Little in Common? Law and Literature in Thomas More's "A Dialogue on Conscience"

This article examines the letter from Margaret Roper to Alice Alington, which is commonly referred to as Thomas More's "Dialogue on Conscience." Within this dialogue, More recites two tales, one about the man named Company, and another about how a thief tricks a magistrate. While most readers of the dialogue identify More with Company, the story about Company is merely a digression, a red herring to distract readers from his surprisingly straightforward indictment of Henry VIII. More is not Company, but rather the magistrate who has been arrested under a false law, the Act of Succession.