Does Sir Thomas More Still Refuse?

Andrzej STOFF

Zakład Teorii Literatury, Instytut Literatury Polskiej, Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, ul. Fosa Staromiejska 3, 87-100 Toruń, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The author of the essay refers to a short story Sir Tomasz More odmawia [“Sir Thomas More Still Refuses”] by Hanna Malewska and to the figure of Sir Thomas More in order to demonstrate the universality of the problem of the freedom of conscience and adherence to one’s conscience. The author points to the special meaning of the text in question during the communist rule in Poland, when Polish citizens were frequently confronted with situations in which they needed to unanimously confirm the truth they had recognized in conscience despite the fact that the attitude of adherence to one’s conscience involved negative consequences. Due to the significance of Malewska’s short story its succeeding editions usually followed the breakthroughs in the after-war history of Poland. However, the author emphasizes that the “problem of Sir Thomas More,” that is the problem of witness-bearing and testimony, remains a universal issue in any circumstances, however well today’s reality may be masking it.

Summarized by Dorota Chabrajska

Keywords:

Sir Thomas More, Hanna Malewska, conscience, truth, decision of the conscience, testimony of the conscience, after-war history of Poland