Utopia

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Utopia
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Original Latin title De Optimo Reipublicae
Statu dequenova insula Utopia libellus vere
aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus,
clarissimi disertissimique viri Thomae Mori
inclytae civitatis Londinensis civis
Vicecomitis.
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In English, the simplified title readsThe Best
State of a Commonwealth and the New Island of
UtopiaAs translated by Richards, C. G. and Rev.
Edward Surz, S.J., The Longman Anthology
British Literature, Fourth ed., pp. 714-784. New
York Longman, 2010. Print.
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Definition

• UtopiaThomas More created this word, derived
  from Greek. It roughly translates to no place,
  or a land that does not exist.
• In the common English language, utopia refers
  to a society of idealistic rationality. A
  perfect society or a location of peaceful rest
  and tranquility.

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Intentions

• There is much discussion over Thomas Mores
  intentions with this publication.
• The focus of many arguments centers on the basic
  understanding that Mores life contradicts the
  opinions presented in the book.
• the book Utopia can be considered a pure
  fantasy or pure social, political commentary
  or
• in many regards, it is considered the perfect
  satire of humansociety it predates many classic
  writings with similar intentionsmuch like
  Jonathan Swifts Modest Proposal.

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Similar Works

• Jonathon Swift Gullivers Travels
• George Orwell 1984
• Aldous Huxley Brave New World
• Russell Hoban Riddley Walker
• Ursula K. Le Guin The Dispossessed An Ambiguous
  Utopia
• Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
• Richard Adams Watership Down
• all of these writings in some form discuss how a
  society based on supposed utopian values becomes
  a dystopia social commentaries

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Classifying the Work

• Critics are divided how to label the piece due to
  the fact that the work appeared in the early
  Sixteenth Century, the era of Monarchs, a time
  without experiments on formation of different
  political societies.
• Further discussions result when one considers
  Mores own political career as advisor to
  Englands Henry VIII, as Lord Chancellor, and
  lawyer.
• The criticisms embedded in the full book Utopia
  even run counter to Mores assumed values as a
  devout follower of the Catholic faith.

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As Satire

• As a genre, satires run a wide spectrum of
  possibilities
• pure fantasy, an allegory
• used as basic entertainment
• pure allegory as political commentary,
• a political/philosophical discourse

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Background Common Points

• Similarities can be seen in the strategy of the
  narrator and the manner the writing raises
  controversial topics.
• The full text utilizes a narrator who is a false
  copy of More.
• He records a past discussion from a record of
  only their memory, after an undisclosed time
  period More does relate in non-specific terms
  that over a year has passed between the initial
  conversation with the fictional Raphael
  Hythlodaeus and the publication of Mores book.
• The narrator apologizes for his memory skills and
  for possible flaws in his retelling the material,
  adding layers of irony to the piece.
• A slight blurring of fiction with reality is used
  in order to communicate his observations of human
  nature and human psychology.
• The text is organized as a frame narrative, a
  story within a story.

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Background Common Points

• The text is neatly divided into two sections
  Book 1 and Book 2. Current Issues provides a
  portion from the second section.
• Both sections are shown through first person
  accounts of events.
• Book 1 Book 2Primarily concerned with
  Primarily concerned withEnglish social order
  Utopian views of society
• the character More narrates story the
  character Raphael Hythlodaeusand establishes
  political/social themes narrates his adventures
  in Utopia,in the full text discussing the
  communitys views of society
• establishes England and Europes offers a
  solution to class strugglessocial / class
  problems for comparison through example of
  island Utopia

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Background Common Points

• Originally published in Latin by a Belgium press
  in 1516. More is approximately 38 years old.
• It was not printed in English until a four years
  after the death of Henry VIII.
• A Quick Time-line
• 1492 Christopher Columbus lands in New World
• 1516 First publication of Utopia in Latin
• 1535 Execution of More for treason, due to his
  refusal to accept Henry VIII as Head of Church
  of England
• 1547 Death of Henry VIII1551 First
  publication of Utopia in English

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Characters

• A majority of the figures in the book are based
  on historic people.
• Of the major actors in the story, only Raphael
  Hythlodaeus is fictional. His first name is
  Hebrew, meaning God heals.
• His last name is based on Greek, translates to
  speaker of nonsense.
• Peter Giles, who appears in Book 1, is based on
  a real, historical individual, a friend of More.
• By exchanging dialogue between these two
  principle characters andportraying himself as
  narrator, More subtly plays with various
  political and social ideas in a safer fashion.

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The Full Texts Components

• The introduction takes the form of a letter,
  written by Thomas More to Peter Giles.
• In this fashion, More prepares the reader for a
  direct approach on the topic.
• In a tongue-in-cheek approach, he apologizes for
  the flaws in the full text, showing mock
  humility.
• In this fashion he also establishes a background
  exposition for the reader, creating an atmosphere
  of factual recording.

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The Full Texts Components

• Further, to help separate fact from fiction, he
  conveniently recalls that neither Giles nor
  himself asked Hythlodaeus where Utopia is
  located.
• In this fashion, More establishes an elaborate
  fictional atmosphere.
• We forgot to ask, and he forgot to say, in what
  part of the new world Utopia lies. I am sorry
  that part was omitted, and I would be willing to
  pay a considerable sum to purchase that
  information, partly because I am rather ashamed
  to be ignorant in what sea lies the island of
  which I am saying so much, partly because there
  are several among us, and one in particular, a
  devout man and a theologian by profession,
  burning with an extraordinary desire to visit
  Utopia (717).

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Utopia-Book 1

• Near the end of this portion of the text,
  Hythlodaeus proposes a radical solution to
  Europes and Englands social problems.
• The character suggests that removal of private
  property and monies would alleviate English and
  European conflicts.
• Remember the proposal Hythlodaeus suggests
  emerges from the early Sixteenth Century a
  period in history where even a working notion of
  Democracy has not been achieved.
• It has been suggested that his proposal was the
  beginnings of Marxist theories, centuries later.
• In Utopia, Book 1, Hythlodaeus begins his
  argument wherever you have private property and
  all men measure all things by cash values, there
  it is scarcely possible for a commonwealth to
  have justice or prosperity (739).

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Utopia-Book 2

• More, through Hythlodaeus, continues his
  secondary theme of the evils of idle behavior.
• By strategies of the Utopian society, no one
  sits idle (746).
• Hythlodaeus outlines the typical idlers in Europe
  as a contrast. Part of the vice of idleness
  includes gambling, drinking, brothels, and
  useless occupations (748).
• The remainder of Book 2 shows through example how
  a society can reject idle lifestyles and
  attitudes.
• One primary precautionary measure which the
  Utopians have in place is the fact everyone, men
  and women, is trained immediately in the pursuit
  of farming. The society is based primarily as an
  agricultural culture.

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Utopia-Book 2

• Aside from this type of political commentary, the
  majority of this section of Utopia leans closer
  to fantasy.
• More creates elaborate details of the daily life
  of the average Utopian, discussing education,
  marriage and courtship, family relations, and
  housing.
• His concern at this stage is creating an
  elaborate background of his fictional society in
  order to show its function and mechanism through
  plot devices and less about the contrasting
  politics between England and Utopia.

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Utopia-Book 2

• However, Mores fantasy soon changes in tone once
  Hythlodaeus acknowledges the existence of slaves.
  
• One of the first times they are mentioned is in
  the section Social Relations where Hythlodaeus
  displays how the food markets are maintained
• Outside the city are designated places where all
  gore and offal may be washed away in running
  water. From these places they transport the
  carcasses of the animals slaughtered and cleaned
  by the hands of slaves. They do not allow their
  citizens to accustom themselves to the butchering
  of animals (750).

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Utopia-Book 2

• Notice just after first establishing the
  perfect classless society, he then discloses a
  major flaw in their community.
• The existence of slaves in the plot causes the
  primary fantasy structure to shift to an overt
  political/social commentary.

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Utopia-Book 2

• Be sure to note that More is not an advocate of
  slavery. He is mentioning this practice as a
  common-place evil in the world.
• During the early 1500s slavery as an institution
  had not yet reached a peak of inhumanity as the
  American slave trade industry during the early
  formation of the United States industry.
• Spanish conquistadors were only just beginning to
  import populations of African slaves rather than
  use Native Americans as a resource.
• In addition, England would not begin
  participating in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
  until the mid 1500s, a few decades after Mores
  execution.
• At this stage in history, the common accepted
  belief was if a country conquered another
  country, the first country had legal right to
  do what they wished to the conquered. To the
  victor goes the spoils.

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Utopia-Book 2

• In a later section of Book 2, Slavery, Etc,
  Hythlodaeus discusses the issues of enslavement.
• The opening paragraph goes into elaborate
  detail of the condition of these people.
• Prisoners of war are not enslaved unless
  captured in wars fought by the Utopians
  themselves ... Their slaves are either such or
  such as have been condemned to death elsewhere
  for some offense. The greater number are of this
  latter kind. They carry away many of them
  sometimes they buy them cheaply but often they
  ask for them and get them for nothing. These
  classes of slaves they keep not only continually
  at work but also in chains (my emphasis, 764).

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Utopia-Book 2

• What was presented earlier in the text, how the
  society lacks a social hierarchy is now changed
  this utopian society is based on a class system
  Freeman and Slaves.
• As well, within the Slave category itself, an
  additional hierarchy is created Acquired
  Foreign Slaves Willing Slaves Criminal Slaves

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Utopia-Book 2

• Utopia is then shown as a flawed and hypocritical
  country.
• The notion of slaves or serfs defines an aspect
  of possession, even if the ownership is
  restricted to the government itself.
• From Mores perspective, although he found a
  moral alternative for the slave trade by
  placing limits to its functions within a
  classless society yet, he does this all in
  order to create an elaborate fantasy to show how
  an utopia actually cannot function without
  someone being taken advantage of.
• Once you see this intended flaw in the storys
  logic, then, the story cannot function as a
  formal social political commentary. Once the
  perfect classless society encourages slavery,
  then the political discourse falls apart in an
  obvious fashion due to the structure of the plot.
  
• More furthers this by creating an elaborate
  allegory showing the slavesplaced in shackles
  and chains of gold.