Thomas More - Blog Posts

Is Mantel really implying an incestuous relationship between More and Meg in Wolf Hall? (I won’t read or watch it any further so I can’t find out myself)

This is something that some Protestants constantly like to do and every time it gives me a headache. Like what do you even mean by that? You can’t cope with the ideas that a Catholic man at that time promoted female education and also favored his most academically accomplished child instead of his only son, so you think it could only come from sexual attraction to his own daughter??? (Or maybe there’s also a layer of western people’s obsession with Freud which I could never understand.)

Also she seems to transplant the “education for women” thing from More household to Cromwell household, which makes me confused. Historians agree that what Meg achieved academically sets a great example for female education. Meanwhile I don’t think there’s any account on Cromwell’s opinions and practice on female education (correct me if I’m wrong). (Although I’m not sure if there’s none More school scenes in Wolf Hall because again I’ve not seen it in its entirety myself)

Also I saw somewhere that in the book she writes about Cromwell being kind to Meg and he gave her More’s head. In reality it’s Meg herself who not only had the great courage to do it, but also with precise planning (for the timing) and diplomacy tactics to get out of trouble during interrogation. I think she understood the contemporary psychology and situations very well, so she used the fact of her being merely a woman to say that she kept her father’s belongings only for her own mourning but actually later in life she made great efforts to preserve his works and legacy, under danger and stress, with the burden of being a mother to multiple children. Her daughter Mary also became an accomplished translator.

So I’m just mildly disappointed with how A Man for All Seasons and The Tudors portray Meg, but it seems there are reasons for me to hate how Wolf Hall portrays her.

Historian: Let me write in details about whether Thomas More and his second wife Alice had sex or not.

Me: That sounds a bit weird.

Also me: Ok fine I also kinda want to know.

Me after reading the evidence the historian gives: Well that doesn’t explain anything.

This is just too cute I can’t 🥺

Not only the sun moon joke, or the title of scholar, but also the struggle with salutation. It is so real…… (Or lack of struggle for him, actually?)

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