A man named Speaker of Nonsense will clearly be disadvantaged in any debate. What kind of information or argument can be expected of such an individual? Can he explain a rational idea or form a logical conclusion? Is the authority of his discourse trustworthy? Or is he just a man with name and nature in perfect harmony? These are all questions that Thomas More leaves us asking of Raphael Hythloday, the garrulous sailor-philosopher who describes and extols the society of Utopia.
From his memories of a five-year stay on the island, Raphael conjures up a thorough depiction of the sociopolitical practices of the Utopian way of life, which he proclaims "the happiest basis for a civilized community, which will last forever." He vividly describes everything from their wardrobes to their war tactics. And still, at the end of his speech, More confesses to having "various objections." Surely, More acknowledges Raphael's "undoubted learning and experience" while still insisting that Utopia seemed "in many cases perfectly ridiculous." Could it really be nonsense, nonetheless clever nonsense, after all?
The first glimpse we get of Raphael is of a stranger and probably (More guesses) a sailor. Giles soon joins More, presenting Raphael as a friend and confirming that he is a sailor, but a rather extraordinary one at that. He is, according to Giles, "really more like Ulysses or even Plato." While these comparisons with identifiable figures are helpful, the main way Hythloday’s character comes to be revealed is through the contrast between him and More. They each hold a fundamentally different philosophy on politics. We see this when Giles urges Hythloday to hold a court position, putting his wisdom and experience to a good use. He d...
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...ety in isolation, he struggles to come up with a sense of how it functions in the context of other, non-Utopian nations. His inability to articulate a plausible Utopian foreign policy ultimately shows that his true-life account is most likely a mix of fact and fiction.
Hythloday may have an active imagination, but his account of Utopia still contains some valuable truths. More himself says, "I freely admit that there are many features of the Utopian Republic which I should like though I hardly expect to see adopted in Europe." In a clever way, More ends Utopia with this statement, which is really a kind of challenge to the Europeans to outdo what was attempted by the Utopians, or just sloppily imagined by Hythloday. For More, the goal is not to copy a Utopia into the real world, but to move past its deceptive guidelines and work to make realistic improvement.
In Utopia, hubris is believed to the root of everything wrong in the world. In both book 1 and 2, More tells how hubris ruins everything and causes people to become greedy and uncaring towards others. Hythloday believes that people in Utopia are happier because they do not worry about food and are concerned about the public. While people of other places are full of greed and are too prideful to help another person in need.
Utopia is a term invented by Sir Thomas More in 1515. However, he traces the root two Greek words outopia and eutopia which means a place does not exist and a fantasy, invention. It is widely accepted that Plato was to first to picture a utopian order. In his masterpiece, “Republic”, he formed the principles of ideal commonsense and his utopia (Hertzler, 1922:7). After the classical age, Sir Thomas More assumed to be the first of the utopian writers in early modern period. As a humanist, he gave the world in his “Utopia” a vision of a perfect communistic commonwealth (the history of utopian thought). Utopia’s influence on contemporary and rival scholars is so deep that it has given its name to whole class of literature. Following the appearance of More’s Utopia, there was a lack of Utopian literature for nearly a century (Hertzler, 1922:7). This period ended with the works of Francis Bacon, Campanelle and Harrington. These early modern utopians, being the children of Renaissance, filled with a love of knowledge and high respect for the newly truths of science. Thus, they believed that the common attainment of knowledge means the largest participation of all members of society in its joys and benefits. After the period of early Utopians, continuation of a sprit of French Revolution and initial signs of industrial revolution resulted in the emergence of a new group of Utopians called Socialist Utopians (Hertzler, 1922: 181). The word “Socialism” seems to have been first used by one of the leading Utopian Socialists, St Simon. In politics utopia is a desire that never come true neither now nor afterwards, a wish that is not based on social forces (material conditions and production) and is not supported by the growth and development of political, class forces. This paper discusses the validity of this claim, tries to present and evaluate the political reforms, if any, offered by Socialist Utopians.
In both of the purported "Utopian" worlds, the imperfect religious traditions, rigid governing systems, and askew philosophical beliefs mar what are otherwise model worlds for all other nations to imitate. Margaret Cavendish and Sir Thomas More, in their differing styles, are able to convey that no world is perfect, but there is room for change, for everyone can fabricate their own imaginary worlds and travelogues.
In order to create structure in a society, one must ensure the care of its people. In the imaginary civilization of Utopia, the main strategy is to "get through life as comfortably and cheerfully as we can, and help other members of our species to do so too" (More 92). More focuses on the well being of its citizens to create happiness and order within the society. He does this by initiating the idea of human rights and equality. With the sense of equality in society people can help each other to live blissfully, and stop trying to become better than their neighbors.
Whether the Utopians are being examined for their value of precious metals, the treatment of women, or how they worship, it is evident that there are some major inequalities within their society. However, any reader of More’s Utopia must have the ability to look past the tensions that are present, and read the work as More intended it to be read—satirically.
First, the people of More's Utopia have a complex communism compared to our modern neo-fascist culture. In Utopia, the government owns the business world. The government forces men to work the land in two-year stints. In modern society, the government does not own the economy but it does control the economy. The government does not make men be farmers but it does tell farmers how much to grow. Furthermore, it penalizes those who disobey its command.
Ben Franklin himself said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
More’s Utopia is more like a fictional story on the surface, but of course there is a great deal of depth to this piece of literature. Utopia is set mainly as a conversation between three men: More, Hythloday, and Giles. Hythloday is arguably the most significant character in this story, as he is the one relaying all of the information about the land of Utopia to More. Hythloday went on many explorations with Amerigo Vespucci, and came across the island “Utopia” in his travels – there he had the opportunity to act almost like an anthropologist, observing and studying the ways of the Utopians.... ...
Utopia itself is divided into two different books, the first half of the book talks about ‘the obligations of a man of experience and integrity to play an active role in the service of a country and mankind,’ Moore puts himself into his narrative meeting a traveler called Raphael Hythloday. Hythloday is described as wise and well-travelled however, this fictional character has cruised with ‘the famed explored Amergio Vespucci.’ Vespucci was seen as a fraud to Moore and other philosophers, therefore its unclear whether Raphael Hythloday is truly reliable or not. The second half of the of the book goes into Hythloday’s tr...
Utopia as a text is a clear reflection and representation of More’s passion for ideas and art. Through the character of Raphael, More projects and presents his ideas, concepts and beliefs of politics and society. More’s Utopia aims to create a statement on the operations and effectiveness of the society of England. This text is a general reflection of More’s idea of a perfectly balanced and harmonious society. His ideas and concepts of society somewhat contrast to the rest of 16th century England and indicate a mind that was far ahead of its time. A number of issues and themes are raised throughout the text to which More provides varying views and opinions. These are transmitted and projected through the perspectives of the fictional Raphael, More and Giles.
I believe that this society, at least the economic aspect of it, would be possible to attain. However, I believe it cannot happen with our entire world. More made a point by putting Utopia on an island in the middle of the "real world": there is no way to apply Utopia to the "real word". In order to create a Utopia like this today, we must take very young children and raise them apart from society. If we do this and teach them about the society we are trying to create, I believe their reason will make the Utopia a lasting one. But if we try to create this Utopia over the whole Earth, we will fail miserably. The world is filled with billions of people who have been raised in our current society, and it is human nature to resist change. The economic situation of More's Utopia is possible, but only in a situation very close to the one in his book.
In order to maintain a society free of social inequality both authors set up a civilization based on strict societal structure. In More’s Utopia, a system was set up so that all work was completed.
Sir Tomas More’s Utopia indirectly criticizes fifteen hundredth European catholic society of corruption, violence, poverty and of inequality. As a lord chancellor to Henry VIII, Thomas More was well aware of these problems and wrote a satire to propose his awareness in a carful manner, as we can see his hesitation to publish the book on his letter to Peter Giles especially when he described his “two minds” (More, 8). To criticize the problems of his times on a safe platform, he created a fictional character Raphael Hythloday, who is wise and knowledgeable of new places from the sailing experience with Amerigo Vespucci. This not only reflects the times in which people stepped out their voyages to the New World but also provides a foil to the European society—the
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?
The trite cliche that no man is an island applies equally well to political philosophies. Thomas More's Utopia was written both as a product of his time, and also as a product of a previous time--that of Greek civilization, especially around 380BC, when Plato's Republic was written. The similarities between the two books are not limited to them both being a dialogue. Both contain a description of the perfect state, although they do this for different reasons and they arrive at different types of perfection.