Before i write anything on Utopia I just wanted to evaluate Thomas More's views on writing this book. I still do not understand why he writes the book as if it actually occured. Maybe this is the way writing occured during the Renaissance or could it be to attract more readers to his work. Then I think maybe this was his way of getting his own personal views out there. By using his own name as a character is he using the book as an influential tool for readers? Utopia is not real but if it were would this be how More would want a commenwealth run. I believe maybe more did not like the way things were run by the King in real life therefore he wrote Utopia for his own satisfaction. He seems to be a very interesting man. He is described as brilliant but aslo disturbing.
here are links of his bio
After we talked in class yesterday, I feel like Thomas More wrote this book to bring light on how things were in England at the time. I mean he could not just go up to the king and tell him things had to change and what some solutions to the problems were. So he wrote a book, about a pretend place, that had a solution to everything that was going on. Maybe it was his way to get to the king and tell him what was going wrong without actually telling him. Because if the king didn't like what he was reading, who cared he was not really going to do anything, it was supposed to be a fictional story! But if Thomas More went to the King and told him there would be consequences if the king did not like what he said. Maybe he used his name in the story to get the credit for shining light on the situations going on, maybe he wanted the fame. But he was to scared to actually tell the king or his people what he really thought, he used writing as his alternative way to speak about what he thought.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Even though he's a writer, I don't understand why he would put himself in the story either.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal opinion on the matter is the fact that More clearly does not say which are his views of the government or aspects on Utopia that he necessarily agrees with. He is simply trying to reach the King or someone who can influence the King with his ideas. I believe that some of these ideas are humanistic ideas of Desiridous Erasmus. In class we stated that the main point of the book was to try and influence the rules of where England? or just people in general?
ReplyDeleteI think that it is true how More doesn't ever come forward and announce what he thinks is ture in his own writings. He plays it off as casually as possible in hopes that this book will influence the King or others. In writing this its like he is promoting how to rul and run a government
ReplyDeleteAt the end of Book 2, More does state that some of the things that Rapheal has told them about Utopia he wishes to see followed in his government! So maybe that's where he puts a little bit of his views into the story. However, I know that he does not say what items he agrees with and disagrees with, but it is the fact that at the end of this story he says that he wishes and not hopes for his government to follow some of these laws and rulings.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes me think...and I could just be thinking way to hard on why he made up this place! But maybe he made up this ridiculous place and some pretty ridiculous laws to get to the king and show him the other extreme of governing. I mean some of the laws that Utopia had are pretty ridiculous and would never work in a country like England. But there were also some laws in there that could work in a normal government, they would just have to be tweaked a little. So maybe if the king took a law that Utopia used, and changed it a little so it would work in England, then the king would get all the credit because he "thought" of the law. Or I could be completely wrong and just making it more than it really is.
This is a great little discussion here. Let me pop into say you ALL are right!
ReplyDeleteJessica points out Erasmus, and that's a good angle. Erasmus and More were friends. Erasmus wrote and dedicated a little joking-serious book called Praise of Folly to More -- which in Greek is... wait for it... Morias Enkomion. And More, in Utopia, points to the connection between his name and foolishness.
But the questions of ... What were More's thoughts about government? And why did he write Utopia? remain a bit of mystery... and I think you all have scoped out the possibilities fairly well. I like your phrase Regina, More "plays it off as casually as possible." It is casually done... foolish gameplaying, but it is also (as we find out what ends up happening to More in real life) deadly serious. Sorry to leave you without a definite answer, but this bit of mystery is what keeps me in the game, really. And I think that's exactly where More wants us, wanting More. (wanting More as if we don't have enough; and wanting More to stand up and declare himself for real.)
Too many puns in one post? :)