Throughout all the roles played by the Common Man, including the Steward, Boatman, Publican, Jailer, Foreman of the jury and a Headsman, he will always express a similar attitude, the attitude of the ‘plain and simple man,’ as the jailer says. The speech used amongst all the different roles is similar, ‘it’s a job, they take a rather common type of man.’ He doesn’t want people to think of him as an upper class, like most of the other characters, he stays himself, being ordinary. The Common Man uses slight wit and shrewdness, ‘The likes of me can hardly be expected to follow a man like that!’ This is where we see that the Common Man is also likely to be used to add humour, which is often course, ‘show you something of my own.’ The audience are able to laugh at other characters with him.
We see that the Common Man has an intention to stay well out of trouble, to save his own skin. Again, he communicates this within his roles. An example is the Jailer, who refuses to let More’s family stay any longer. Although we can see he wants to, he sticks to his orders to prevent any trouble for himself. The Common Man tries to save himself again as the Foreman of the jury, who can see it’s obvious More should be let go innocent but doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of the King by displeasing his wishes, instead he brings a guilty verdict to stay in the clear.
The importance of The Common Man is the way he is able to be both inside and outside of the play, he can also bridge a gap between the play and the audience and we see him as an informer. When the audience needed to know of Wolsey’s death, the Common Man throws the Cardinal’s red robe and hat to the floor, indicating his death. Robert Bolt created him as a use of ‘alienation,’ the way in which the audience are deliberately kept separate from the play to remind them that are just watching a play. This also keeps the audience in a state of critical awareness, the Common Man wants them to think about what’s happening rather than getting too emotionally involved. This theatrical device originally came from the playwright Bertolt Brecht. The Common Man addresses the audience to narrate the story, whilst also ironically commenting on the goings on and making it more entertaining. He tells to the audience the future of the characters even before the play has ended, a device that is extremely rarely used. The Common Man is very clever at linking the scenes together and opening or closing them. He is also is the one who sets the scenes, he uses simple props to help the audience imagine the surroundings rather than going over the top, this is very effective in the manner of alienation.
Another way in which the Common Man uses a Brechtian element is the way in which he changes role on stage, putting on a new costume or prop, instead of trying to hide the fact that he plays different people.
As I said before, the Common Man is both inside and outside the play, he knows a great deal more than the other characters do, yet he pretends not to, some could even call him sly at this point. We see this when he becomes the role of the Publican, he repeats ‘I don’t understand you sir’ even though he does very well understand. Again he is trying to stay safe by pretending ignorance. When we think about this we can also think back to him being simple and common.
The Common Man shows self-preservation at one point and a way in which he is not so simple and ordinary, when he declines the bribe, where as a simple man might have just taken the money, The Common Man understands the wrong and refuses the money. During his role as the Foreman of the Jury, The Common Man seems to bring all the roles together I think a quote that very well sums up the Common Man is when the jailer says, ‘Better alive and no conscience, than dead with morals.’
But I think the Common Man’s most major function in the play is his part as narrator, if it wasn’t for the Common Man the story would be told alone just by the characters, this could mean the story might be harder to understand as it goes along. Furthermore the story would be less interesting as well as harder to grasp. The Common Man is a very important part of the play ‘A man for all seasons.’
