In the preface of the book, A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt defines the word common. He states, "He is called "The Common Man"...and the word "common" was intended primarily to indicate "that which is common to us all"." (Preface XIX) This statement clearly describes the word common to mean universal or that which is usually viewed by others. Besides defining the word common, Bolt defines the role of the "Common Man" in the preface and throughout the play. Bolt describes the role played by the "Common Man" to represent the average person. The purpose of the "Common Man" is to establish the universal nature of mankind. The Common Man also talks to the audience and adds his input and opinions on what's been going on throughout the play.
For instance, throughout the play the Common Man plays many roles. The Common Man plays as Thomas More's steward Matthew, the boatman, the innkeeper, the jailer, the jury's foreman, and the executioner. Most of theses roles played are of the lower class society and all have interactions with the other characters of the play. For example, Matthew serves More and betrays him at the end of the play. The innkeeper gives Cromwell a room to stay and the boatman takes More to his house. The jury's foreman, the jailer, and the executioner play a part in More's trial and death. These different roles help establish the universal nature of the Common Man. Each role played demonstrates values that are commonly found in human nature.
The Common Man personifies attitudes, actions and morals that are common to or universally shared by everyone. For example, as the jailer, the Common Man didn't free More because he thought it would be meaningless to release him. Releasing More would be pointless because it would create trouble for the Common Man. More's destined death was also the driving force behind his fi...
16-year old who teaches 600 students in his backyard. A single man who led to an entire city being declared smoke-free, a year beforeWhen Laxman began to draw cartoons in The Times of India, he attempted to represent different states and cultures in India. In the rush to meet deadlines, he began to draw fewer and fewer background characters, until finally he found only one remaining—the now-familiar Common Man. The Common Man generally acts as a silent witness to all the action in the comic. According to anthropologist Ritu Gairola Khanduri, "Clad in a dhoti and a plaid jacket, the puzzled Common Man is no dupe: his sharp observations miss no detail of the political circus."
The Common Man featured in a commemorative postage stamp released by the Indian Postal Service on the 150th anniversary of the Times of India in 1988. It became one of the most recognised feature on The Times of India the largest-circulation English language daily broadsheet newspaper in the world.
The Common Man was the mascot for the low budget airline Air Deccan.[3]
The character was adapted into the Indian television series Wagle Ki Duniya on DD National and R K Laxman Ki Duniya on SAB TV.[4]
Salman Rushdie, who grew up in Bombay on a daily fare of Laxman's pocket cartoons, mentions the Common Man in two of his books—his 1995 novel The Moor's Last Sigh and his 2012 autobiography, Joseph Anton.[5]
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