A Man For All Seasons Atticus Finch Character Analysis

Desiré du Plessis

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ENGE 321

Major Assgnment: MINI-DISSERTATION

21 September 2015

In this mini-dissertation I will discuss how certain characters come to the realisation of the responsibility of personal choice even in the face of grave consequences while others prefer to adopt a social role to protect themselves from being morally accountable for their actions. I will analyse how Atticus Finch from the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, and Thomas More from the play “A Man for All Seasons”, by Robert Bolt, stay the same throughout the novel. They make a moral decision and even though their situations are difficult, they choose to stay with their decision. Alex from the novella “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, however

He decides to do his job, which means doing his best to defend Mr. Robinson. The townspeople, however, does not like the idea of Atticus going through so much trouble trying to prove that Tom Robinson is innocent.

“The story of the Robinson case, the anecdotes and the impressions help to explain how Atticus Finch is a hero, and how lawyers become heroes in America. These facts, anecdotes and impressions are also, and therefore, the source of a moral theology.” (Shaffer, 1981: 181)

Thomas More finds himself in almost a similar situation; he is also faced with a moral decision to make. Sir Thomas More, a scholar, statesman, and later Lord High Chancellor of England, has to give his opinion on King Henry VIII’s divorce. He opposes to the divorce, but would rather stay quiet than give his opinion. At the end of the play Thomas gets executed, but he would rather die than forsake his conscious. “He could act, as he put it, against his conscience and lose his soul, or according to his conscience and lose his body.” (Merrigan, 2012: