A man for all seasons:Prompt: Sir Thomas More may have an adamantine sense of his own self, but he is clearly a naïve individual who underestimates his enemies. He places too much faith in the law, and ultimately betrays his family, his country and his

English Essay Task: ‘A man for all seasons’
By Bernard Fung

Prompt: Sir Thomas More may have an adamantine sense of his own self, but he is clearly a naïve individual who underestimates his enemies. He places too much faith in the law, and ultimately betrays his family, his country and his monarch. Do you agree?


Sir Thomas More may have an ‘adamantine sense of his own self’, but he is clearly a naïve individual who placed too much faith in the law, and underestimated his enemies. As his belief of his own self was tested, More put aside his family, his country, and his monarch, ultimately betraying them.

Being the top lawyer in the country, More had a complex understanding of the machinery that operates the law. His outstanding belief in the law being a ‘causeway upon which so long as he keeps to it’ he may ‘walk safely’ dictated to him that he had done nothing wrong in keeping silent, for ‘silence gives consent’. ‘In the th...