In the first book of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, many ideas and concepts of how different countries are controlled are brought to the plate. The character of Sir Thomas More meets a man named Raphael Hyloday who does not believe in the present system of government, but in Utopia a place of commonwealth where he had supposedly lived for five years. As the story continues Hyloday brings up many points that show his disagreement with monarchy and support of the Utopian lifestyle. These include:
§ Most Monarchs only concern themselves with war
o As most Kings want to be remembered as war heroes they surround themselves with war so as to be held as a household name one day. This is obvious in King Henry VIII, as he tried to go to many wars just to be remembered for his miraculous glory when he was able to overcome other countries.
§ Followers always agree with their King
o When More questions Hyloday for not working for a King, Hyloday states that he could not always agree with what the King would want. He points out that most or all of the people working for the monarchy must always agree with what is presented as to keep their own jobs, and save their own lives.
§ Punishments are too harsh for their crimes
o When the subject of a thief being charged with the death penalty is brought up, Hyloday shows that the charge of death is far too great for only stealing. He then continues on to discuss how most people cannot help but become thieves as they cannot obtain jobs due to war wounds and the raising price of food. So in order for them and their families to survive, they must steal food. Then he talks about how he once saw in a country that rather than charge the thieves with the death penalty they marked them and put them in prison. The only way they would be killed is if they tried to escape.
§ The King should work on improving his own country rather than conquering others.
o Hyloday talks about all of the monarchies that focus on enlarging their countries by conquering others and that instead of doing that they should focus more on what’s going on in what they already have. He talks of all the people dying and all of the poverty that is already established. This shows the greediness of the noble during the time.
§ The wealth of the King should be decreased as decreasing wealth in government also decreases the evils present.
o The people of Macarians, who live not far from Utopia, have a rule that their King is never to have at once above 1,000 pounds of gold in his treasures. He points out that with this less evils are presented within the people and they are able to live in a peaceful environment.
My reaction to the first book was that of confusion. It took a couple of times through the full thing to fully understand what was being said or suggested. After reading it I decided that I still agree more with the ways of the monarchies rather than that of the Utopian belief.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
After reading your blog some new thoughts came from the reading. I agree with your comments on how the punishments are too harsh for the crime and that the king should work on improving his own country before taking over others. If the king goes and starts to take over other lands before having a stable country himself then soon he will cause destruction and chaos for all the countries he reigns over. I had not thought about the statement you made that most monarchs concern themselves with war. I had gotten that they always wanted to be prepared, but your reasoning makes a lot of sense, and definitely has evidence in support of it. Another point that interested me, just because I had not seen it in that way was decreasing the wealth in a government decreases the evils. After thinking about it I can see how giving the king less money would be beneficial, because he would have less power and may not become crazied with needing more wealth. Thanks for the new ideas.
Although I would prefer a monarchy to Utopia's uniformity and socialism, I am curious about you reasons for preferring a monarchy to Utopia, personally I see it as just another form of oppression, but I can't help but wonder what your reason is as well.
In my own evaluation I came up with many of the same thoughts as you yourself did however I came to the oppisite conclusion that this Utopian style government is better than a monarchy. I am curious to hear what you reasoning for this is in posts to come.
Post a Comment