These characters begin debating the roles of philosophy, politics, and how the two fields intersect in Book One (“ Utopia Summary”). The main plot of the story develops when Giles introduces More to a character named Raphael Hythloday, a philosopher and world traveler.
Thomas More, the author who has also written himself as the primary character, runs into his old friend, Peter Giles, on a trip as an ambassador for England to Antwerp. Growing up in an Irish and Roman Catholic household, he was a passionate defender of Catholic orthodoxy, so much so that he argued against King Henry and was tried for treason, ultimately leading to his execution in 1535 (“16th Century Dreams: Thomas More”). More wrote in the 16th century, the time of the Reformation, which set out to reform the Catholic Church in Europe and resulted in the development of Protestantism. In his work, he defined systems of punishment, social hierarchy, agriculture, and education, as well as customs for marriage and death. He was, at one time, one of Henry VIII’s most trusted civil servants, becoming Chancellor of England in 1529. In addition to practicing law, he would later gain fame as a poet, satirist, composer, political propagandist, and rhetorician (“Thomas Moore” Encyclopedia Britannica). Two years after attending Oxford, More moved to England where he studied Law at Lincoln’s Inn. Sir Thomas More was born to a Roman Catholic family in Dublin, Ireland in 1478.
#UTOPIA THOMAS MORE LESSON FREE#
Clearly dissatisfied with the world he was living in, More sought to create a different place altogether on the page-a world free of the hierarchies that ultimately cost the author his life. The author’s experience with politics in his time and the Utopia that he invented demonstrates this contrasting relationship: Utopia is communal, allowing its people to easily meet their needs, while European society is described as a place where, “Idle monarchs and nobles seek to increase their own wealth and power at the expense of the people, who are left in poverty and misery” (“ Utopia: Theme Analysis”). The society depicted in Utopia differs from the European society that Thomas More was living in at the time, one rife with intrigue, corruption and mired by scandal. While on the scaffold, he declared that he died, “The king’s good servant, and God’s first” (qtd. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, or quartered, the usual punishment for traitors, but the king commuted this to execution by decapitation. They continued to urge him to sign the oath, but he refused. He was convicted of treason and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. More strongly opposed Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic Church and refused to sign the Oath of Supremacy, which would give King Henry more power than the Pope. He eventually rose to one of the highest offices in the land, and, as chancellor of England in 1529, came up against his own king with disastrous consequences. More was a major figure of the English Renaissance who cared deeply about the moral and political responsibilities of individuals. The book, written in 1516, is More’s attempt to suggest ways to improve European society, using “Utopia” as an example. At its heart, the book poses the question of whether there could ever be such a thing as a “perfect” world and served as a platform to highlight the chaos of European politics at the time.
Ironically, it is the opposite of the similar-sounding Greek word eu-topos meaning “a good place,” (“ Utopia Summary”). The term he coined derives from the Greek word ou-topos meaning “nowhere,” (“ Utopia Summary”). His book describes a complex community on an island, in which people share a common culture and way of life (“16th Century Dreams: Thomas More”). Sir Thomas More was the first person to use the term “utopia,” describing an ideal, imaginary world in his most famous work of fiction.
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