The World of English Literature

Essay: Thomas More's Utopia

The First Book of Utopia

The first book of Utopia was written second, on More’s return to England from his embassy. The object of Book I is to point the contrast between a rationally ordered state, such as the far-off island commonwealth of the Utopians described in the second book, and the Europe of More’s day, where all, from Kings downward, are bent on self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. Kings manipulate alliances, war with each other for territory, exhorts money from their subjects. Their subjects, in turn, oppress others of their subjects.


It is important to realize that in this account of the evils of his day as well as in the description of utopia itself, More is no radical reforms, looking to see a system swept away and a bright new one put in its place. His view of society is of an ordered hierarchy and just keeping of degree, from the divinely invested, God fearing King downward. It was to the keeping of that social order in its best and fairest form that More devoted himself both in theory and in practice and it is to full participation in that form that he invites the scholar and philosophers in the first book of his Utopia.

The author is introduced, by the town clerk of Antwerp, to one of the 24 men left behind in South America by Vespune. The man is Raphael Hythlodaeus, whose name is derived from Greek, like most of the names in the Utopia and means ‘babbler’, who has returned after making voyages of his own and seeing strange places. Hythlodaeus talks of his adventure and travels, tells of a society where all are ordered according to the dictates of reason and of nature, where people do not say one thing and to another. (He describes America as a breeding ground for thieves). The matter of the first book is a criticism of the condition of England, and cloth are the rule among the privileged (included among these are the clergy) and where there is a ceaseless quest for wealth.

More’s serious with never obscures the implied comparison between the virtuous pagans of utopia with the professed Christians of Europe, who fall so short of standards of reasonable conduct, either pagan or Christian Utopia demand that all its citizen participate for a set time in the agriculture which supplies the necessities of an unpretentious life from the labour of a six-hour day. Its social organisation is patriarchal, in family units, with slaves for menial duties. All property is held in common and the Utopians are indifferent to money, gold, silver, and previous stones. All the activities of the citizens are carefully supervised, included travel, marriage, the care of the sick, the elimination of the old and infirm. The Utopians hate war, but if they cannot avoid it, they try to minimize its harm to the state by shortening it by every means available, including treachery, and by hiring mercenaries to fight it for them. They are not afraid to do what is morally reprehensible in order to secure a greater good. In peace, they keep faith, both public and private, and therefore have no need of buns and lawyers. They tone knowledge and wisdom, they pursue happiness. In “good and decent pleasure, they worship a single God, and they believe in the immortality of the soul and the happiness of the life after death. They observe the greatest solemnity in the practice of their religion and are convinced of its truth, but they would abandon it for one that could be proved better.

posted by Yunita Ramadhana @ 9:00 AM