Utopia

Utopia

Sir Thomas More’s Utopia is one of the most astounding, influential, and unique works of political satire and inquiry in early modern Europe. More, through the use of fictional prose, imagines an island, Utopia, where society has evolved greatly from his current one in 16th century England. In the novel, More learns about Utopia from a widely renowned explorer and discovers the political, social, and religious topography of this unknown and wildly idiosyncratic land. The island of Utopia, founded by General Utopus contains many aspects which foreshadow later developments in society and political ideology. One in particular stands out: the notion of a free government services, resembling later ideas present in socialist ideology. Hospitals and healthcare are free and available to all citizens of Utopia. Furthermore, many aspects of contemporary society are evident on the island, such as legality of divorce and tolerance (though limited and not societally enforced) of atheism. However; there are consequences to the idyllic lives of Utopians. For one, each household relies on at least one or two slaves, supplied by either outside countries or criminals within Utopia. Premarital sex is punished by a lifetime of strictly enforced chastity and marriage outside of sex is a highly criminal act, punished by slavery.
By the end of the book, the fictional character parallel to More in reality concludes that the concepts of governance and society in Utopia are unrealistic and inapplicable to actual society, specifically his own, in England. Yet, he concludes that there are certain aspects to Utopian society that could be altered and incorporated in England. Sir Thomas More is keen in his use of fiction to make political commentaries and satire. It is an early use of such a platform to spread ideas which may be radical under a trivial guise. Ideas from Utopia would continue to circulate across Europe for centuries after its publishing, and strike strong comparisons to concepts of Socialism that would emerge in the 19th century, particularly Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Communist Manifesto, published in 1848.

Sir Thomas More

Universitätsbibliothek Bielefeld [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utopia,_More,_1518_-_0020.jpg

1518

Public Domain