Thomas More's Utopia

Throughout Thomas More's Utopia, he is able to successfully criticize many of the political, social, and economic ways of the time. His critique of feudalism and capitalism would eventually come back to haunt him, but would remain etched in stone forever. On July 6, 1535, by demand of King Henry VIII, More was beheaded for treason. His last words stood as his ultimate feeling about royalty in the 15th and 16th centuries, "The King's good servant, but God's first." Throughout his life, More spoke his beliefs about feudalism, capitalism, and his ideals of Utopia; More was a thinker, good friend of Erasmus, and although many critics take Utopia as a blueprint for society, in many instances he encourages thought, a critical part of the renaissance that does not necessarily conform to society's own beliefs.

Before any conclusions can be made about More's writings, one must know of his disagreements with both King Henry VII and Henry VIII, even following his faithfulness. More was a statesman, a scholar, a writer, and at one time, a Monk. Many of his ideals, including his socialistic ones followed behind Pythagoras, Plato, but a true influence in his life was Desiderius Erasmus. Beginning in 1499, Erasmus visited England, beginning a friendship and intellectual correspondence, translating Latin works, among other things. Erasmus' Praise of Folly, written in 1509 is dedicated to More. One of his first proposals in Parliament was to minimize appropriation for Henry VII; as one could understand, he did not take kindly to More's suggestion. More's father was imprisoned and later released after a fine was paid. Later, after Henry VIII had taken the crown and Thomas had become Speaker of the House of Commons, More, stood bes...

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...s for the readers to make their own assumptions of his writings. Uncountable interpretations and assumptions of his works have been made, but he himself will never explain to us what his intent was. People theorize that Utopia represents More's "blueprint for society," or More's ideas for a socialistic world, or even as a satire of European society, but there is reasonable evidence to say that he only wanted to encourage thought, thought for improvement, whether it be socialism, movement in classes, change in professions, or anything else of the hundreds of differences between Utopia, and 15th century Europe.

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More, Thomas, Utopia, p.41. The Penguin Book, Author's Translation by Paul Turner

More, Thomas, Utopia, p.42. The Penguin Book, Author's Translation by Paul Turner