Analysis Of ' Utopia ' By Thomas More

Thomas More’s book, Utopia, was constructed to criticize aspects of European life during the 1500s. One issue that More evaluates is the subject of politics and war. War during this time was used to gain territory or increase the ruler’s power. The Utopians are a peaceful group of citizens that rarely have any altercations occurring upon their island. They have a strict daily schedule that provides a minute amount of time for leisure, resulting in a low rate of problems. So why does More bring up the issue of war, if the people of Utopia infrequently misbehave? More analyzes this issue to exemplify how war was implemented in Europe under the reign of King Henry VIII. In addition, more describes the Utopians’ preparations when they engage in war. More wrote Utopia to provide the citizens of Europe with a source of hope for a new outlook on life.

In Thomas More’s book, he describes the ideal place to live. In the society he describes there is no greed, war nor corruption. More’s book implies that greed is the source of all evil and without it, we would live in Utopia. If I were to write a Part 2 of Utopia, I would include three new ideas. In addition to More’s descriptions, I would add a few of my own. It would be a place where there was no one suffered from mental illness, no hate, and crime did not exist.

In his book Utopia, Thomas More examines a society that seems to be the ideal living situation for human beings. The main thesis of Utopia is his solution to many of the problems that are being faced in English society in the early 16th century.

Although comparing one society to another does not require them to be different in government or human behavior, it does necessarily weight one’s faults against its victories to render it better or worse than the other. This comparative structure, found between Thomas More’s two books of Utopia, poses the country of Utopia opposite the broader communities of world civilization. Despite the comparison of Utopia as distinct from and morally better than widespread society, in truth Utopia is, at best, an extension.

A person’s perception of Utopia varies depending on their life experiences and what they hope to expect of the society in which they live. It's an ideal place where equality, serenity, protection, and freedom are essential qualities.

Thomas More’s Utopia is a work of ambiguous dualities that forces the reader to question More’s real view on the concept of a utopian society. However, evidence throughout the novel suggests that More did intend Utopia to be the “best state of the commonwealth.” The detailed description of Utopia acts as Mores mode of expressing his humanistic views, commenting on the fundamentals of human nature and the importance of reason and natural law while gracefully combining the two seemingly conflicting ideals of communism and liberalism.

During the later middle ages, from ca. 1300 to 1500 A.D., one can see the rise of humanism. Specially, one can see that the author of the book Utopia, Thomas More is a humanist. Thomas More, through his book, shows the readers a multitude of examples of humanism throughout his civilization, that can be closely related to events that were happening during this time period. One can see that Thomas More is a humanist through the ideas on luxury clothing, the economy, and slavery that were also large topics of debate during his time period.

The concept of utopia is one which has many differing connotations and is therefore also one which cannot be confined to one interpretation alone. The term is commonly used to represent a community or society that, in theory, possesses highly desirable or near-‘perfect’ qualities; however, these encompassing ideals, which arguably place emphasis on egalitarian principles of equality, are implemented in a number of ways and are subsequently based on varying ideologies, thus insisting on varying views of morality. The word itself, which was first coined by Sir Thomas More in the early sixteenth century and used to describe a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean, was taken from the Greek οὐ (‘not’) and τόπος (‘place’), literally translating

Thomas Mores Utopia has more of a community sense. People are forced to believe that the purpose for working is for the good of the public. No matter what a persons status or rank is, they must learn the basics of Agriculture during their childhood. As mentioned by Thomas More, “Every year of this family come back to town after

Sir Thomas More was born in London to Agnes and John More a lawyer in 1477. Tomas after being a page in the Morton Household was sent to Oxford University and became a successful lawyer. After becoming an MP for the Under-Sheriff of London he started writing the book Utopia and finishing it 1516. After writing the book he was appointed as the privy councilor to King Henry VIII in 1518. He was latter executed in 1535 for refusing King Henry VIII to be the head of the church. Utopia is a fictional book about Mores talk with Raphael Nonsenso and his travels to Utopia.

The so-called Utopia – the quasi-perfect society – flourishes in Margaret Cavendish’s “The Description of a New World, Called a Blazing World” and Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. While the former is a dreamlike account of fantasy rule and the latter a pseudo-realistic travelogue, both works paint a picture of worlds that are not so perfect after all. These imperfections glitter like false gemstones in the paths of these Utopians’ religious beliefs, political systems, and philosophical viewpoints.

A utopian community would be a world without oppression, discrimination or social hierarchy—essentially, an ideal place to live. However, does a perfect society really exist? In Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, More flirts with the concept of a utopian community with regard to geography, city structure, labor, government and religion. Considering these aspects, the community depicted in Utopia is primarily a success, with limited failures.

In his book Utopia, Thomas More utilizes several different rhetorical devices to not only describe Utopia as a place, but also to compare the commonwealth of Utopia to the current state of Europe at the time. One literary device used throughout the novel is tone. While there are several other literary devices that contribute to the reading of Utopia, tone is one of the most useful in determining the views of More as an author. In Utopia, more usually sustains a satirical tone, sometimes accompanied by irony, comedy, and ambiguity. These elements help to convey to the readers what More’s truly intended message is. More utilizes the device of tone in Utopia in order to showcase the fundamental differences between Utopian and European society during that time.

     Socialist ideals have recurred throughout the history of literature; from Plato to Marx the elusive goal of a perfect state has occupied some of the best minds in political thought manifesting itself in literature. In the midst of this historic tradition is the Utopia of More, a work which links the utopias of the ancient with the utopias of the modern. Hythloday's fantasy island draws heavily on the Greek Republic and yet it influenced the revolutionary world of Marx. What values do the Utopians hold which are in common with other socialist utopian values, and which ideals of theirs are unique?

Ironically, More uses paradoxes in regards to his naming of places and characters. Utopia, can mean both “no place” and “good place”. The name of his protagonist, Raphael Hythloday roughly translates to: “the speaker of nonsense”. The name of the river in Utopia’s capital, Aircastle is “Nowater”. These paradoxes show that although More thought this to be his ideal society, he knew that there would never be a place that could