Thomas More and His Family - Assignment Example

This was further worsened by the schemes of Oliver Cromwell wanted to have More ousted from his positions in government and away from the graces of the king. One of Cromwell’s methods in persecuting More was by alleging that he plotted against the king by misrepresentation. In Robert Bolt’s play, he wrote about a scene in which More had to argue that it was Henry VIII that wrote a book on the Seven Sacraments. (68) Nevertheless, Cromwell insisted that the More had contributed immensely in this work which ultimately placed the King in an awkward position as he himself violated the very religious beliefs that he wrote about.

More was always known as a man who cherishes much the significance of the family. He was a good and loving husband to his wife and he was a very responsible father too. More’s approach in building a healthy relationship in the family was based on the teachings of Christianity. The Christian concept of education was at the core of his “approach to the formation of his family, and how he achieved a synthesis of virtue and learning in his children which was unheard of in his day.” (McGovern) More emphasized the importance of education and he did not discriminate the members of his family according to gender when it comes to providing opportunities to education.

As a result of this, even his daughters were brilliant in the arts and literature because they were learned. The more important consequence of this action was that it enabled the members of his family to understand better the circumstances that pushed him away from the favors of the king and later imprisoned and treated as a traitor. Without such education, it would have become easier for the members of his family to render blind obedience to the king and chastise More for his rebelliousness.

However, this was definitely not the case. Even when More was already imprisoned by orders of the king and through the machinations of Cromwell, the members of his family continued to understand his situation and supported him as he tried to stand on his convictions. When it was finally time for him to be sent to his death by an executioner, Bolt wrote the scene in which Margaret, More’s eldest daughter, ran to his father and hugged him for the last time. In the script, Bolt suggested that More comforted Margaret by telling her that she should not trouble herself for death is natural. (98) The entire scene could only well depict the closeness that the members of the More family had with each other.

As Bolt depicted in his play, there were instances when certain members of More’s family displayed dislike for his decision to stand for what he thinks his right despite of the fact that he has been deprived of his liberties and his family also suffered as a consequence of his continued opposition to the king. However, there are basically two reasons why such sentiment arose during More’s incarceration. One is that the family members, especially his wife and children, simply love him and could not bear seeing him suffer at the hands of Henry VIII.

Of course, they could not allow him to die even if such death is actually as noble as martyrdom. If they did oppose ideas, it was not because they were convinced that these were wrong. Rather, they knew that these would just