More: Utopia [Paperback]

While an Ambassador to Flanders, More spent spare time writing this book, 'Utopia'. The very title is a still a by-word in the English language (as well as others) of a state of bliss and peace; it is often used with the context of being unrealistic. 'Utopia' is More's response to and development from Plato's 'Republic', in that it is a framework for a perfect society, or at least perfect according to More's ideas of the time. Penned originally in Latin, 'Utopia' has been translated widely; one of the better translations is by H.V.S. Ogden, in 1949, still reprinted in various editions to this day. Originally published in Latin in 1516, the first English version appeared in 1551, some 16 years after More's death.

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Utopia
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Thomas More writes this as if he were traveling, and meets his friend Peter Giles, who introduces him to Raphael Hythloday, a scholar/traveler with tales to tell.

Hythloday made friends with a prince who outfitted him for a journey. He traveled through deserts and fertile lands. He proceeds to give an account to Giles and More. In an ironic twist, given More's own attachment to Henry VIII, Hythloday states that he doesn't give his information in advice of kings or princes, for to be beholden to them is not a wise thing. He quotes Plato, in saying that unless kings were themselves philosophers, they should never appreciate philosophers.

More argues for public service, which Hythloday rejects as something that other place-seekers will use to bolster their own positions. Then Hythloday makes the startling pronouncement with regard to how a society should be constituted: 'As long as there is property, and while money is the standard of all things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily; not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to the absolutely miserable.'

Hythloday proceeds to give an account of the life of Utopia, where, he says, there are so few laws and so much liberty and equality that virtue is always rewarded, and each person has what he or she needs. He talks about this under the following headings:

Of Their Towns, Particularly of Amaurot
Of Their Magistrates
Of Their Trades, and Manner of Life
Of Their Traffic
Of the Travelling of the Utopians
Of Their Slaves, and of Their Marriages
Of Their Military Discipline
Of the Religions of the Utopians

'Utopia' is a radical document. It anticipates the modern idea of communism, with private property at a minimum; it is generations ahead in the idea of equality of the sexes and freedom of religion. This may seem a remarkable statement from someone who will go to his death supporting the Roman hierarchy, but in historical irony, had religious freedom been respected in England at the time, More would have had nothing to fear.

'Utopia' was a place of education and free inquiry. Again, More's own life models this - travelers from as far away as Constantinople and Venice, visiting More's home in Chelsea, remarked on the incredible sense of knowledge and respect for reason and learning, not just for the men, but also for the women of the household (More's own daughter once impressed Henry VIII with her Latin training so much he was at pains to find something at which he excelled that he could best her at).

At different points throughout the text, More (speaking through Hythloday) jabs in witty and insightful manner the habits of the day - that kings are often more concerned to fill their own coffers than increasing the general wealth of the nation; that courts are designed to be self-serving and self-perpetuating; that liberties are curtailed not for just and reasonable causes, but often for petty personal reasons.

Some of the ideas, however, are not as modern or enlightened as they might seem at first glance. Utopians' freedom of religion exists only in very narrow bounds of reason - they are all monotheists, and while they might identify this deity with the sun or moon or a good person who died long ago, they are not permitted to speak or attempt to convert others to this idea, without risking bondage or death. Not too Utopian after all...

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More was beatified by Leo XIII in 1886 and canonised by Pius XI in 1935 (it is significant to note that Anglican-Roman relations were at a strained point during these times, and the raising of an English saint who rejected the Anglican construct served at least minor political points, something More would have been able to appreciate, if not approve). The official feast day is July 9.

As a society entirely without currency, Utopia could have been far more satirical and insightful. The one part I really liked was when More said that only chamber pots and slave chains should be made out of gold.

More's conception of pride is poorly defined. On the one hand, he thinks that lust for private property, cash, and beautiful clothes generates greed, anxiety, and an idle upper class that is the root of injustice; on the other hand, Utopia's system of moral rewards and punishments inculcates a certain kind of pride. Why is it an evil wish to desire fine clothing, yet right and reasonable to desire public titles, proper marriages, and decent cremations?

The Utopians fight only defensive wars, for which they hire soldiers from other countries, who clearly deserve to die anyway because of their greed. If the Utopians are forced to fight, entire family units must go to the front, because it would be shameful for a spouse or child to survive a fallen hero. The terminally ill are persuaded to end their own lives. Reluctance to die indicates a guilty conscience, and these will be buried dishonorably, as do unapproved suicides.

According to More, in the real 16th-century England, women contribute exactly zero useful labor; this is to be rectified. In Utopia, women may marry at 18 and men at 22, and husbands rule over their wives. The fiances should view each other naked. After all, "men will refuse to buy a colt, unless they take off its saddle and harness." They should not, however, touch either other. Premarital sex should be "severely punished," including forbidding the guilty parties from ever obtaining a legal marriage. After marriage, extramarital sex is punished by enslavement, and a second offense by death. Should the spouse of an adulterer not desire a divorce, he or she is permitted to share the penalty of enslavement.

Meals are eaten in the town hall, because, More assumes, no one enjoys cooking for themselves. Men and women sit in separate areas so that the women, perpetually pregnant, may excuse themselves to the nursery to play with babies if they do not feel well. Travelers are denied meals unless they work for it; a relative's permission is required to walk around the district and a senator's permission to leave the city.

Though superstitions may differ, all Utopians must share a fundamental belief in Heaven and Hell. People who don't believe in Hell are undoubtedly disposed to crime; although you can't force them to change their opinion, you can forbid them to speak. On the other hand, people who speak about hell with too much zeal and enthusiasm are exiled for causing social unrest. One must have precisely the right quantity of theology. Yet if the fear of God and Hell is the path to virtue, why does Utopia need so many civic penalties? And if those civic penalties are in place and functioning, why is religious fear necessary?

More did not carefully consider the contradictions and gray area in his theory. Overall, his Utopia amounts to a regimented, communist slave-state with a penal code harsher than Leviticus. It ignores basic human psychology, creativity, and dignity. One wonders if he welcomed his 1535 beheading for religious and political dissent as an act of utopian justice.

"Utopia" means, literally, "no place". The word didn't exist until More coined it in this book. He wanted to make a critic regarding the English society of his time, but needed to cloak it under a "fictional" mantle due to censure. Displeasing the king was very dangerous in More's time...

What is this short novel about?. Well, More introduces us to an imaginary character, Raphael Hythloday, a traveler that has visited a distant country: Utopia. After meeting More, Raphael tells him about the country he visited, and afterwards More writes a book about what he was told.

To begin with, in that country community is more important that private aims, and that fact permeates all social and political life. There is no private propriety of the means of production, and everything belongs to everybody. Work is obligatory to all healthy men and women, and those who want to do nothing are punished with forced labor. There is no money, but everybody has what is needed to live well, although frugally. Thanks to the fact labor is well distributed, leisure time is available to all. As a result, men and women (equals in this society) can dedicate time to cultivate their minds...

Other important points that should be highlighted regarding Utopia, especially because they contrast strongly with the situation of More's England, are that in this country all religions are allowed, and that there isn't an autocratic rule (a democratically elected assembly and different local governments are elected). All in all, equality prevails, and thanks to the above mentioned arrangements harmony is achieved.

"Utopia" was written a few years later that Machiavelli's "The Prince", but the differences between the two books are incredible. In "Utopia" instead of praising the power of princes More wanted to show clearly all that was wrong in English society because it was governed by a bad ruler. He didn't tell others to face reality: he asked them to criticize it, in order to improve it later. Thus, Moro established the essential traits of what was later known as the "utopian method": to describe in other situation, with a prejudice of optimism, all that that we don't like in our society.

With "Utopia" Moro created a new way to mobilize energies, and showed options that had remained hidden from the eyes of those who weren't happy with their societies. Behind the name of "fiction", he gave politics new intruments of discussion, and opened to it novel ways of considering reality, in the light of what could/should be.

There is no politics without the idea that something better can be achieved, without the kind of imagination that allows us to think that something better is possible. Moro made that evident... I think that that is more than enough to strongly recommend this book to you :)

Belen Alcat