Utopian Society Is Not Ideal

                                                                                         

Among the ‘discoveries’ that occurred then was that of the New World by European explorers, and the curiosity concerning these voyages of exploration plus the advent of the printing press meant that ‘printed records of the Renaissance explorations were [soon] everywhere available’, and thus Utopia as ‘a product of this exploratory context’ is ‘undeniable’. This is apparent in that its central character is a sailor and that his impressions of the imaginary island of Utopia constitute most of More’s text, which is a cross between travel narrative and social satire. The above quotation from Utopia depicts the Utopian lifestyle, one that has benefits and drawbacks, and the references to work, corruption, and poverty highlight key aspects of any debate considering whether or not one would like to live in More’s Utopia.
The above extract begins with the lack of distractions that might otherwise keep Utopians from their work, but the use of ‘evading’ and ‘usual’ convey the familiarity and routine that accompanies employment in Utopia. Everyone has a job, which is a comforting thought in light of the levels of unemployment and the resultant poverty existing in sixteenth- and twenty-first- century England. Elsewhere, we learn that Utopians, of both sexes, are guaranteed work that is suited to both ability and interest: ‘of the other foresaid crafts every man learneth one. And the women […] and if any person […] be desirous to learn also another, he […] occupieth whether he will’. However, this employment system is very regimented. Each day begins at four o’clock in the morning and consists of three hours of work, followed by lunch and a two hour break, then another three hours of work, then supper, and then everyone goes to bed at eight o’clock, and ‘eight hours they give to sleep’. In this light the Utopians’ strict workdays seem more like that of prisoners than of citizens of a democratic nation like Utopia purports to be.
The extract also lists the lack of distractions and vices in Utopia, such as alehouses, brothels, ‘hiding places’, and places for ‘secret meetings’. Clearly, the rulers of Utopia recognise alcoholism and adultery as dangerous threats to social order, and the absence of opportunities for drunken and licentious behaviour is evidence of the importance of strong family and marriage bonds in Utopia, or in other words, ‘More […] makes family life the most important institution among the Utopians’, with adultery being a potentially capital offence. Yet in spite of this firm image of family and marriage, the words ‘no hiding places’, ‘no […] secret meetings’ and ‘in full view of all’ convey a sense of exposure or surveillance. The latter quotation highlights the Utopians’ lack of privacy, which seems a high price to pay in order to be perceived as behaving ‘in a respectable way’. Thus, there seems to be very little choice but to conform to social rules.
The final sentence of the above extract paints a very attractive picture of the quality of life of the average Utopian in the fact that it there seems to be no poverty on the island. This is apparently because everyone ‘share[s] everything equally’, which refers to the Utopians’ distribution of private property, as is described elsewhere in the book: ‘this they do freely without any benefit, taking nothing again of them to whom the things is given […] So the whole island is as it were one family or household.’ The Utopian distribution of wealth ensures that there is no poverty or beggary in Utopia and this is an admirable thing, which thus also criticises contemporary attitudes to material possessions, or in other words: ‘Utopians not only do without money but also despise […] the symbols of wealth to which Europeans were so attached’. However, such a system does not tolerate individuals’ desire for personal possessions and this intrudes on one’s personal freedom, and so if this were enforced in a ‘real’ community certainly many would resent having to give up such personal possessions and privileges.
In conclusion, More’s Utopia with its guarantee of jobs and its lack of vices and poverty has many attractions, but it is doubtful that any modern person would want to live there in light of its regimented schedules and its demands on our personal freedoms and possessions. Moreover, Utopia clearly criticises the contemporary social values and practices of More’s time, and in this sense it is difficult to come to any certain judgements as to how seriously More meant the book as a blueprint for a realistic alternative society.

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