Moore's Utopia Essay

The expansion of Europe during the time More was writing Utopia led him to create idealized version of the foreign lands he heard described due to his distaste in the current state of European government and society. By telling a story of a Utopian society, More was able to critique the state of affairs in Europe without explicitly stating his distaste. He uses the fictional Hythloday to first critique European governance and society and then to explain what More believes to be the perfect society. In book one of Moore’s Utopia, More recalls his first interaction with the traveller Hythloday. In this initial interaction Hythloday critiques the current state of European affairs, claiming that societies outside of Europe are much better ran than any European country and that these countries are much more prosperous than any European counties. The first …show more content…
47-78). These elected official meet every other day to discuss the issues within the city, before policy can be made on any issue it must be discussed at least three times, to ensure that the best decision has been made (More, p. 48). The Utopian government also provides welfare for its people, a stark contradiction to the European society where lords themselves cause the lower classes to endure hardship (More, p. 68). The government in Utopia also spends all of its excess money on providing goods and services for its citizens, rather than growing its wealth for the benefit of its leaders, and only keep a small treasury in case of emergency (More, p. 60). Many of the examples of Utopian life Hythloday speaks of come into direct contradiction to the life of Europeans that Hythloday critiques in the first book of