Utopia

By Thomas More

Commentary, Part II

Education and Humanism -"In intellectual pursuits they are tireless"

The most efficient way to rid the world of corruption and crime is to emphasise education. According to Marx, education breeds morality and virtue. One of the keys to a communist society is considered to be equal education and so More's concept of education in the sixteenth century is impressively advanced. Utopia is a nation in which everyone is educated and everyone continues to be educated since "Lunch and supper begin with a piece of improving literature read aloud". People spend their free time learning and public lectures are available every morning. The leaders of Utopia are taken from the intelligentsia, a class who do not work because they study tirelessly. One important aspect of the intelligentsia is then that anyone may join if they work hard enough and prove themselves clever enough. Utopia allows the individual to "cultivate his mind - which they regard as the secret of a happy life". More's humanism can be displayed on the import placed on education and the Utopians are praised for their aptitude for learning. When Hythloday shows them some of his books,

"They picked up the forms of letters so easily, pronounced the language so aptly, memorised it so quickly, and began to recite so accurately, that it seemed like a miracle"

It is from discussions with Hythloday and their own sharp minds that they are able to master the production of paper and print.

So it is responsiveness that is advocated: "their readiness to learn" from accident, experience and the past. Hardships in Utopia are overcome by creative and learned effort: their not naturally fertile soil or wholesome climate is turned to best use and deficiencies are overcome.

Thus we can align More with the humanist tradition, in other words the drive to imitate the ancients, an affiliation with its rhetorical principles and use and a response to classical authorities with certain modifications. We can see that the narrative persona of More himself learns this lesson. Instead of immediately contradicting and picking on absurdities at the end of Hythloday's account of Utopia, he recalls what he had said about "certain counsellors". Perhaps then we could see that Utopia is rather promoting a state of mind than a set of systems and rules for life. Johnson saw it as "a fantasy with substantive meaning" and important not because of the ends it envisages, but it discloses the means by which a man may mediate between the real and the ideal, practice and precept.

Systems and Values overturned

All clothing is simple and plain and designed only for practicality and utility. Hythloday points out that even if someone was dressed in finer material he would not be better protected against the cold, nor would he appear better dressed to the Utopians. The humorous example of the Anemolian ambassadors who come dressed in finery, covered in gold are laughed at and mocked by the Utopians as a little boy turns to his mother and says he looks like a little kid. The mother in all seriousness turns to her son and says, "quiet son, I think he is one of the ambassador's fools". Our value system of prizing gold is shown as irrational. They are "precious because they are rare" and not because they are useful. The account of the golden chamber pots and the slaves decked in gold not only scorns our value system, but through what appears as ridiculous to us also serves to show up the arbitrary nature of such a system: "gold has no intrinsic value … Money like language is a system of arbitrary signs". Where iron is valued by the Utopians because it is useful it is scorned in literary tradition and antiquity - the Golden age is equated with perfection, innocence and harmony. The Iron Age is associated with a fallen world, "Evil at once broke forth; from such coarse stuff/ Modesty, truth, faith withdrew"(Ovid). Plato makes his guardians gold whereas the Utopians reserve their gold for their criminals who are "forced to wear golden rings in their ears… even gold crowns on their heads". The farcical misunderstanding with the little boy and the ambassador serves both to highlight and destabilise abstract systemisation (as Saussure does to language in his Course in General Linguistics). Values are shown as socially conditioned and not intrinsic; the rationale of Europe comes under scrutiny and amused scorn.

In addition, to prevent ostentation, the Utopians exchange homes every ten years. Hereditary distinctions do not exist because children are easily moved from household to household, depending on which occupation he/she would like to learn. Since there is very little distinction in occupation, lodging, riches or use of free time, pride is almost non-existent in Utopia. It is a premise finding close ties with the monastic life: "Let all things be common to all, nor let anyone say that anything is his own". This is hardly a surprising ideal considering More's deeply religious and ascetic background. He trained to be a monk and wore a hairshirt throughout the time of his marriage as if to make amends for his decision to marry. The Utopians are seen to follow monastic principles in modesty of dress (they all wear the standard robe) and the dignity of labour is stressed to create a paradigm of Christian society where all are workers. So heathens living without theology are shown to be better than some Christians and More is enabled to further his criticism of sixteenth century England.

Religion and Worship - the noble heathens

There are very different varieties of religion, but their public worship is of such a general nature that they are able to worship together. All beliefs except Atheism are tolerated,

"The only exception was a positive and strict law against anyone who should sink so far below the dignity of human nature as to think that the soul perishes with the body, or that the universe is ruled by blind chance, not divine providence"

The Utopian's basic religious beliefs are similar to those of Christianity. The "first principle" of their belief of the immortality of the soul and belief that we will be rewarded or punished according to our behaviour in this world aligns the heathen with the main tenets of the Christian faith. R.W. Chambers describes how More bases his Utopia on four cardinal virtues - wisdom, fortitude, temperance and justice. Through following this medieval stricture of behaviour and the Platonic tradition, More is enabled to make his satire on contemporary Europe more pointed as the virtues of the heathens are emphasised by contrast to the vices of Christian Europe. It is a faith founded on philosophy and natural reason, providing the only rational sanction for the life of virtue. They are Christians in everything but name. They do not abide by arbitrary dogma but let faith and natural reason instruct them to believe,

"in a single power, unknown, eternal, infinite, inexplicable, far beyond the grasp of the human mind, an diffused throughout the universe, not physically, but in influence".

This conception falls in accordance with the moral norms of Christian nature. However, it is set beside the acknowledgement in Utopia of Epicurean and almost hedonistic urges: "their chief concern is human happiness", "nature herself proscribes for us a joyous life". But it is happiness found in "good and honest pleasure" which is quantified within moral strictures and the "dictates of reason". The Utopian belief system explores the compatibility of pleasure and virtue. Despite the absence of a unified religion or teachings of Christianity "religious principles are factored into the individuals calculations". The Utopians combine an enjoyment of temporal things beside virtue. There is an acknowledgement of the "kindness of Mother Nature" made compatible with the four cardinal virtues. Restorative pleasures and pleasures of the body are valued beside the development of "a religious fear of the gods". Utopia was then founded on discipline and not liberty; human nature is not ruled by reason alone but must come under the control of a powerful and coercive religious force. Flippancy is not allowed:

"Anyone who thinks happiness consists of this sort of pleasure must confess his ideal life would be one spent in an endless round of hunger … scratching and rubbing. Who can fail to see that such an existence is not only disgusting but miserable?".

Even the game of dice is forbidden in favour of educational more moral games. Religious enthusiasm is used as a tool to instil discipline, a stable Commonwealth and control over its individuals by means of fear. Atheism is associated with lack of control and harmony; as "madness" and shows the non-believer as despising "all the laws and customs of society, if not prevented by fear".

In some ways the religion of More's Utopia satisfies the complaints of religious reformers of More's time as there are rules against idolatry ("in the churches no images of gods are seen"), superstitious practices, and excess ritual ("dim light concentrates the mind and aids devotion"). They dress of the priests is perhaps a parody of the corruption of the clergy and ecclesiastical excesses as they are adorned in robes of many colours, "decorated with feathers".

In Utopia there seems to be a cynical conception of human nature as mankind, even in utopia, the earthly Elysium, is fallen. Man is still shown as susceptible to the sins of greed, lust and pride and More shows the precarious nature of civilization and the importance of fear and discipline in its continuation. Beneath the seductive facade of the Utopians basic, rationalized laws and customs is human perversity; lust wrecks the ideal of the blessedness and permanence of marriage even in Utopia, and forces divorce.

However there are degrees of discipline and motivations and they are treated deprecatingly and reverenced by turns. More himself wore a shirt of hair as a permanent source of self chastisement in recompense for his inability to stay celibate. This strict asceticism however is treated with ambiguity - as a means to an

"empty and shadowy reputation of virtue … But such a person the Utopians consider absolutely crazy - cruel to himself, as well as most ungrateful to nature".

It is also tentatively praised later on. For those who reject all pleasures of life as harmful are thought of by the Utopians as "holier" and "specially religious" if they are motivated by religion and not reason alone, thus, pinpointing the difference between self-justifying and self-aggrandizing deprivation and holy self denial.

The voice of More: idealistic or cynical?

Whilst it is Hythloday who presents the indictment of society and the account of Utopia, we can not help but want to align his narrative with More's own views. He does in fact show 'More' agreeing with Hythloday on many accounts "You have given me great pleasure my dear Raphael, for everything you have said has been both wise and witty". However, they also disagree over the issue of the abolishment of private property. Perhaps in this open-ended, unresolved ending we can see a reflection of More's own implacable reasoning. Models for Hythloday could be the stern expert counsellors of Plato's political dialogues, whose detachment from practical affairs allows them to see, speak, contemplate; a model perhaps of what More himself might have become if he had continued to be on Henry VIII's bench of counsellors. The persona of 'More' is practical, cautious a lawyer and family man. It lacks the passion of the author More who chose martyrdom in the face of religious reforms to which he objected and was beheaded by Henry VIII.

Utopia

does not conclude in certainties or authority. We are left unsure of what to believe as readers, and it is evidently More's intention to leave us in this state of deliberation. In leaving the book open- ended he made a statement about the way in which political and philosophical matters are never concluded, they simply go on with or without success. The name of the characters and the place itself, serve as a source of humour and irony: Utopia means 'no place', Hythloday 'expert in nonsense', Polyrites 'the people of much nonsense', Nephelogetes 'people born from the clouds' and Alaopolitans 'people without a country'. Such examples chart the constant undermining of any potential certainties to be derived from Utopia's text. We are not allowed the luxury of feeling that we have seen a perfect world or a perfect solution: this is the reason, perhaps, for the cacophony of different voices in the debate of Utopia. It is an idea and a theory rather than an actual possibility. The ambiguous names More uses are not examples of mere nonsense naming, but a means of highlighting the stern and practical pessimism, the "wry acceptance of the difficulty of establishing egalitarianism in England" (Norbrook), and the irresolvable nature of the issues developed in Utopia. Man may have words for the perfect society but it is beyond him in actions: we do not know where it is situated or how to get there, "I freely confess" says More at the end, "that in the Utopian commonwealth there are many features that in our own societies I would like rather than expect to see", and by implication there are some that he might exclude.

The ironic and fantastic form betrays More's scepticism since perfection (if Utopia is indeed 'perfect') can only appear "in a land such as never was and such as is nowhere nor will be". The chasm between the ideal and the possible is consistently highlighted for the learned. Rather than a tonic to social ills his book forms rather a condemnation of society, the dilemma is stated but left uncured - "the saddest of fairytales".

Humanist Realism or Idealism; Progressive or regressive?

In the depiction of private property and nobles, More critiques humanist assumptions of hierarchy and tradition, condemning the extravagances of the ruling classes. Furthermore he anticipates, in his depiction of the Utopians, a modern classless socialist civilisation. From Plato to Marx the elusive goal of a perfect state has occupied political thought and manifested itself in literature. More's Utopia, then, is simultaneously backward and forward-looking. Janus-faced it draws on the ancients and influences the modern, Hythloday's fantasy island draws heavily on the Greek republic and it influenced the revolutionary world of Marx.

It appears old fashioned when compared with Machiavelli's The Prince (which typifies 'progressive' values that Cromwell lauded: of commercialism, ruthlessness and exploitation). Ethics and politics are divorced in The Prince between the realm of what ought to be and the realm of what is. It marked the beginning of brutally unsentimental and realistic perspectives upon human motives. Utopian life is, by comparison, naïvely simple, moral and idealistic. More pictures a society dependent on good will and the absence of pride: a blissful paradise based on Christian socialism and proscribing a lifestyle akin to the monastic brotherhood against the growth of industry, social degeneracy and greed.

Against this somewhat regressive and medieval paradigm of living however, we are faced with modernity. More imagines modern welfare state, equal education, the conception of a commonwealth as reciprocally affecting parts, female priests, communist principles and the overturning of arbitrary systemization such as the value of gold. In these visions,Utopia signifies a progressive and innovative outlook.