Utopia By Thomas More Analysis

Perfection Imagine perfection! A world with no faults, no errors, and no delinquents. A world that lives in peace and harmony, and that never ceases to prove it’s worth every single day. This flawless realm was almost impossible to find or describe in Europe in the early sixteenth century due to all of the corruption that was occurring in the church and in the government. However, from the abyss of this dark world came a man who was ready to challenge these powerful, malicious supremacies; a man named Thomas More. In his book Utopia, More, “the Chancellor of England at the time (Notes),” described the perfect society by observing the world’s wonderful and wicked aspects. Though heavily influenced by his Christian and humanist background,
he, ultimately, gave the best description of perfection through the flawless nation of Utopia. In his idealized civilization, More described many good aspects of society; a lot of which were relevant to the real world during the early 1500s. The first great example of this was portrayed by how the people of Utopia obtained true pleasure, of which there were two kinds. “The pleasure of the mind could be acquired through knowledge and a good conscience, while bodily pleasures could be received through good health (More pgs. 52-53).” With this knowledge, the Utopians spent a great majority of their time attempting to achieve and maintain this so-called pleasure, which in essence, to More, was great because it meant that they were not “wasting” their lives away with petty actions like the people of Europe. Another fantastic representation of an aspect of a faultless society is seen through the lack of laws that were put in place by the Utopians. They had the idea that every man ought to know his duty and his place in society, and that he should be able to distinguish the difference between proper and unlawful acts. As a result, no lawyers resided in Utopia, which meant that the courts were a lot more efficient and effective. Yet another incredible illustration of the core values of a quintessential world came through the Utopians view of religion. The majority did not exactly believe in God, until the Europeans introduced it to them, but rather, “They believed in one Supreme Being who was far wiser and greater than any of them and who ruled over the entire universe (More pg. 71).” Additionally, the Utopians did not force any one religion upon their people, as is evident through the lack of specific ornaments in their temples and places of worship. More thought of Utopia as the most preeminent location on the surface of the planet, yet, he had quite a different perspective when he viewed the inferior society known as Europe. Not only did More describe the good aspects of civilization in Utopia, but he also depicted what he thought was wrong with every empire that was not Utopia.
For starters, it was evident that More thought that the people in sixteenth century Europe were not always efficient with their time. In Utopia, the citizens had a perfect balance of laboring, dining, slumbering, and relaxing, and the men and women each had their specific duties that they attended to. On the contrary, the citizens of England, for example, were quite lazy when compared to the Utopians which irked More because it was a complication that could be easily fixed and that could benefit society immensely. Secondly, More described Utopia as a land where money and jewelry was not valuable, and where the wealth was spread equally among the people. This basically took away any sort of greed or lust for wealth, which was the polar opposite of what was going on in Europe at the time. In Europe, wealth and power came almost hand in hand as there were very few kings who were destitute, and very few affluent people who were not, at bare minimum, nobles. The final, and probably most important, depiction of the terrible aspects of European civilization came in the form of war, and how the Utopians differed in their approach as opposed to Europe. “The Utopians detest war as a very brutal thing (More pg. 65),” and will do all in their power to avoid participating in it. However, when war is inevitable and their mercenaries
are all deceased, their citizens, being trained in the art of war, proceed to help. This again, was quite different from the beliefs of the Europeans in the early 1500s due to the fact that the kings and nobles believed that glory could be obtained through war, and also because not many of the local people were trained to engage in combat. All in all, More used not only the excellent aspects of Utopia, but also the corrupt aspects of Europe to describe his version of a perfect society. It was very well known that More was both a devout Christian and a serious humanist, and these traits became quite prevalent when he was describing his flawless civilization.
A great example of this humanist trait could be seen when the Utopians were introduced to the Greeks through Greek literature and teachings. The Utopians grasped the Greeks language and philosophy very quickly and accepted them as their own, which as a humanist, made More very pleased. However, More did not necessarily agree with every single detail of the Utopian lifestyle. For example, he did not approve of the laws of the Utopians, as is evident when he states, “… concerning the manners and laws of that people, that seemed very absurd… (More pg. 84).” Additionally, More did not take a liking to the fact that Utopians welcomed any and all different types of religion, which would make sense because as a devout Christian, he was taught that there was one true God and that worshiping anyone else was sinful. Ultimately, More’s version of the perfect society was, for the most part, consistent with his philosophy and religious beliefs, with the large exception being that Christianity was not the solitary
religion. In the end, More’s idea of a great civilization was portrayed very well by the inhabitants of Utopia. Through the wonderful aspects of Utopian society, such as what to find pleasure in, their few laws, and their acceptance of all religions, and through the awful aspects of European society, such as the indolent, avaricious, and barbarous activities of the citizens and their rulers, More was able to describe what constitutes perfection. Despite the fact that not every one of his religious beliefs and philosophies agreed with those of the Utopians, he held the opinion, “… there are many things in the Commonwealth of Utopia, that I rather wish, than hope, to see followed in our governments (More pg. 85).” Conclusively, More, seeing all of the corruption around him in England in the early sixteenth century, tried to imagine what an idealized and perfect empire would be like, and Utopia was his best illustration.