Discuss how More uses satire in his book to portray his true thoughts on Utopia and a perfect society.
Discuss how More uses satire in his book to portray his true thoughts on Utopia and a perfect society. Make sure to discuss the satire in the names of places and people he provides (for example Hythloday and the name Utopia (no place)). Discuss how he mocks the Utopian society by coming off as praising it. Also discuss how Utopia can come off as a perfect christian society.
there are some brief notes and quotes attached but you need to find some quotes from the Book Utopia to use as well. look at the attachment “thomas more utopia- big help”- it includes some quotes on utopia and some background. I have also attached the original sources that these quotes are from if u wish to look for further quotes. This should be 10 to 11 pages double spaced. Please contact me for any further questions
Notes and quotes on: Quentin Skinner, “Thomas More’s Utopia and the virtue of true nobility” in Skinner, Visions of Politics, 3 vols (Cambridge: CUP, 2002) vol. 2, pp. 213-244
“The Utopians believe that what is alone noble and deserving of honour is a willingness to labour for the common good”- Page 231
In the Utopian society virtue is highly honored and thus encourages and trains members of the Utopian society to live a virtuous life.
In fact, not only does Utopia encourage virtuous acts but Utopia also rewards great virtuous figures by dedicating statues and honouring the person with praise
Furthermore, because of the truly noble Utopian society, they have been able to successfully avoid poverty and social disorder among all citizens
As the reading says “Utopia is a society in which virtuti precium sit, in which ‘virtue has its reward’. For it is a society in which virtue is regarded, as it ought to be, as the one quality truly deserving of honour, esteem and praise”- Page 232
Skinner goes on by suggesting that Hythlodays true description of nobility in Utopia in Book 2 led to a flow of mass social benefits within their society, whereas the English society, described in Book 1, faced dire effects for living a life of counterfeit nobility.
In book 2, Hythloday brings to our attention, the fact that nobility in the English society has turned into something inherited. Men of high lineage and inherited wealth expect society to treat them with the honour and respect that other noblemen work for. He then goes on to accuse these inherited noblemen for ruining the English society.
He believes that their own ‘evil greed’ leeds these men to destroying towns and homes until they satisfy their own noble way of life
This becomes an unrest social society where armies are causing turmoil because no other trade is known to them and those citizens that lost their livelihoods are forced to become beggars and wanderers or are forced to steal for their own survival; but only to be caught and hung.
As we know, the success of the Utopian society is because their ruling principle is virtue.
A society where pride is the base of their principles is one where the people live for having a happier life while others are miserable and will do most anything to obtain and maintain that pride. As it says on page 234 “pride, ‘measures prosperity not by her own advantages, but by the disadvantages suffered by others, and therefore loves to live in circumstances where her happiness can shine more brightly by comparison with their miseries”
He explicitly makes it clear that there is no hope for a diseased political body unless the root of the evil in the social life is plucked out by its roots.
So what does Hythloday say is the evil that needs to be taken care of? Hythloday says ‘Privatus’- which means private interests of the people as opposed to public interests of the public society.
On page 235 the Utopian society is described as a community “in which the optimus status reipublicae has in fact been realised” and “nihil privati est, that there is nothing of the private about it at all”
Every aspect of Utopian life is lived in public view. The citizens eat and worship in public and even their homes allow anyone to enter. Furthermore, they even argue that men and women should publicise their private parts to their partner before marriage.
According to Hythloday, the abolishment of private property and the money economy is the only way for a community to attain its best state. Making money the root of all evil that must be destroyed for the people to put their private interests aside and start focusing on the interests of the public.
In simpler terms, as said on page 235 “we have no hope of establishing a genuine commonwealth unless we base it on a system of commonwealth”. The utopians live this form of lifestyle and are therefore known by Hythloday to be living the happiest life possible for the rest of their lives.
Although Skinner finds Hythlodays thoughts to be resounding, he still has questions. Should we believe that Thomas More claimed that the Utopians created a perfectly virtuous society. is the Utopian description supposed to be a portrait of a perfect christian commonwealth? And do Mores irony and indirection reflect his own deep feelings of ambiguity about the utopian way of life?
We can answer these questions by remembering that More’s focus is on the best state of a commonwealth in itself. And can re examine different interpretations of More’s work.
We can examine J. H. Hexters thesis; which stated that Thomas More was intentionally portraying the Utopian society as a perfectly virtuous Christian way of life.
When looking at the Utopian society, according to Hythloday the people all shared in the belief that the world is governed by divine providence. As written on page 237, they all also agreed “that the soul is immortal; that it is destined by God’s mercy for a life of happiness; and that there will be punishments after this present life for our crimes as well as rewards for our virtues and good deeds”
According to Hythloday the Utopians viewed religion as something uncertain, only to be tolerated. Although the beliefs we mentioned earlier refer to most religions, the Utopians viewed it as something worth believing and accepting; for if they wouldn’t they would “sink below the dignity of human nature” 237
They do also acknowledge the moral value religion provides a person; recognizing that without religion people would pursue their own foul desires.
However on page 237, the Utopians claim that their viewpoint was achieved “in the absence of a heaven-sent religion” and Hythloday goes on to say that the Utopian religious and moral attitudes aren’t perfect. He focuses on the optimal conduct in one’s personal life and public affairs that still needed further instruction upon his arrival. He explains how the the Utopians were not educated about the incarnation or the story of christ. Even after his voyage to Utopia, Utopians remained cut off and distant from the church and the divine laws of the bible.
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