Utopia

Utopia is a classic masterpiece that conveys More's vivid imagination of the Island of Utopia. Although most of the characters are fictional, it is intriguing to learn about the true values of European societies during the 16th century, when More actually wrote the book (although many scholars believe that the exact year was 1515). Truthfully, the book is quite easy to understand. All More tries to do is convey his own views of how society should be through Raphael. Moreover, the use of imagery in Book I is quite fascinating, including the constant references to Roman and Greek myths and beliefs. It is also quite remarkable to see that the story begins to be more and more interesting after More and Giles come back from dinner. To make a long story short, I think it is a great book because of the actual time it was written in since most pieces of literature written at that time were either lost or destroyed.

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It is a world of dreams, a world beyond existence, it is the "perfect" world. Well it was at least in Thomas More's view of the perfect world. This book shows a fictional island society and its customs. It is the world with no problems, there is no where, no unloving relationships, and no classification between societies and different classes. In this marvellous book everyone is equal and in a loving marriage.--Submitted by Anonymous

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Utopia; was thomas more a flagrant plagiarist?

UTOPIA; WAS THOMAS MORE A FLAGRANT PLAGIARIST? While there are some brilliant passages I fell in love with instantly in Thomas More’s Utopia, I found some passages which are so similar to earlier works by different authors namely Chaucer, Flavius Vegetius Renatus and Aristotle. These passages are not acknowledged anywhere in the book therefore this could be plagiarism or not if we are keeping an open mind, perhaps plagiarism is only a cardinal sin post Y2K. In the spirit of fairness, I will put forward the brilliant passages I fell in love with completely, then I will list the questionable ones as well as their originals. Here are the ones I loved: These are affronts to the most accepted conventional behaviours in our societies; a) Affront to the love of jewels "... Then there is another type of person I mentioned before, who has a passion for jewels, and feels practically superhuman if he manages to get hold of a rare one, especially if it's a kind considered particulary precious in his own country and period - for the value of such things varies according to where and when you live. But he is so terrified of being taken in by appearances that he refuses to buy any jewel until he's stripped off all the gold and inspected it in the nude. And even then he won't buy it without a solemn assurance and a written guarantee from the Jeweller that the stone is genuine. But my dear sir, why shouldn't a fake give you as much pleasure, if you can't with your own eyes, distinguish it from a real one? It makes no difference whether it's genuine or not - anymore than it would to a blind man!" (More, 2003, page 75) b) Affront to Lawyers "... For, according to the Utopians, it's quite unjust for anyone to be bound by a legal code which is too long for an ordinary person to read right through, or too difficult for him to understand. What's more, they have no barristers to be over-ingenious about individual cases and points of law. They think it is better for each man to plead his own cause, and tell the judge the same story he'd otherwise tell his lawyer. Under such conditions, the point at issue is less likely to be obscured, and it is easier to get at the truth - for, if nobody is telling the sort of lies one learns from lawyers, the judge can apply all his shrewdness to weighing the facts of the case, and protecting the simple-minded characters against the unscrupulous attacks of the clever ones" (More, 2003, page 87). c) Affront to Treaties "... But in their part of the world, which is diametrically opposed to ours, no less in a social and moral than in a geographical sense, you can't rely on treaties at all. The more solemnly they're made, the sooner they're violated, by the simple process of discovering loopholes in the wording. Indeed, such loopholes are often deliberately incorporated in the original text, so that, no matter how binding one's commitments appear to be, one can always wriggle out of them, thus breaking both treaty and faith simultaneously. The fact is, such diplomacy is downright dishonest. If the very people who pride themselves on suggesting such tricks to their rulers found the same sort of thing going on in connection with a private contract, they'd be the first to denounce it, in shrill, self righteous tones, as sacrilegious and criminal. The implication seems to be that honesty is a plebeian virtue, far beneath the dignity of royalty - or at least that there are two kinds of honesty. One is suitable for the ordinary people, a plodding hack which is kept securely tethered, so that it can't go leaping any fences. The other, reserved for kings, is a far nobler animal which enjoys far greater freedom - for it's allowed to do exactly what it likes (More, 2003 page 89). d) “…But what puzzles the Utopians even more is the idiotic way some people have of worshipping a rich man, not because they owe him money or are otherwise in his power, but simply because he is rich – although they know perfectly well that he’s far too mean to let a single penny come their way, so long as he is alive to stop it “ (More, 2003, p70). e) “…But as for astrology – friendships and quarrels between the planets, fortune telling by the stars, and all the rest of that humbug – they never even dreamt of such a thing (p70). There are a lot more attacks on various other subjects such as Mercenaries, inefficiency in Capitalist systems, religious intolerance but for the limits of time, space and relevancy I have only thought the above most striking! References, Thomas More, Utopia. Penguin Classics, 2003. Now for the passages I feel are plagiarised from earlier thinkers: Marriage customs in Utopia are described this way; When they are thinking of getting married, they do something they do something that seemed to us quite absurd, though they take it very seriously. The prospective bride, no matter whether she is a spinster or a widow, is exhibited stark naked to the prospective bridegroom by a respectable married woman, and a suitable male chaperon shows the bridegroom naked to the bride. When we implied by our laughter that we thought it a silly system, they promptly turned the joke against us. “What we find so odd” they said “is the silly way these things are arranged in other parts of the world. When you are buying a horse and there is nothing at stake but a small sum of money, you take every possible precaution. The animal is practically naked already, but you firmly refuse to buy until you’ve whipped off the saddle and all the rest of the harness, to make sure they are no sores underneath… ”(More, 2003, p84) This passage is, for me, too similar to the one in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Wife of Bath’s Tale: Prologue on page 23; “…Thou sayst that we hide things in which we fail, till we are wed, then show them when too late. That is the proverb of the reprobate. Thou sayst oxen, horses, dogs and asses, are tested out at times, and so with brasses, and pans and basins, too, before men buy them…” Owing to the restrictions of time I will have to come back with a part II where I will add the Military passages from Flavius Vegetius Renatus’ On Roman Military Matters for comparison with More’s Utopian Military standards. I will also add Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics for comparison on the subject of happiness.

Posted By Kuda4rl at Wed 23 Sep 2009, 7:15 AM in Utopia || 8 Replies

Personal Utopia

Personal Utopia Utopia, in its most common and general positive meaning, refers to the human efforts to create a better, or perhaps perfect society. The term utopia was coined by Thomas More as the title of his Latin book De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (circa 1516), known more commonly as Utopia. The term "utopia" is combined from two Greek words ? "no" (ou) and "place/land" (topos), thus meaning "nowhere" or more literally, "no-place/no-land". The word "utopia" was created to suggest two Greek neologisms simultaneously: outopia (no place) and eutopia (good place). In this original context, the word carried none of the modern connotations associated with it. More's Utopia Thomas More depicts a rationally organized society, through the narration of an explorer who discovers it - Raphael Hythlodaeus. Utopia is largely based on Plato's Republic. It is a perfect version of The Republic where the beauties of society reign (eg: equalism and a general pacifist attitude), although its citizens were all ready to fight if need be. The evils of society, eg: poverty and misery, are all removed. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war, but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbours (these mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that they would be killed, thus ridding the world of a parasite). Utopia also reflects More's commitment to Christianity, as the people are united by belief in a Supreme Being, a priest administers the island's religious affairs, and belief in what is essentially the Christian Afterlife is mandatory. Furthermore the Utopians are depicted as readily accepting of Christian doctrine when introduced to such by European visitors. More extends the communism of property to all citizens, reflecting his familiarity with the early Christian society described in the Biblical Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2.44-45, 4.32-35). Furthermore, vices commonly condemned by the Catholic Church (to which More belonged), such as pre-marital sex, prostitution, adultery, gambling, theft and drunkenness, are outlawed and severely punished. It is also likely that Thomas More, a religious layman who once considered joining the Church as a priest, was inspired by monastical life when he described the workings of his society. Thomas More lived during the age when the Renaissance was beginning to assert itself in England, and the old medieval ideals ? including the monastic ideal ? were declining. Some of Thomas More's ideas reflect a nostalgia for that medieval past. It was an inspiration for the Reducciones established by the Jesuits to Christianize and "civilize" the Guaran?. His book reached high popularity so the term utopia became a byword for ideal concepts, proposals, societies etc. Like later utopian works, More's book contains explicit and implicit criticisms of perceived faults in existing societies. Utopian authors speculate that such faults could be eliminated in societies designed around their favored principles. The innovations portrayed in utopian visions are usually radical, revolutionary, inspirational, or speculative. Throughout the years, many interpretations of Thomas More's work, Utopia, have arisen. Although countless individuals have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, others have postulated More intended nothing of the like. Some maintain the position that More's Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about England than about an idealistic society. This interpretation is bolstered by the title of the book and nation, and its apparent derivation from the Greek for "no place" and "good place." Examples of Utopia Christian Kingdom of Heaven Empyrean Eden Paradise Jannah Golden Age Elysium Tomoanchan Valhalla Hesperides Avalon Aaru Perhaps for most of us here have been brought up with some idea of Utopia in some religious sense. But I am sure as we are growing up we had inside us a version of Utopia that may have been outrageously different from the ones already dreamed up by the people of the past ages. As a youngster I was very much fascinated by the fictional Utopia creatd by Gene Roddenberry in the fictional Star Trek series. In this Utopia mankind finally overcome their struggle for material needs and embarked on a process of bettering themselves, to enrich themselves with the knowledge and experience of Life and the Universe. Did you have unique idea of an Utopia inside you as you were growing up? or did you just could not wait for the Promised Quranic/Biblical Paradise? Will mankind on their own ever achieve Utopia or will it always remain a dream an Ideal to work towards? What is your Personal Idea of Utopia? Regards, Lote.

Posted By Lote-Tree at Wed 23 May 2007, 8:26 AM in Utopia || 2 Replies

sun tzu & thomas more

i was wondering if the art of war and utopia would be a goood pair of books to juxtapose and write a comparative essay on for my English class. I've read neither so please give me some advice. THANKS.

Posted By omgjhong at Thu 2 Feb 2006, 5:35 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

UTOPIA

Utopia is an excellent book that describes a place where everything is perfect. (A fools paradise if you ask me). Why do people keep asking themselves the following question: Are the characters in UTOPIA running to something or away from something?
This is intriguing and UTOPIA is a worthwhile read

Posted By trent at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

what the...?

well what can i say...i was unfortunately forced 2 read this book & consequently be asessed on it! i must say in the beginning i was sooooo excited coz i (like most other girls) have seen the movie "Ever After" and well the character that Drew Barymore portrays quotes from Thomas More's Utopia...and as this is a luv story & it was what caught the eye of Henry (the prince) i naturally assumed that it would b an excellent book
........then again maybe not!
do u know how many times this book made me fall asleep (literally) i would wake up with the book in my hand & fully stress coz another day went by & the pages still remained
utopia? i think not....but i guess it iwould be for the peasants during the Elizabethan times, in a sense that this society that is depicted focuses on "collective rights, not individual rights" and blah blah blah
but my opinion still stands...skip the book & search the main ideas!

Posted By nguyet at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

Utopia - A masterpiece

This is a pure masterpiece! Functionally thought out, told in a sophisticated way. Yes--- I agree it is a bit tedious of a read, but it's all worth it, is it not? More had described his world more than mere description, he had worked eveything out so perfectly. What more can you ask in a book?
-A-chan

Posted By Anita-chan at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

literature

pure genius!...The ideas are totally comprehensive and focused.The complexity with which the ideas have been developed makes it all the more endearing.The plausibility of such an ideal world..has left me spellbound...but even so....i wouldnt ever read it twice cuz honestly its really tedious.

Posted By renjitha at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

excellent book

How can anyone diss this book? Aside from the fact that it had me laughing out loud at times, such as the description of the ridiculous bejewelled foreigners, it also poses some serious sociological questions and attempts to provide reasonable answers. It's a quick and simple read compared to other works of the period, like a Bryson travel log, factive fiction . A treasure.

Posted By Alex at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

Wow.

Amazing book. It's hard to believe a society with these ethics can exist without collapsing from the inside. But then again, it doesn't exist. But it is a bit boring, especially book one. When comparing Utopia to a modern society, say England, we can see how perfect Utopia really is. Its interesting to see that a society with attitudes and values so different to our society, i mean - Gold on slaves!

true, this book is tedious and isnt very accessible for younger audiences.

Posted By Kupo-Mog at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

knuckles

reading this comment i've understood that you are so, i don't know this but i mean what we are living for in this day we are using to be something special but in the end i think that we should know the best foregin minister called adams but really nothing was left to borrow.
hy, with special means, gigi from venice

Posted By frankie at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Utopia || 0 Replies

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