Utopia By Thomas More Analysis

Perfection Imagine perfection! A world with no faults, no errors, and no delinquents. A world that lives in peace and harmony, and that never ceases to prove it’s worth every single day. This flawless realm was almost impossible to find or describe in Europe in the early sixteenth century due to all of the corruption that was occurring in the church and in the government. However, from the abyss of this dark world came a man who was ready to challenge these powerful, malicious supremacies; a man named Thomas More. In his book Utopia, More, “the Chancellor of England at the time (Notes),” described the perfect society by observing the world’s wonderful and wicked aspects. Though heavily influenced by his Christian and humanist background,
For starters, it was evident that More thought that the people in sixteenth century Europe were not always efficient with their time. In Utopia, the citizens had a perfect balance of laboring, dining, slumbering, and relaxing, and the men and women each had their specific duties that they attended to. On the contrary, the citizens of England, for example, were quite lazy when compared to the Utopians which irked More because it was a complication that could be easily fixed and that could benefit society immensely. Secondly, More described Utopia as a land where money and jewelry was not valuable, and where the wealth was spread equally among the people. This basically took away any sort of greed or lust for wealth, which was the polar opposite of what was going on in Europe at the time. In Europe, wealth and power came almost hand in hand as there were very few kings who were destitute, and very few affluent people who were not, at bare minimum, nobles. The final, and probably most important, depiction of the terrible aspects of European civilization came in the form of war, and how the Utopians differed in their approach as opposed to Europe. “The Utopians detest war as a very brutal thing (More pg. 65),” and will do all in their power to avoid participating in it. However, when war is inevitable and their mercenaries
A great example of this humanist trait could be seen when the Utopians were introduced to the Greeks through Greek literature and teachings. The Utopians grasped the Greeks language and philosophy very quickly and accepted them as their own, which as a humanist, made More very pleased. However, More did not necessarily agree with every single detail of the Utopian lifestyle. For example, he did not approve of the laws of the Utopians, as is evident when he states, “… concerning the manners and laws of that people, that seemed very absurd… (More pg. 84).” Additionally, More did not take a liking to the fact that Utopians welcomed any and all different types of religion, which would make sense because as a devout Christian, he was taught that there was one true God and that worshiping anyone else was sinful. Ultimately, More’s version of the perfect society was, for the most part, consistent with his philosophy and religious beliefs, with the large exception being that Christianity was not the solitary