I Abhor Cromwell
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Wolf Hall
Raysand — 10 years ago(April 26, 2015 08:23 PM)
Cromwell is an absolutely despicable character. There is nothing likable about that viper as Henry VIII called him. He's brilliant and he's ambitious, a blacksmith's son elevated to the nobility [a remarkable thing in 16th century England], but it was acquired maliciously, unethically though the death of many. I hate the way that he gives the king ideas and then carries out persecution after persecution, coldly, methodically. He ensnares and humiliates his victims and accuses them of being traitors to the king. I hate him for his role in the death of Sir Thomas More one of the greatest men of his time.
I'm looking forward to his fall from the king's grace and his execution. -
angelosdaughter — 10 years ago(April 26, 2015 11:20 PM)
I have to agree. Cromwell was an opportunist, a man without a conscience, and there was a lot of blood on his hands. Thomas More was a man of true conscience and learning. He never tortured heretics and denied it repeatedly, although did keep one in custody in his house. He died because his conscience would not permit him to lie and accept the King as head of the Church of England even to save a life he loved. I don't care for the way revisionist Hillary Mantel portrayed him in the book that inspired this series. More was a man of principal, of learning and humor, not a lemon sucking prude the way he looks here.
It will be good to see Cromwell get his comeuppance.
I could be a morning person if morning happened at noon. -
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angelosdaughter — 10 years ago(April 27, 2015 09:49 PM)
Yes and if he was willing to die rather than lie and sign the Oath, which would have saved the life he enjoyed, and did not really want to leave, there was no reason he should lie about burning heretics, which everyone on both sides was doing in that time.
I could be a morning person if morning happened at noon. -
LeofricsBeloved — 10 years ago(March 14, 2016 04:45 PM)
I think Anton Lesser was miscast as More, and also Wolf Hall's portrayal of More wasn't very convincing.
Cromwell's starry-eyed admiration for More was inconceivable to me. In Wolf Hall he was portrayed as a religious fanatic and bigot; the legendary Humanist that More was known to be was just not obvious to me.
If Cromwell had starry-eyed admiration for Paul Scofield's More, that would make sense.
Wolf Hall also showed a scene where More always looked down on Cromwell; even as a young adolescent scholar playing his lute, he ignored Cromwell who brought the meal to his room as a servant child. Cromwell wanted to be his friend, yet More totally ignored his existence. Cromwell looked up to More his whole life.
Yet, when Anton Lesser played More, I'd think that any love Cromwell had for More would fade.
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