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SUMMARY TITLE

UTOPIA

CHARACTERS DESCRIPTION

CONCLUSION
originally written in Latin
and later translated into
many languages in 1516
by one of the most
influential figures of the
early Renaissance Sir
Thomas More
 ’’Utopia’’ from Greek :
’’no-place land’’
’’u’’ - not or
’’topos’’ - place ’’good-place land’’

In the text, Utopia represents an ideal community:

political, social, religious, technological but,
impossible to achieve.
 In first book Thomas More travels to Antwerp, where he spends time with his
friend, Peter Giles. One day, More spots Giles speaking with a bearded man
whom More takes to be a ship's captain. Giles introduces More to Raphael
Hythloday , and it turns out that he is not just a traveler but also a philosopher.
So the three of them head over to More's garden to have an intense chat about
whether or not it's possible for philosophy to influence politics.

Hythloday has been on many voyages with the noted explorer Amerigo
Vespucci, traveling to the New World, south of the Equator, through Asia, and
eventually landing on the island of Utopia.
 He points out that the
policies of the Utopians
are clearly superior to
those of Europeans, yet
adds that Europeans
would see as ludicrous
the all-important Utopian
policy of common
property.
 As a matter of effect, they discuss about the abolition of
private property, as Hythloday's visit to England justifies and
enables More's desire to discuss England's problems like:

 there are a great number of idle gentlemen who live by exploitatively raising
their tenants’ rent and who hire serving men to proudly show off the wealth
of their estates. But these serving men never learn any craft, and they
become as idle as their lords.

 Hythloday introduces a second cause of thievery in England. For the sake of

reaping huge profits in the wool trade, noblemen, gentlemen, and even
churchmen tear down houses and towns to pasture their sheep on what
could otherwise be farmland, thereby making it impossible for people to live
on and work the land.
 Back from lunch, Hythloday describes the geography and
history of Utopia. He explains how the founder of Utopia,
General Utopus , conquered the isthmus on which Utopia now
stands and through a great public works effort cut away the land
to make an island.
Next, Hythloday moves to a discussion of Utopian society,
portraying a nation based on rational thought, with communal
property, great productivity, no rapacious love of gold, no real
class distinctions, no poverty, little crime or immoral behavior,
religious tolerance, and little inclination to war. It is a society that
Hythloday believes is superior to any in Europe.
 Geography

Utopia is an Island and has no problems with contended

borders.
 Community

Towns are well planned and there are no hovels or slums. Everyone has
an adequate housing with a garden in which to grow vegetables for the
family. And everyone is well trained in farming.

 Family

Utopian society is well-ordered with traditional family structure and elders,

who are heads of households much respected.

 Education

All children are given a good education and adults give up spare time to
assist in education. The success of the Utopian educational system is
evident in the fact that while most Utopians are engaged in manual labor as
a career, in their free time Utopians choose to follow intellectual pursuits.
 Government

Government is by delegates being elected to represent local

communities. Every group of thirty families or farms in Utopia
annually elects an officer to represent them, this officer or
magistrate is called a Philarch. In turn, every ten Philarchs is
under a magistrate called the Archphilarch. There are minimal
laws and no lawyers.

 Politics and war

Utopians have no interest in territorial expansion and make no

alliances with other nations. They are basically pacifist but they
will fight in defensive conflicts if necessary, preferring to employ
mercenaries to do the actual fighting and where possible to
outwit their enemies and thus avoid bloodshed.

 Slaves

The country has slaves but these are either condemned

criminals or poor labours from other lands.
 Work

All Utopians work willingly and only need to work 6 hours a day.
Everyone does some farming and so is a food producer. Because
the Utopians have abolished private property, they have no
interest in luxury goods, and therefore they have no need for
occupations other than those that serve essential functions.

 Property & Economics

Utopians do not use money as they do no trade and they works

for the common good.

 Religion

Some Utopians worship the sun, some the moon or some

worship virtuous men - but all believe that there is one God,
utopians believe the soul is immortal and that there exists an
afterlife in which the deeds of life are rewarded or punished.
Citizens are free in matters of religion.
 Hythloday concludes by summarizing Utopia’s merits and comparing its collective
economy favorably to the property-based economies of European commonwealths.
He emphasizes his overarching argument that private property gives rise to both pride
and idleness, and that together these spawn poverty and misery.
More cannot agree with Hythloday in everything; however, he confesses that,
though he wishes for many features of Utopia to be realized in Europe’s cities, he
doesn't hope as much because such a hope would be unrealistic.

‘ ’Thus when Raphael had made an end of his tale, though many things came to my
mind which in the manners and laws of that people seemed to be instituted and
founded of no good reason, not only in the fashion of their chivalry, and in their
sacrifices and religions and in other of their laws..’’
 More's fictional story simulates the New World
adventures of travelers who searched the unknown
regions of globe. These earliest travelers were motivated
largely by myths and stories of the New World and one
of the most popular storylines was the idea of the perfect
Paradise.

More's philosophical exploration is founded upon the

belief that the contemplation and discussion of
philosophy can initiate the processes through which
society is improved.
 Utopia challenged the political world. It held up an idealistic
mirror to the greedy, corpulent face of aristocracy and feudal
wealth and declared it corrupt and offensive. Book I cites
injustice after injustice, circulating mainly around the idea that
the poor were forced to steal because they were poor, and in
response the state locked them up, depriving them of a chance
to earn money.
More mentions Plato's Republic and the idea of a
"philosopher-king." Since Raphael cannot be king, he should
bring his philosophy to the court, because they think that
philosophy has a lot to do with the policy of a state.
 Utopians devote a considerable amount of time and
energy towards the moral education of the young, and they
also integrate the ideas of justice, beauty, and happiness.
Family and state work together to carefully transfer the
values of the older generation to the members of the
younger generation.
 Utopia collocates between political, social,
religious ideals and practicality, between wish
and reality. Through Hythloday's description of
Utopia, we see an ideal society about which
Thomas More confesses that, though he wishes
for many features of Utopia to be realized in
Europe’s cities, such a hope will be unrealistic.
 CHARACTERS

THOMAS MORE
‘’No wonder we are so far from happiness when philosophers do not condescend
even to assist kings with their counsel."

In service to King Henry VIII of England, he travels to Antwerp where he meets

Peter Giles and Raphael Hythloday , More is a fictional character sharing the same
name as Utopia's author, Sir Thomas More.
 RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY
"The stranger had a sunburned face, a long beard and a cloak hanging loosely
from his shoulders; from his face and dress, I took him to be a ship's captain.’’

Raphael Hythloday is the main character in Utopia, an old, sunburned, long-

bearded, wise man from Portugal who is distinct and unique from the others. His two
companions regard him as a man who desires neither wealth nor power. He is also
modest, rejecting his companion’s judgment that he is a man fit to advise a great
prince. He understands human nature well enough, being able to provide More and
Giles with a critique of governance in Europe, and more specifically in England, which
he finds to be irrationally ruled by pride.
Hythloday also tells the two men about the most perfectly governed society he
knows of, namely, Utopia, where he lived for five years.
 PETER GILES

Peter Giles is both a historical personage and a character

in Utopia. In the work, More describes Giles as a citizen of
Antwerp, honest, learned, virtuous, kind-hearted, and loving.
Although Giles doesn’t often speak in Utopia, he is important
as a representative of the culture of Renaissance
humanism—so highly esteemed by More— which valued the
humanities, especially the revival of classical literature and
rhetoric, as a means of encouraging virtue and civic ethics in
society.
 Both of them, Sir Thomas More and Jean Jacque Rousseau agree that
inequality is the main problem that exists in a society, and they tried to
build so called ''ideal empires'' in their works ''Utopia'' and '' The Social
Contract''.
Rousseau in his work emphasizes the idea of democracy that should
be applied only to Gods, because he thinks that they are the only
creatures that can keep a straight line between loyalty, equality,
discipline, morality and ethics.
And Thomas More had built an ideal society as to be an example for
others, he was kind of a predecessor of Rousseau's inspiration.

"No citizen must be so wealthy that he can buy another one and no one
so poor as to be forced to sell himself.“-T.S.C

’’Every man is born free, but everywhere he is kept in chains.’’-T.S.C

 UTOPIA EUROPE
 working on the land is made a necessary part agricultural work was an occupation of the
of life, and the stigma of that work is removed ; poor ;
all citizens are equally;
the poor and weak were repressed by the rich
Utopian society is far more productive than and powerful;
European states;
the European system that often involved
Utopian education is systematized and uniform; independent private tutors and certainly differed
 no private property; from school to school;

there are minimal laws and no lawyers; private property that has led to the decline of
many states;
No money;
Europe is based on leadership, enforcing the
power of governed laws;

if you don't have money you can't survive