A Man for All Seasons Scene 2 Summary

  • When More arrives at home, Rich has been sleeping near the river, waiting for him.
  • More tells him he'll give him a job as a teacher, with a servant and a house to boot. That's not what Rich wanted to hear, though—he wanted a place in court.
  • More gives him the silver cup, telling him that it was offered to him as a bribe and is an example of the corruption he'd be tempted with in court.
  • When he goes into his house, his daughter's suitor, Will Roper, asks for her hand in marriage. Thomas refuses to grant it, since Will is a Protestant. They have a brief but fiery theological argument.
  • Before going to bed, he chats with his daughter, Margaret, and his wife, Alice.
  • Next we switch to the grim subterranean room where Cardinal Wolsey is dying. The Duke of Norfolk pays him a visit, and Wolsey is regretful that he's served the king (who's charged him with treason) more than he's served God.
  • Wolsey having died, we switch to a ceremony where Norfolk is proclaiming Thomas More the king's new Chancellor and placing a chain of office around his neck.