ouble, he decided to keep his mouth shut on the matter. Morally, he was obligated to protect his friend and King for he was the chancellor of the court. Religiously he had a duty to God which he could not deny. He did not want to go against God’s rules; therefore, he chose the middle course. Despite all of this, he was prosecuted and killed. MORE’S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS There seems to be little doubt that More did consider at one point becoming a priest. In this play More says, “God’s my god...But I find him rather too subtle.... I don’t know where He is or what He wants.” When his sentence was read out, More spoke freely and revealed that he was totally unable to see the sense of the oath of supremacy. “I am able to produce against one bishop which you can produce, a hundred holy and Catholic bishops for my opinion; and against one realm, the consent of Christendom for a thousand years.” (Bolt, 63) This conflict with the Church, and his feelings towards the holy bishop shows that he was attached to his beliefs. Perhaps the contradiction between the two great men (Richard and More) originated within the church. By not obeying King Henry, he also fell from the king’s list of good men. This only made is powerful position is society decrease. Despite all this, he did not allow himself to swear to an oath of allegiance to the king making him the Supreme authority. It also shows that morally, as well as ethically, More was a strict follower of the Christian doctrines. When he was convicted on the basis of perjury, he again did not back away from his original beliefs till the day he was beheaded. More’s UtopiaIn 1515, Thomas More published Utopia, in which he theorized about the perfect world. In Utopia, More foresaw cities of 100,000 inhabitants as being ideal. In his Utopia, there was no money, just a monthly market where citizens bartered for what they needed. Persons engaged to e...
