Thomas More & Utopia
Sir Thomas More, or also referred to as Saint Thomas More, wrote the book Utopia in 1516 at the age of 39. He was born in 1477 and by his death, he became one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance. Throughout his life, he developed friendships with not only some of the most important thinkers in Europe, but also in the whole world. Even though he created these acquaintances, his comments, writings, and other works offended many people. Many of these offended were in very high positions of power both with the state and the church. The most obvious of these nobles was the highest of them all, the king. This didn't just cost him nasty looks and a bad reputation, but instead his head. Utopia's communism was primarily designed to be stinging criticism of the English church and noble class. Utopia presents contradicting ideas that during the time Thomas More lived, causing much controversy. The book Utopia presents the reader with a world where everything is supposed to be perfect, which is what the word Utopia means: "An ideal place or state with perfect laws." The first three characters introduced are supposed to be looked at as fictitious ch
He could not be punished for his actions, or what he said, for they were in text and not in his present day. More's Utopia was a way that he could escape reality and go into an imaginary world where he could not be touched. For example, there is a certain unevenness in the Latin writing style between the two books. " (Reynolds 120)The structure of Utopia is one that is almost backwards in a way that the first book was written second and the second written first. In his second book, it dealt with personal issues in his life. Utopia's communism was primarily designed to be stinging criticism of the English church and noble class. An example of a rule of the island that is meant to mock society is the issue of butchers. More was not necessarily against the community houses but More directed his criticism toward the individual monks and friars. In Utopia, More says that a physician must be foolish, if he can only cure a patient on one disease by giving him another; and likewise the king, who can amend the life of his subjects only by confiscation, shows that he knows not how to rule freemen. (Chambers 258) More makes a point about how everywhere else people talk about the public good but pay attention to their own private interests. He was a man who preached religious toleration and yet methodically persecuted Protestants. Instead of readers interpreting the book as a literal proclamation of his beliefs, it must be understood that Utopia's purpose was to show what evils spring from our society. What is there to criticize about that? But if someone tries to do everything right and messes up once and a while and makes a big deal about it, how easy is it to mock them about the way they do things? The Fathers of the Church praised the monks for their voluntary communism and proposed to have it compulsory.
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