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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Skepticism and Utopia

In approaching the reading, I found myself siding more and more with the lawyer rather than Raphael and I truly couldn’t help it. While reading through Raphael’s thoughts on theft, punishment, and government I too was mimicking the lawyer, “He shook his head, screwed up his face, and held his peace” (More; 43). 

I found myself questioning every solution that Raphael came up with only to have it later answered in the next sentence (this can be noticed in any of Raphael’s approaches to the discussions, specifically “-not should we accept Stoical rulings that count all offences equal” (More; 40). This was one of the moments where I felt perplexed, but Raphael picked up all of the pieces and presented an answer that would suffice (I think) on the broad spectrum of government and dealing with crime & punishment.

Shockingly, I found Raphael’s expectation of the lawyer’s reply, “-more careful in repeating what has been said than in answering it, so highly do they regard memory,” shaping up to be very similar to my own (More; 39). I was waiting for Raphael to slip up while reading but I couldn’t put together a solid argument besides one major detail I thought important. While a criminal could have his liberty (eventually) and his punishment would be ‘just’ Raphael says that if a convict tried to run away, “-even then his ear would betray him” (More; 42). How do Utopians adjust to their lives post sentencing if half of their ear is missing and how do Utopians treat ex-convicts? If all are equal in Utopia why would they punish someone permanently and mark them in a way that is recognizable to all other people underneath the founding government.

        Though this is an analysis of the reading I am wondering why I approached it with so much skepticism. Did anyone else feel like it was such a departure of our own everyday life that they got a little flustered while reading? It seems impossible that a character from 1516 had all of the answers and solutions that would make the world run a little more… smoothly.

(https://giphy.com/explore/white-guy-blinking)