Interestingly enough, slavery in Utopia isn’t based upon race, ethnicity, or religious identity. Here, it becomes more of a reflection of circumstance and morality. The idea that free laborers could volunteer as bond men seems so asinine when associated with my idea of slavery. More’s Utopia has a strong emphasis on virtue and community. The people follow customs and practices that seem extremely compassionate when compared to other societies in the sixteenth century, as well as, modern day societies. They are very willing to forgive criminals who have been condemned to death in other countries but have no compassion for Utopian criminals. In fact, they are punished more serverely than any other slave. To some extent this seems backwards, people tend to be more forgiving and lenient to those who are apart of their community as opposed to strangers.
I understand that the justification for this is that Utopians have been brought up in a virtuous community so deviation from the rules is a particularly heinous crime, but I do not believe that there is ever a justifiable reason to enslave a person regardless of what crime they have committed. An action like adultery is punished by enslavement. While I think that adultery is very detrimental, I could not imagine living in a place where the result of a bad decision or action done one time is infinite punishment. The inclusion of concept of slavery as punishment in a novel about a completely fictional and “ideal” society is perplexing. I think the integration of slavery in an idealized society is general, is indicative of the time period and how many societies are built and maintained. It leaves me to wonder if Utopia is just as morally corrupt as any other society because I don’t think that a society that relies on slave labor could really be virtuous.
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