Thomas More's Utopia and flaws in modern European society

Utopia

In Thomas More's 1516 Utopia, the flaws of European society are revealed in typical Enlightenment style. That is, More champions individual rights and freedoms and disparages state or Church control. More seems particularly concerned with thought control and the prescription of social norms and behaviors. In Utopia, Raphael Hythloday describes a world that is only partly utopic. There is a degree of gender equity, at least compared with European sixteenth-century society. No lawyers are allowed in Utopia, which is certainly an idyllic idea assuming each individual is empowered with knowledge of the law. Such knowledge can, however, be inferred by the fact that "All laws are promulgated for this end, that every man may know his duty; and therefore the plainest and most obvious sense of the words is that which ought to be put upon them," (More 62).

In Utopia there is no private property either. The mistrust and disdain for private property is a hallmark of Utopia, which contrasts completely with sixteenth-century European life. Here, More uses the lack of materialism to underscore the problems with private property and greed. More returns again and again to this idea and seems to appreciate the freedom from materialism that money implies. Yet in Utopia, people are not free to come and go as they please. The state monitors the movement of people even if it allows for free trade.

Poverty might not be a problem but freedom certainly is. There are strict laws enforcing social norms and codes of behavior. Even human sexuality is inhibited by the law, and somehow the state controls religious beliefs. The mandate to believe in God prevents any atheism, which is a brutal infringement on human rights and liberties. There can be no genuine freedom of religion if belief in a deity is mandatory. The contradictions of Utopia mirror those same contradictions and paradoxes More witnesses in sixteenth century European life.

Book Two, "Of their magistrates" reveals the political paradoxes of a flawed European society. Raphael states, "It is death for any to meet and consult concerning the State, unless it be either in their ordinary Council, or in the assembly of the whole body of the people." The state is a curious combination of democracy and tyranny. More satirizes mandatory political participation: the people of Utopia cannot discuss matters related to politics in private. This seems far more autocratic and totalitarian than it does democratic.

Utopia encourages a fearful level of conformity. More may be implying that in spite of the profession for individualism in Enlightenment society that there remains pressure to conform. For example, "Throughout the island they wear the same sort of clothes without any other distinction, except what is necessary to distinguish the two sexes, and the married and unmarried. The fashion never alters," (More Book 3). Moreover, the people of Utopia live close to the land and are in touch with the agricultural cycles. More makes a point to describe Utopian life as being decidedly unintellectual. Utopia also preserves the patriarchal quality of European society, as males serve in positions of power.