"Utopia"

Paper Summary:

Thomas More's "Utopia" holds a special place in both literature and history. The paper discusses how the book is a unique exercise of imagination that culminates in a science-fiction like vision of the ideal society. It also, however, reveals More's development of a social and religious consciousness that would eventually be responsible for his death and martyrdom. The writer shows how the book exposes More's individual perspective regarding European society, which lays the foundation for communism, and his deep reverence for the traditional hierarchies of Christianity that so many have come to associate with his trial and beheading.

From the Paper:

"Thomas More was born on February 7, 1478, in the historical setting of European expansion and subsequent enlightenment. At the age of six he traveled to London to attend St. Anthony's-a grammar school in which he studied Latin. In 1492 he was nominated by Archbishop John Morton to study at Canterbury College and was exposed for the first time to the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The following year More left college to study law at New Inn, London, and he proved quite adept at the subject. "At Lincoln's Inn More's study of law involves the belief that judicial decisions are ultimately grounded in divine authority and as such foundational to human society." This constitutes the foundation for More's premise that law holds an essential position concerning the governance of man in that it is handed down from authority, and therefore, supersedes private or personal judgments regarding individuals' actions. More eventually became associated with the Carthusian Church in 1501, where he lectured on Augustine's City of God. Four years later he decided to enter the public arena and married his first wife, Jane, who died at the age of twenty-two; More married again only one month following her death."

More papers on "Utopia":

• Comparison Essay # 3262 : "Plato's "Republic" and More's "Utopia"
• Essay # 90756 : "Looking for Utopia: The Role of Government"
• Book Review # 1308 : "Utopia in Aldous Huxley's Novel "A Brave New World"
• Essay # 36398 : "Utopia"

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