Thomas More's Utopia: Narration, Satire, and Social Critique

The Peripheral Narrator

The narrator of Thomas More's novel Utopia is, in fact, its author. Ever since the real New World's discovery by explorers, Christopher Columbus and many others like him began penning first-person narratives of the new landscapes they encountered. More was simply emulating such narratives to give an authentic feel to his work. Readers feel as though they are reading a real, authentic tale:

"It would take too long to repeat all that Raphael told us he had observed in various places; nor would it altogether serve our present purpose. Perhaps on another occasion we shall tell more about the things that are most profitable." (More, 1516, p. 13)

In this passage, the author, acting as narrator, attempts to convey the impression of having genuinely been present when the events transpired, and of being bound by the natural limitations of memory and time. Such first-person narration lures and captivates readers while urging them to adopt a critical perspective on broader societal and global injustices.

The Sarcastic Approach and Satirical Framework

Utopian genre tales are all designed for the same purpose: to offer a positive fantasy setting in which characters can freely express themselves, voice their views, establish their individual identity, and envision a better social order. Five centuries ago, Thomas More — then Lord Chancellor to England's King Henry VIII — had the opportunity to travel to Flanders as part of a diplomatic contingent to renegotiate the Britain–Flanders trade relationship. It was during these protracted negotiations that he penned much of Utopia, a literary work brimming with clever wordplay and subtle censure. The rationale for this subtlety was a fear of punishment and of having his work condemned or suppressed if he stated his differences of opinion too plainly. Although More uses the book as a platform from which to communicate his personal views, he does so via a complex framework — a fictitious first-person narrator — that ensures he cannot be held directly liable for the views articulated in the novel.

The main character, introduced from the outset, is "Hythloday" — a name derived from the Greek for "a person who dispenses nonsense." This narrator, already marked as an unreliable source, opens his tale with a criticism of the contemporary English social and political climate before launching into his account of Utopia, a land whose name may mean either "no place" or "good place," derived from the Greek ou-topos or eu-topos. This first-person tale can rightly be described as the first-person narrative of a second first-person narrative. Although More signals at the outset that further details of the conversation with Hythloday may be shared, one might feel suspicious of the narrator's ability to perfectly recall Hythloday's extremely lengthy and detailed account of Utopia.

More also confesses, in a letter to Pieter Gillis, to the potential addition of fabricated details in order to soften harsh facts and to avoid censorship:

"I do not deny that if I'd decided to write about a commonwealth, and a tale of this sort had occurred to me, I might have spread a little fiction a little, like so much honey, over the truth, to make it look more acceptable." (More, 1516, p. 143)

He thus presented fictitious details both to cope with harsh realities and to avoid societal disapproval, since his tale amounted to a firm rebuke of the contemporary English political and social structure.

Social Problems Addressed Through Hythloday

Utopia may be considered one of the earliest conceptualizations of socialist thought, despite the term never appearing in the text. A key element of this conceptualization was More's own views regarding the organization or reform of the social system. In this sense, the author may be regarded as a pioneer. The work can also be read as an endorsement of an alternative system that More believed he had observed, indirectly, in one of the recently discovered lands of Asia — making More, from this perspective, something of an Orientalist. Hythloday and the newly discovered lands were incorporated into the tale precisely to give voice to More's own thoughts through the discoveries of another.

Through Hythloday's character, More effectively casts light on key British societal issues, addressing them directly and with precision. The most salient political and social challenges he identifies are the poverty resulting from enclosures, a corrupt ruling class, and the use of the death sentence as punishment for theft.

Hythloday identifies three occupations particularly affected by 16th-century English joblessness and poverty:

1. Soldiers: They "who have lost limbs in the service of the king and country, are too badly crippled to follow their old trades..." (More, 1516, p. 17). Upon returning from the battlefield, they find no employment and are thus condemned to poverty.

2. Serving men: Raised in idleness, the moment their master dies they are turned out of his household and left without work, since they lack training in any craft that would help them survive independently.

3. Farmers: Landlords exploit their labor, living off the fruits of others' toil. Abbots and greedy aristocrats drive farmers off the land, leaving them — together with their entire households — homeless, jobless, and penniless.

References

More, T. (1516). Utopia. Norton Critical — 3rd Edition.