Utopia, by Thomas More and Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx

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George Gilliam Marx/More Comparative Essay English 215 In both Thomas More’s Utopia and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, we see the authors portray two different visions of an improved reality in which all citizens are on an equal plane with one another. Both works stem from the authors’ own grievances regarding the ‘status quo’, and seek to provoke serious thought and (in Marx’s case) action about the existing state of affairs in their respective times. The context of both of these works is quite important when considering the substance of Utopia and the Communist Manifesto – Thomas More lived in a time when Europe’s government was based on of Feudalism, meaning royal families and rich nobles had the overwhelming majority of power. Marx lived during the Industrial Revolution, when class antagonisms became rather aggressive due to the major gap between rich and poor (Bourgeois and Proletariat) as a result of the greater need for a large number of workers and the subsequent wealthy minority. Utopia and the Communist Manifesto are similar in the way that they propose or at least stir visions of major changes in ideology, but both have a number of key differences as well. More’s Utopia is more like a fictional story on the surface, but of course there is a great deal of depth to this piece of literature. Utopia is set mainly as a conversation between three men: More, Hythloday, and Giles. Hythloday is arguably the most significant character in this story, as he is the one relaying all of the information about the land of Utopia to More. Hythloday went on many explorations with Amerigo Vespucci, and came across the island “Utopia” in his travels – there he had the opportunity to act almost like an anthropologist, observing and studyin...

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...urgeoisie and the industrial system in general (especially when comparing it to our current economic crisis), it seems to me that the moral values in Utopia are extremely significant to the development of humanity. Of course, as with a text like The Bible, not all things are meant to be taken literally. I do not concur with everything More wrote about in Utopia. However, I do believe that the overall “act with good intentions and good things will come to you” philosophy is a very important one for all humans to adhere to. I am a bit of a cynic when it comes to human nature, and sadly, in seeing the parallels between Marx’s grievances and our modern state of economic and political affairs, I have little hope that any sort of change in our own government would be successful. Human nature is to be greedy, and unfortunately, I do not think that is ever going to change.

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