However, the counter-theme to the sense of 'self' is embodied in the play mainly by the Common Man and Richard Rich. Bolt makes More equate 'self' with 'soul' when he says to Cromwell, 'a man's soul is his self!' The main theme is the importance of a man having a sense of his own 'self', that 'area of himself' which makes him the man he is, and which he cannot yield to anyone, neither his enemies nor those he loves. As Bolt himself said, 'It is not easy to know what the play is "about"' especially as nearly every theme has its opposite mirror-image. In The Adaptations Bolt paints a picture of man with a sense of his own self, contrasting this against modern man with an empty centre. Bolt uses this expression to represent everybody else in the play, who for an easier life swore to this act, condemning Henry's first marriage and accepting the legality of the second. However, Bolt uses other characters to portray a conflict between More's constant integrity and those who have no morals-Everyman. By not disclosing his thoughts on the Act of Supremacy, More shows 'respect of own soul', the 'little. The play initially seems to be about the 'noble gesture' that More makes, remaining completely loyal to his conscience by refusing to support a papal annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The common perception is that A Man for All Seasons is about Sir Thomas More-his determination and 'adamantine sense of his own self' that 'could no more be budged than a cliff'.
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