Foil

Character Role Analysis

The Duke of Norfolk

Superficially, Norfolk's pretty similar to More: They're both friends, both political advisers, and they both seem to be nice guys.

But he differs from More in a crucial way: While More takes his principled path toward martyrdom, the less principled but good-natured Norfolk decides to take the route of least inconvenience. He doesn't really care about abandoning the Church, and the fact that it's supposed to be God's instrument on earth doesn't seem very serious to him. He's willing to sign the king's oath "for fellowship's sake."

But that's just what More cannot do: For him, he needs to be absolute about things. He needs to be principled.