Wednesday, February 11, 2015

and in it, we'll be the fools and oppressors

Cromwell: "... and do you know what I hate most? He's writing an account of today for all of Europe to read and in it, we'll be the fools and oppressors, and he'll be the poor victim with the better turn of phrase. He wrote this play years ago, and he sniggers every time I trip over my lines."
Consider, for a minute, that you were brought up with a not-insufficient awareness for a certain philosopher, statesman and humanist, and perhaps this awareness even extends to acknowledgement and admiration. What would it take for such an idol to be brought low? For this, a devastating scene of Thomas More's trial in Wolf Hall:

More: "Ask yourselves, gentlemen, why would I open my mind to a man like Richard Rich? Why, when the learned and the pious have implored me, when the King himself with weighty reasons has sought to persuade me."

Rich: "Because you think I don't matter."