A Man for All Seasons, a work written by Robert Bolt, is essentially both a moral work and a historical work. Sir Thomas More, a "man of the greatest virtue this kingdom ever produced" (Dean Swift), is famous for choosing to suffer death rather than take an oath that would be contrary to his principles. Sir More had acquired a high position of Lord Chancery in the reign of King Henry VIII, but resigned as he could not do what the king asked of him as this action would conflict with his beliefs and conscience. From that moment, Sir More disagreed with King Henry's divorce, which led to his own downfall. Realizing that Sir More would not submit, the king decided to turn to his other advisors and approached Sir Thomas Cromwell. Machiavelli said, “cruel behavior should be used only when necessary for the common good.” For Sir Cromwell, it is a necessity that the king's orders be followed whatever it takes: "... it is much more a matter of convenience, administrative convenience" (Bolt, 1963, 49). Their cunning reflects Machiavelli's writings on politics seeing it as a public responsibility that cannot afford to govern according to the laws of morality. However, to some extent, harm is still repeatedly done to individuals who oppose those in dictatorial power. «It must be understood that a prince... cannot observe all those virtues for which men are considered good, because it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, to preserve the state." (Machiavelli).Machiavelli remains one of the controversial figures in political history. One of his works, The Prince (also known as "A Manual for Dictators"), contains many references... half of paper.. ld History. Online Edition, 2003. Student Resource Center. 24 March 2005. Bolt, Robert the Seasons. Toronto: Coles Publishing, 1964, 1974. Bolt, Robert A Man for All Seasons. Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1960, 1963. Burnham, James, “Machiavelli: The Science of Power,” in The Machiavellians: Defenders. of Freedom, The John Day Company, Inc., 1943, pp. 29-80. Discovering the authors. Online edition. Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center. Thomson Gale. March 23, 2005Jalic LCC, The Literature Network: The Prince, Copyright: 2000-2004RAUL J. BONOAN, SJ, is the president of the Ateneo de Naga, a Jesuit-sponsored university in Naga City, Philippines, and publisher of The Rizal- Pastells Correspondence, published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press in 1994.