According to the prologue of A Man for All Seasons, who or what is the Common Man?

The Common Man serves a similar role to the classical Greek Chorus in Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons, in that through his observations, the audience's reactions are influenced and they begin to understand the tensions between characters and the scarcity of a man of More's outstanding character. From the very first lines, we come to understand the character of the Common Man--self-deprecating, self-aware, and common.

It is perverse! To start a...

The Common Man serves a similar role to the classical Greek Chorus in Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons, in that through his observations, the audience's reactions are influenced and they begin to understand the tensions between characters and the scarcity of a man of More's outstanding character. From the very first lines, we come to understand the character of the Common Man--self-deprecating, self-aware, and common.

It is perverse! To start a play with Kings and Cardinals in speaking costumes and intellectuals with embroidered mouths, with me.
If a King, or a Cardinal had done the Prologue, he'd have the right materials. And an intellectual would have shown enough majestic meanings, colourful propositions, and closely woven liturgical stuff to dress the House of Lords! But this!

He goes on to point out the simplicity of his dress and question how much a man's outward appearance has to do with who he is at heart; the upper class may look good and right, but is that who they are? He may look simple and disheveled, but is his appearance a fair representation of who he is?

He goes on to assume the guise of a steward who makes asides about the action, directing the audience's impressions of the characters on stage, a function he serves throughout the play.

He says that "The Sixteenth Century is the Century of the Common Man," and as such, the Common Man acts out numerous roles in the play to establish his universal nature--a steward, a boatman, etc. In each role, he demonstrates a commonality of character, a baseness that is one of the themes of the play--that man is generally immoral. The Common Man is a foil for More's moral behavior.