For what reason did the story of Sir Thomas More generate such global appeal following the release of Zinnemann’s movie? In his article in Moreana, a journal devoted to the study of Sir Thomas More, France Reynolds strives to articulate the nature of More’s universal appeal and how the movie expresses it.

Reynolds attempts to discover how the struggle of a Catholic Briton, four-hundred years after his death, could appeal to a universal audience. He notes that the struggles facing More do not apply to most of the audience. The issue of struggling against a monarch is irrelevant, and the tenants of Catholicism matter little to people of other faiths. Thus, More appeals to the audience because he embodies the universal and widely admirable characteristics of integrity and the love of truth and justice.

Additionally, Bolt’s liberal use of historical material allows him to use the play as a conduit for his own ideas. Thus, A Man for All Seasons, much like Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan, “translate(s) past events into present-day terms”(936). Bolt takes liberty with historical fact in his interpretation of the trial to underscore More’s isolation and make his plight more understandable to the audience. In reality, there were no spectators at the trial, and Cromwell was a judge, not the prosecutor. Additionally, the prosecution is conducted in the American style. However, Bolt only does this because, as a dramatist, he wanted to emphasize the ideological struggle between More and Cromwell. More symbolizes conscience, a man who sacrifices ephemeral possessions to protect his immortal self, while Cromwell stands for the cynic who will sacrifice his soul. Ironically, Cromwell’s triumph over More is fleeting, as he too later faced the executioners.

Reynolds holds that the personality of More is so captivating that all fall under his spell. More endures because of the universal feeling of over-governance, and admiration for his courage and fortitude(39).