1 - Greek nonsense in More's Utopia

Summary

At the end of Sir Thomas More's Utopia the character “More” rejects Raphael Hythloday's suggestion that the Utopians have achieved the optimus reipublicae status (“the best state of a commonwealth”):

When Raphael had finished his story, I was left thinking that not a few of the laws and customs he had described as existing among the Utopians were really absurd. These included their methods of waging war, their religious practices, as well as other customs of theirs; but my chief objection was to the basis of their whole system, that is, their communal living and their moneyless economy.

This passage represents a pivotal moment in More's text. At issue is whether “More” the character should be identified in this instance with More the author, and whether in consequence we are meant to take the Utopian example as the true “best state of a commonwealth” or as part of a rhetorical exercise. There is much to be said for both positions, but we should at least begin by noticing that, within the economy of the text, “More's” rejection of the Utopian system as “absurd” is precisely the result the reader is led to expect. Every time Raphael outlines the sort of Utopian advice he would give if he were a councillor, his interlocutor dismisses it as absurd or out of place, and adds that such advice would be greeted with derision by his fellow Europeans.