Designs of Truth and Nonsense in More's Utopia

As soon as I began reading More's Utopia, I found myself tracking the structure of the text. By establishing a familiar scene (a meeting/feast), readers are encouraged to relax into the dialogue between More and Raphael. The influence of Plato's Republic is apparent, and as such, the discussion of Utopia is broached in contrast to a problem that needs to be solved: England and its noble court. I enjoyed keeping track of the many false or imagined places or terms that appear throughout book one, such as: Polylerites, oligopoly, utopia, Achorians, and ultraequinoctials. The Polylerites are "people of much nonsense," and are used in juxtaposition to the stubborn nobles (More, 41). Their society mirrors that of Socrates' gold, silver, copper, and iron run society. Because of this, I wonder how much of the described England and the briefly mentioned Utopias are meant to seduce the reader with Raphael's arguments - to make us believe that whatever he believes is sensible and correct, as he has 'seen' the impossible world of a utopia. Yet, the dialogue does not serve to bulldoze objections, as More's amused curiosity and warnings highlight the fact that this text is working to encourage questioning of what is right, proper, and desirable in a society. Raphael expressly states that the Utopia's superiority lies within the fact that "their commonwealth is more wisely governed and more prosperous than ours" (More 57). All of this reminds me of our class's circular discussions on what a utopia is and how it can truly be one in the face of human diversity.

In short, I feel that, despite the places and people in book one existing in reality, the constant references to utopia and its laws reveal that this scenario is still imbued with a message and commentary that uses traces of truth to incite conversation and inquiry about peoples' subjectivity concerning 'utopias' and 'Englands' alike.

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