Blooms Literary Themes - THE HEROS ... - ymerleksi - home

A Man for All Seasons 129Like water . . . . And if he opens his fingers then—he needn’t hopeto find himself again” (140). He makes explicit the ramifications ofthis statement when he explains that “In matters of conscience, theloyal subject is more bounden to be loyal to his conscience than toany other thing,” including the state. When Cromwell, fast losing hiscomposure, calls this a “frivolous self-conceit,” More counters thatit is “very and pure necessity for respect of my own soul.” To whichCromwell shoots back, “Your own self, you mean!” And More, in asentence whose brevity belies its centrality to the play, replies, “Yes, aman’s soul is his self!” (153).It is now that Bolt’s portrayal of More as a “hero of selfhood”becomes clear, and Campbell’s definition of a hero rejoins the discussion.For Bolt’s More, once brought to trial for his rebellious silence,does “venture forth from the world of common day into a region ofsupernatural wonder” (Campbell 30), where he battles for the higheststakes a man can encounter—not his own life but his own soul.Cromwell is the force with which he must contend, and while Moreloses his life, ultimately a decisive victory is in fact won, for despite allthe efforts of his foes, More’s soul remains pure and whole to the last.His final words of the play, after Thomas Cranmer, one of his persecutors,marvels enviously at his confidence that the headsman willbe sending him to God, are: “He will not refuse one who is so blitheto go to him” (Bolt 162). To be blithe is to be heedless and carefree,which is the attitude of a victor, of a man who has faced the worst theworld has to offer and emerged unscathed.More’s equating of the soul and the self may seem to Bolt, whodoubts the existence of an immortal soul, to require an “explanationand apology” for seemingly converting a “Christian saint” into anexistential hero (xiv). However, More’s statement that a man’s soul ishis self is, logically speaking at least, an equivalence in that the word“is” points to an identity shared by both soul and self. Thus, while aman’s soul is his self, as More says, it is equally true that his self ishis soul. More’s protection of his soul, therefore, forges a continuitybetween earth and heaven, time and eternity, humans and angels. Thetreasure that a traditional hero acquires because of his earthly battlesin More’s case is the ultimate one: eternal life. Without his faith inthat eventuality, and despite Bolt’s agnostic disclaimer, More’s victorywould be pyrrhic and most likely dramatically unsatisfying for an