Sir Thomas More: Creating A Perfect Society

Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, explores the possibility of creating a perfect society. More’s society upon inspection is closely related to socialism. At the time Utopia was written in 1516, Capitalist countries like England and France had created impregnable monopolies in various industries. This domination of markets by few companies caused unemployment and poverty to sky rocket. With no way to make a living and therefore no way to survive, petty crime such as theft is also on the rise. In response to the rise in crime, the French and English governments crack down on it by instating the death penalty for the petty crimes being committed. The logic behind the crackdown was to deter criminals from stealing by executing thieves publicly. But,

He sailed to the New World with Amerigo Vespucci and discovered with Vespucci that the Americas were actually undiscovered landmasses, not extensions of Asia. While on the way back Raphael and Amerigo run into a mysterious island, known as Utopia. Raphael soon learns as much as possible and returns to England to share his knowledge. Raphael soon gets his opportunity to share his discoveries at a dinner party where an English lawyer and the Cardinal of France were present. The conversation turns to the subject of instating the death penalty for theft and Raphael says… “ This method of dealing with thieves is both unjust and socially undesirable.” (More 22) Raphael goes on to explain how if one must steal to eat, no punishment in the world deter such a person. Instead, Raphael says that both England and France should follow the way of Utopian punishment. Raphael states that Well, in Tallstoria, a convicted thief has to return whatever he has stolen, not, as in most other countries, to the King- who according to the Tallstorians has just about as much right to it as the thief himself. If the stolen goods are no longer in his possession, their value is deducted from his own property, the rest of which is handed over intact to his wife and children. He himself is sentenced to hard labor. (More