The A Man for All Seasons discussion thread

[geeza23]

So for those that decided to do AMFAS,which one did u choose and what did u write about and how did u think u went haha
for me i did the second option which i thought was easier though i was really close in ending up doing the first one
so heres my para plan
i wrote there are different philosophies presented in the play and the common man's of not gettin out of depth is one in the intro
1st para : the common man
              he doesnt get out of depth and examples

2nd para : cromwell, rich
               they did get out of depth trying to please the king,ruthless,unscrupulous and all that and rich going against more's advice a man should not go where hewill
               be tempted and cromwell ended up getting killed for high treason anyways,his plan backfired

3rd para : more
              two interpretation basically used the quote in the first prompt haha "think none harm" and kings loyal servant didnt wana get into trouble, took every path
              his winding wits could find
              on the other hand,one could see him gettin out of depth by opposing the king and challenging them and just examples

then conclusion lol cant be bothered typing now but i'll see what u guys say haha i think i did about 5 1/2 pages was pretty happy

[kendraaaaa]

Second prompt.

Paragraph 1: Rich out of depth morally, but not politically (in terms of advancement, etc)

Paragraph 2: Cromwell not out of depth morally - I backed this point up in terms of 'out of depth' against himself. He's happy having
                                                                               following Machiavellian principles for the whole duration of the play. Unlike
                                                                               Rich,who has internal moral conflicts about what he is doing (i.e "I'm adrift")
                                   not out of depth politically - He is able to be in conjuncture with "the times" through his pragmatism and
                                                                               Machiavellian philosophy. I mentioned though how More outwits him through
                                                                               his quoting of the maximum of "silence gives consent"

Paragraph 3: More not out of depth morally, however severely out of depth politically. He is "against the current of the times",
                      and so on and so forth.     
                                                       
                                                                                                 

[geeza23]

u didnt mention the common man?

[kendraaaaa]

Oh yeah. I used him to contrast against More's philosophies.

[simpak]

I did the first prompt.
I hated both of them.

[geeza23]

yeah same here pretty much didnt prepare for them last years was so easy though damn it

[simpak]

I prepared heaps.  I literally have a 15 page document of Man for All Seasons prep topics.
But none of them were as stupidly phrased as the ones on the paper.
And none of them were that...terrible in their subject matter.
Perhaps it's just a personal opinion.
For me, the second topic was too vague.  And it's awfully difficult to find enough to talk about on the topic of More's family, so the first was just as bad.
I am hoping that I can still scrape a 7 or an 8, but it's a disappointment really.

[geeza23]

do u think the examiners would take that into consideration?

[simpak]

I would say so?  They would look at the general high level responses of the text; of course some questions are much more general and easier to understand than others.

[simplicity123]

HI i did AMFAS prompt 1 and im abit worried that i might've gone abit off topic =/ heres the plan of what i did:

I mainly tried to explain in my intro that Bolt ultimately does try to help the audience relate to More's dilemma in his choices, however the portrayal of certain characters might confuse the modern audience.

1. Talked about More as an individual with a pure conscience, as well as the fact that hes deeply rooted in his religion, which would make it incredibly hard for him to betray his 'self', thus bolt hopes that this portrayal of More may help audience members understand his decision.

2. Talked about King Henry's pragmatism and how the society that he ran at the time was ultimately corrupt and as members of our current society, it may be hard to contemplate More's decisions especially as most of us have never experienced such a corrupt landscape.

3. Further emphasised More's faith by using Ropers mercurial faith as a contrast

4. However through More's interactions with Alice, More can also be interpreted as slightly selfish, as he places the satisfaction of God ahead of his family.

ultimately through these 4 ideas, bolt does try to guide the audience to an understanding of More's decisions, however due to some conflicting ideas presented, may confuse them, making it hard for them to relate.

just wondering if these ideas relate well enough to the prompt? can any1 critique. thanks.

[simpak]

I think it does relate well enough to the prompt.
I only did three paragraphs (oops) but I still wrote eight pages so hopefully that's good enough.
My paragraph 1 was the same as yours; basically contending that More's decisions weren't simple ones, and that he was convinced they were his only option.
Paragraph 2 was about his love for his family and about how he always attempted to ensure their safety despite simultaneously striving to maintain his own ideals.
Paragraph 3 was about the corruption you had in your paragraph 2, and how that's hard to relate to and the influence of that on More and his family; also the devastating consequences for all not being More's fault but rather due to the corruption of the legal system at the time.
So that's pretty much just like yours
I hope we go alright, hahaha.

[geeza23]

hmm yeah i think both u guy's plan wasnt that bad certainly not off topic,but im just slightly surpirsed at this point theres more people doing prompt 1 haha coz imho its harder to write about..

[simpak]

hmm yeah i think both u guy's plan wasnt that bad certainly not off topic,but im just slightly surpirsed at this point theres more people doing prompt 1 haha coz imho its harder to write about..

It is, but I thought Prompt 2 was SO broad that it was a bit too vague for me!
I work right to the time, and I didn't think I would have time to think about who it would be BEST to talk about being out of their depth/not being out of their depth.
Looking back, I do wish I had done that topic >.<

[simplicity123]

yea looking back now i would've certainly regretted not doing the 2nd prompt, when i saw the prompts i was pretty much stunned and couldnt really interpret the 2nd prompt with a clear head, so i just went for the 1st 1. Still abit worried coz my intro was abit choppy and rushed =x but im sure i made my points well in the body paragraphs. hopefully the examiners wont be lazy and read my whole essay xD