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Radical critique of society often masquerades as imaginary travel fiction.

Thomas More constructed his famous island vision out of sixteenth-century diplomatic trips and humanistic dialogues with scholars like Peter Giles and Erasmus. The fictional traveller Raphael Hythloday frames an attack on European political decay under the guise of New World exploration. By contrasting English greed and royal tyranny with an idealized commonwealth, the text challenges existing property structures and monarchical corruption.

INTRODUCTION

Monarchical counsel invites hypocrisy rather than genuine philosophical wisdom.

Raphael Hythloday refuses to enter royal service, arguing that kings prefer conquests and vanity over peaceful administration. Courtiers flatter sovereign whims to protect private advantage, rendering wise advice useless within royal councils. Where private property dictates power, public welfare is impossible, because greed drives rulers to exploit their own people. True philosophy demands independence from political systems built on wealth and dominance.

DISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY, OF THE BEST STATE OF A…

Uniform urban planning reflects egalitarian social structures.

Amaurot serves as the architectural template for all Utopian cities, built symmetrically along the Anider river. Identical three-story stone buildings, twenty-foot wide streets, and glass windows create an environment devoid of private display. Houses feature unbolted double doors and are redistributed by lot every ten years to eliminate land ownership. Rear communal gardens are tended competitively, blending public utility with shared aesthetic pride.

OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT

Deliberate governance prevents hasty legislation and tyrannical rule.

Democracy operates through layered election, where thirty families choose a magistrate called a Syphogrant. Two hundred Syphogrants select the Prince for life from public nominees, holding power only while avoiding tyrannical ambitions. Public policy requires three separate days of formal council debate before any resolution can pass. Consulting on state affairs outside official assemblies carries the death penalty, safeguarding the republic against oligarchic conspiracies.

OF THEIR MAGISTRATES

Universal labor eliminates excess work and guarantees leisure for learning.

Every citizen learns agriculture alongside a specific trade like masonry or weaving, wearing identical unadorned clothing. Work is restricted to six hours daily, which yields abundant supplies because European leisure classes like nobles, priests, and beggars are forced to work. Free hours are devoted to early morning lectures, reading, music, and philosophical board games. Eliminating luxury crafts focuses labor entirely on real human needs.

OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE

Centralized distribution prevents famine and eliminates monetary greed.

Cities regulate population caps by relocating citizens to agricultural colonies on uncultivated foreign land. Communal storehouses distribute food and manufactured goods directly to family heads without money, prices, or trade barter. Shared dining halls serve communal meals prepared by rotation, while public hospitals set outside city walls quarantine contagious illness. Provision according to need removes the panic of scarcity that drives human greed.

OF THEIR TRAFFIC

Devaluing precious metals strips wealth of its social power.

Gold and silver carry no domestic value in Utopia, serving only as chamber-pots, slave fetters, and badges of infamy. Precious gems are treated as trivial children's toys, discarded naturally as citizens reach maturity. When Anemolian ambassadors arrive covered in gold chains, Utopians mistake them for bound slaves or childish fools. Foreign trade surpluses of gold are reserved exclusively for hiring foreign mercenaries during national emergencies.

OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANS

Moral order relies on strict marital contracts and restorative justice.

Slavery replaces capital punishment for severe crimes, turning offenders into productive public assets while deterring potential lawbreakers. Terminally ill citizens suffering unbearable pain may choose voluntary euthanasia under priestly sanction. Marriages require prenuptial viewings of prospective spouses to prevent post-nuptial deceit and structural alienation. Monogamy is strictly enforced, with divorce granted only by the senate in cases of adultery or unbearable perverseness.

OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES

Strategic war tactics minimize citizen casualties through mercenary proxy force.

Utopians abhor military victory gained through bloodshed, prizing triumphs achieved by intellect and subversion. War is waged only to defend territory, liberate oppressed neighbors, or avenge violent injuries. Secret bounties offer massive rewards to enemy citizens who assassinate or capture their own warmongering leaders. For battlefield combat, Utopia hires wild Zapolet mercenaries, exposing vicious foreign troops to destruction while protecting native citizen lives.

OF THEIR MILITARY DISCIPLINE

Religious freedom thrives when civic harmony supersedes doctrinal fanaticism.

Citizens practice diverse faiths, adoring a single incomprehensible deity called Mithras, with many accepting Christianity for its communal ethics. King Utopus instituted religious tolerance, forbidding violent conversion and public insults against rival beliefs. Atheists are barred from public office for lacking belief in divine judgment, yet they face no physical punishment or forced dissimulation. Priests are elected by secret ballot, maintaining moral authority through virtuous example rather than political coercion.

OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS

Book

Utopia

A vision of an idealized communal society that exposes the political corruption and economic inequality of sixteenth-century Europe.

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