Unlocking Thomas More's Utopia: Satire and Political Reform

Utopia is a publication by Thomas More it is a satire associated with social, political and religious aspects of the society. It was published in 1516 but was written by Thomas between the years 1478 to 1535. It is a work of fiction that focuses on a fictional world. The world is utopian and is satirical of the world from where Thomas lives. The period during which Thomas wrote the satire was fueled with political distress especially because he opposed Henry VIII was in power at the time. At one point he refused to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the head of the Catholic Church. He was persecuted because of his defiance.  He is considered as a much-respected historian as well as a philosopher and made a wide range of literal contributions that have influenced literature and political view of the world. Political changes in England saw a detachment of King Henry form Vatican, and this was met with great contempt by More. He became defiant and could not acknowledge the kingship of Henry VIII anymore. They were both defenders of the Catholicism. At one point, More is considered to be a very staunch Catholic and took part in the persecution of Protestants. He also lived the life of monks, by fasting, waking early and praying. Mores writing of Utopia came during the Reformation period. This came at a time where the King left Vatican and established the entire kingdom as a Protestant nation. There was a lot of conflicts associated with the reformation. Corruption, social and economic turmoil had engulfed the nation. Utopia narrates the perception of a traveler about a utopian society (Elsky, 2013).

Utopia narrates the story of a traveler by the name of Raphael Hythloday. The name of this character is also satirical about the writings. It means talking nonsense. The traveler is characterized by having traveled the world and explored aspects of politic social and religious aspects of the society. He is considered as a reformer with the ability to provide insight on political systems with the view of improving them. The traveler’s trip around the world had made him well informed of the factors that work and those that do not work about politics. This is the reason that he greatly advocates for change and reform in nations political systems.  He describes a sensible and utopian world and shows that it is possible to achieve it. The aspect of the best way to advise a nation’s political leader was a common factor in the world of Thomas More. Raphael discusses some of the shortcomings associated with leadership and politics. It describes how kings use armies for their benefit and forget their true role in society which is to d\safeguard the kingdom in all aspects. King use these armies to amass power to themselves and extend their wealth rather than use them to protect the interests of the people. He also explores the aspect of capital punishment and the way it is applied in the society. He mostly criticizes the use of death to punish thieves and shows that thieves and murders are not the same. The use of capital punishment is way too high of a conviction for a crime such as theft. He also explores the aspect of accumulation of wealth by the rich. Most of them lead to the enclosure of their land that limits its access by the poor. It explores through Raphael the need for leaders to tune their actions philosophically to enable them to correct flawed political systems.

Book two explores the island of Utopia. More describes it as an island which was the islands community dug a channel to separate the island from the mainland. It is a well-organized island with fifty-four cities and each of them hosting six thousand families. The family is the basic unit of the society, and each consists of more than ten individuals. The leadership of the island is a prince who is elected by a chosen group of people. The prince rules forever. The distribution of people on the island is done by the leadership of the island and is doe to ensure that people are well distributed. Aspects of the society such as overpopulation and under population are well controlled by setting up colonies in the mainland. One aspect of Utopia is that there is no private ownership of property. Everything is owned and controlled by the state. The islands main occupation is agriculture and provides for everyone equally on the island.  There is also equality between men and women whereby they all take part in farming activities for food production. Food is also distributed evenly within the island by the state, making sure that excess food goes to those with a limited amount. Everyone wears the same type of clothes, and there is no differentiation of the society. There is no unemployment and working days are only limited to six hours a day. The island also explores a great aspect of religious tolerance with the existence of different religious beliefs. The description of Utopia by the traveler is descriptive of a nation that has a lot of emphasis on social control as the ideal political system of a nation it explores how such a political system can be used to eradicate social problems in the society (VAN MALSSEN, 2013).

The description of Utopia shows an ideal society.  It is based on an egalitarian society. The people live in adherence to equality in all aspects of life. The system also adopts a socialist aspect of governance whereby the state owns all the property and distributes resources equally to the society.  This is a society that cannot exist especially in the world of today. The world of today is characterized by materialism and hard work for any aspect of life demands reward. This is very different in the Utopian way of life as people worked hard but did so with no reward. The Utopian world promises a society without social problems like the ones experienced in the actual world. It shows aspects of selflessness and consideration of others within the society. The aspect of Utopia as described by Raphael, the traveler explores a perfect society. This is a society that runs smoothly and has very little problems. The aspect of greed and materialism as seen in the world of Thomas is nonexistence and therefore, people live peacefully with one another. It is the exploration of the Utopian society that Raphael becomes a Political Reformer. He gains his great political insights from the perception and point of view generated from the political system of the Utopian society (Eagleton, 2016).

The book explores the political characteristics of the nation using t\satire. He uses satire to mock and ridicule the negative social, political and religious aspect of the contemporary society of Europe. In book one all the negative aspects of problems of governance are well explained. The traveler explores some of the social problems associated with a poor political background within a nation. Explores the aspects of corruption of greed and the elite within a nation and how they marginalize the poor and limit them from access to resources. He also explores the great divide between the rich and the poor in society. In the second book, he develops solutions to the problem by describing a Utopian society and how it operates. He describes the use of a socialist system to control of all resources within a state (Zuzanek, 2017).

This system is capable of equally distributing wealth in a nation. It is satirical because it is completely different from the world Thomas lives in the book underlines some of the personal issues that affect Thomas and most important is his conflict with the King Henry VIII. The books are Thomas’ way of eliciting political reform within his nation. According to Thomas the period of reformation saw great chaos and corruption in the country and tried to use his book to change the perception of the people and most of all the leaders. There was a great divide between him and the ruling class because of religious differences. The conflict grew to the extent that he was persecuted for it. However, his satirical approach to the way he used his book to address the political issue was very effective in creating a clear understanding of politics and leadership (Tower, 2016).

References

Eagleton, T. (2016). Utopias, Past and Present: Why Thomas More Remains Astonishingly Radical. Utopian Studies, 27(3), 412-417.

Elsky, S. (2013). Common Law and the Commonplace in Thomas More's "Utopia.". English Literary Renaissance, 43(2), 181-210. doi:10.1111/1475-6757.12006

Tower Sargent, L. (2016). Five Hundred Years of Thomas More's Utopia and Utopianism. Utopian Studies, 27(2), 184-192.

VAN MALSSEN, T. (2013). The State of Philosophy and Thomas More's Utopia. Interpretation: A Journal Of Political Philosophy, 40(1), 25-55.

Zuzanek, J. (2017). Work and leisure in Thomas More’s Utopia. Leisure Studies, 36(3), 305-314. doi:10.1080/02614367.2016.1182200