Utopia By Thomas More (1478-1535) Essays - Utopia, Utopian Fiction

Utopia by Thomas More (1478-1535) Utopia by Thomas More (1478-1535) Type of Work: Social and philosophical commentary Setting Antwerp; early sixteenth century Principal Characters Sir Thomas More, emissary for Henry VIII Peter Giles, More's friend Raphael Hythloday, world traveler and witness to Utopia Book Overveiw Thomas More toured Antwerp on a diplomatic mission for his king, Henry VIII. There, More's friend, Peter Giles, introduced the young ambassador to Raphael Hythloday, an educated sailor who had seen much of the world while voyaging with Amerigo Vespucci. The three of them convened in a garden so that More could question this learned and experienced man. More and Giles both wondered why a man of such wisdom and stature as Raphael had not entered into a king's service. Raphael scoffed at the idea: "The councilors of kings are so wise that they need no advice from others (or at least so it seems to themselves)." Moreover, Raphael opined that most councilors merely bowed to the king's inclinations and were more concerned with maintaining favor than with offering impartial and wise advice. Raphael also believed that the average king possessed different goals than he himself had; that "most princes apply themselves to warlike pursuits," whereas he had no interest or skill in the acquisition of riches or territory. Raphael asked Giles and More to imagine him before a king, cautioning him that "wars would throw whole nations into chaos, would exhaust the King's treasury and destroy his own people, [and] that a prince should take more care of his people's happiness than of his own." How receptive would the king be to that kind of advice? More asked Raphael if he had ever been to England; the traveler replied that he had, and then proceeded to relate a story about a discussion he had entered into there with a British lawyer. The lawyer commented that he approved of hanging thieves for their crimes. But Raphael struck up an argument against this form of "justice." The high incidence of theft in England, he claimed, was attributable to the increased sheepherding by wealthy landowners. This new industry had forced the poorer farmers off their land while at the same time boosting the price of goods and feed; and these combined factors had caused a rise in unemployment. Without work or land, many people had turned to a life of crime or to begging. This "policy [of hanging thieves] may have the appearance of justice, but it is really neither just nor expedient." In his view, English society was "first making [people] thieves and then punishing them for it." Another of Raphael's complaints was that many English noblemen, along with their entourages of lazy friends, "live idly like drones and subsist on the labor of their tenants." Such "wanton luxury" only exacerbated the poverty of the common people. While More and Giles could understand the justice in Raphael's social criticisms, they were still unable to understand why he would not help rescue society by offering his higher wisdom in the political arena. Raphael replied: As long as there is private property and while money is the standard of all things, I do not think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily .... Unless private property is entirely done away with, there can be no fair distribution of goods, nor can the world be happily governed. Neither More nor Giles believed that this prerequisite to peace would ever be possible to attain. Raphael was not surprised by their scoffs, but averred that had they traveled with him on the island haven of Utopia, there they would have seen a truly orderly, peaceful society. The two Englishmen then prevailed on Raphael to acquaint them, after their meal, with all the customs and institutions of the Utopians. Dinner completed, Raphael began his descriptive tour: First of all, Utopian society was uniform, with all cities sharing the "same language, customs, institutions and laws." Its economy was guided by one fundamental rule: "All the Utopians, men and women alike, work at agriculture." Additionally, everyone worked at a trade of his own choosing, provided the trade proved useful to society. Although every citizen was required to work, each labored only six hours out of twenty-four. While to many such liberal conditions might seem untenable, Raphael pointed out that "the actual number of workers who supply the needs of mankind is much smaller than imagined," considering the many noblemen, beggars and others in contemporary society who produced nothing. For Utopians, the chief aim was to allow everyone enough free time to develop his or her mind. Food on the island was distributed equally, with the sick tended to first. The rest of the