During More’s bureaucratic trip to Belgium, a chance to visit his close friend Peter Giles develops after discussions at Bruges are stalled. Peter then introduces the cryptic character Raphael Hythloday that becomes a main focal point throughout Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. Apparently, Raphael joined the last three of the four voyages made by the famed Amerigo Vespucci to the New World. Raphael was keen to explore the world and was described by Peter to be like “Ulysses, or rather Plato”, one characterized by learning from travels and the other traveling to learn, respectively. In the last voyage, instead of returning home to Portugal, Raphael chose to be stranded in the farthest point of the voyage, which suited him quite well as “he was more
