genuine self. If a person takes an oath and is untruthful, even if they say it to remain alive, but still realize that it is not what they believe, will they really lose their true self?