Sir Thomas More's Utopia Analysis

In Sir Thomas More 's Utopia, he creates broad distinctions between the way that things were done in his homeland, and they way that they are done in his fictitious country of the same name. In his writing, he describes many aspects of Utopian life, from geography to clothing, all in his attempt to create the perfect society, one that does not, and could not, exist. More specifically, he attempts to eliminate the follies of European society in his descriptions of the Utopians, referencing their societal pillars of utility, uniformity, and humility. He describes their government, clothing, opinions on precious metals, and euthanasia practices, all in an effort to display Utopia as a country of logic, built to hinder and prevent the possibility of human failings.

In the realm of government, More described the Utopians with an air of patience, unity, and self-control, juxtaposed to the endless chaos of England 's Parliament. For the Utopians, “there is a rule that no decision can be made on a matter of public business unless it has been discussed in the senate on three separate

More mentions that “while they eat from pottery dishes and glass cups, well-made but inexpensive, their chamber pots and all their humblest vessels, for use in the common halls and even in private homes, are made of gold and silver”(611), which emphasizes the usefulness of an object as the deciding value of it in Utopian society. While these materials are revered as beautiful and as precious currency in Europe, More reasons that they are ultimately useless, and therefore he describes the Utopians as placing far more value in far more useful materials, namely iron. Without this idolization of precious metals, the Utopians would have no reason to hold on to them if the state were to ever need them for any