Thomas More

Thomas More saint or sinner?

Thomas More, who had always been considered a righteous man and martyr, suddenly turned into a ruthless schemer. People’s Committee introduces some reviews of the novel Wolf Hall and the play adaptation of the same name.

Modern life is black and white, people want to find a place to hide deep in history, to hide in times when it is easy to distinguish clearly between good and bad. At the top of the list of past heroes is Sir Thomas More (born February 6, 1478, beheaded at the Tower of London on July 6, 1535), a noble historical symbol of the British nation. Among the cowardly politicians of his time, Thomas More was an exemplary tough guy, refusing to submit to King Henry VIII’s exclusive plan to build his own church, wholeheartedly complying and not betraying his conscience.

But with the female writer Hilary Mantel (born in 1952), the history of England during the 16th century religious reform period according to traditional understanding was turned upside down. The novel Wolf Hall (2009) won the Man Booker Prize in 2009, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2009, the Scott Walter Prize in 2010, and was adapted for the stage by BBC 2. The female writer rewrote More is a cruel schemer, ready to kill anyone who differs in his religious beliefs, arrogant and harsh.

Not only did Mantel trample More’s secular and religious aura into the mud (the Catholic and Anglican churches canonized Thomas More), he also reviewed a character completely contrary to the history books for so long: the Christian. Royal island Thomas Cromwell (born 1485, executed in the Tower of London on July 28, 1540), is cursed to this day. In Wolf Hall and the next book Bring up the Bodies (2012, won the Man Booker the same year), she changed her view of Cromwell, turning him into a talented and determined person.
Historical reality, or translating reality into fiction by filling in the gaps and adding drama? Convent-educated Mantel, now a fierce critic of Catholicism, asserts that the trilogy of novels is largely documentary, and details the years of painstaking research she spent writing.

But Mantel could not convince historian David Starkey. “The real issue in all this,” he said, “going back to Robert Bolt’s play A Man for all Seasons, isn’t Thomas More in a lot of pain? Clinging to history, presenting More as a Gladstone-type liberal, More is not that. Starkey emphasized that More was certainly prepared to impose Catholic beliefs on the separatists with royal force when necessary. And now, he suggests, Mantel exacerbates the erroneous approach to history in the light of later events by his eagerness to present More in opposition to the heroic Cromwell, her “messenger of the future.” “Mantel’s approach is as absurd as Bolt’s,” Starkey assessed. “To dare to draw such conclusions about More and Cromwell from rare and complex sixteenth-century historical sources is absurd. Both men had the idea of forcing others to implement their ideals through terror and execution. They just disagree about ideals.” If I had to choose between the two? “Yes, at least More died without fear. The night before Cromwell was executed, he screamed ‘Oh my god, oh my god’ like a trembling animal. That alone is enough to show each person’s character.”

The real danger is referencing historical detail from a current perspective to reshape old narratives. Amanda Foreman’s 1998 biography of the 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was a huge success, gaining popularity for alluding to and incorporating a hot story of the time about the troubles of Diana, Princess of Wales. The work has distorted the basis of historical truth. In Mantel’s case, according to Starkey, she was greatly influenced by Geoffrey Elton, a history professor appointed by the British Royal Family at Cambridge in the 1980s. “He presented a ridiculous image of the 16th century as a period in which no one really believe in religion. That was the conclusion from his own secular point of view. He hated Thomas More because More was religious and tried to portray Thomas Cromwell as a government official, a modern factor, when in reality Cromwell was an extremely brutal and intelligent thug, carrying out the king’s orders. regardless of cruelty”. This is an accusation that makes Mantel fans angry.
Prominent biographer Claire Tomalin believes that the truth about More is still in question. “All historical figures can be reviewed, but Thomas More is special because he was canonized. British students are told in A Man for all Seasons that More was martyred. That’s all we know about him, that’s all we know about him, so surely one day someone will have a different view of him.” However, the fresh perspective does not necessarily constitute an accurate biography, but rather a work of fiction that stimulates the imagination. “Writing a biography,” Tomalin mused, “must accept that all humans are capable of doing bad things, that humans are mixed creatures. Morality is complex.”

The latest biography of Thomas Cromwell, Tracy Borman, argues to the contrary that Mantel’s well-researched but fictional work can handle the complex details. “Writing the novel, Hilary Mantel definitely felt the need to have a protagonist and an antagonist,” Borman said, “So she elevated Cromwell to the protagonist by turning More into the antagonist.” “Mantel is certainly not the first to do this. Historians often equate More and Cromwell, you can’t like both. You must choose one of the two, More or Cromwell, More has been praised since ancient times. You might even believe in his martyrdom and nobility, which would tie him to undisputed primacy for centuries.” More and Cromwell were enemies, but as Borman explores in Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful Servant, they had much in common, “both lawyers, intelligent, good debaters, and even grudgingly respectful.” together”. Cromwell also had religious principles that matched More. “There is compelling evidence of his personal ethics.”

“I think the congregation is sophisticated enough to understand that the world today is very different from the time of Thomas More,” said Pastor David Reindorp, “the view of More and Cromwell is of course different. We do not feel the need to shout in defense of More as if we were being attacked because someone doubted More.”

Wolf Hall by the only female writer to win the Man Booker Prize twice, Hilary Mantel, was praised by Observer magazine as one of the ten best historical novels. The adapted play of the same name, released in early 2015, aroused two opposing streams of public opinion: noble laurels and public opinion. Ultimately, is Thomas More a saint or a sinner?

Thomas More is also the originator of liberalism, a perfect life like an Eden created by God, which is still considered an unreal world today. But it is also the source of later human philosophical thought, it is the inspiration for communism in Europe, liberalism…

Sir Thomas More (Latin: Thomas Morus; February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535), also known as Saint Thomas Moro in Catholicism, was a lawyer, social philosopher, and politician. guest and a famous Renaissance humanist in English history. Under Henry VIII, he held the position of Lord Chancellor from October 1529 to May 1532. He was the author of Utopia, published in 1516, a description of the political system of a fictional island nation.
More was an advocate of opposing the Protestant Reformation, especially the doctrines and ideas of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. More also opposed Henry VIII’s secession from the Roman Church, his refusal to recognize the King as Supreme Leader of the Church of England, and his annulment of his marriage to Catalina of Aragón. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. During his execution, he declared: “I die as a loyal servant of the king. But first, I am a servant of God!”.
Pope Pius XI declared More a martyr in 1935.[11] Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the patron saint of statesmen and politicians.

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