Thomas More: Utopia
Book one
Thomas More is in the Netherlands and later in Belgium to negotiate the English Wool trade.
More befriends Peter Giles, who is a young native of Antwerp. Thomas More speaks highly
of him, for instance: “He is scrupulously fair to everyone, but towards his friends he shows
so much genuine kindness, loyalty, and affection, that he must be almost unique in his all-
round capacity for friendship. He is unusually modest, utterly sincere, and has a shrewd
simplicity all his own…” (p. 2).
Peter Gils introduces Raphael Nonsenso to Thomas More. More takes him to be a sailor.
However, according to Peter Gils he is more of a person in quest of knowledge, like the
philosopher Plato.
Raphael tells Peter Gils and Thomas More about his travels. One time he stayed behind to
explore the East for himself. Raphael and his companions came upon well-governed people,
cities, and towns. They were gladly welcomed and Raphael introduced some sailors to the use
of a magnetic compass. However, the use of the compass made the sailors become reckless
and made them expose themselves to danger.
Peter Gils and Thomas More are very curious about how the people that Raphael met were
governed. They do not ask him questions about monsters, because monsters are easy to find,
whereas people ruled by good and wholesome laws are not.
Peter Gils is impressed by Raphael and encourages him to go into the service of a king as his
counselor, to give useful advice with all his knowledge and experiences. And “at the same
time you could be looking after your own interests, and being a great help to all your friends
and relations”.
Raphael answers that he feels like he has dune his duty by them already, by giving them most
of his belongings. “They can hardly expect me to go a stage further, and become a king’s
slave for their benefit” (p. 7). Raphael values the liberty to follow his own instincts and
thoughts, therefore he does not want to serve a king.
Then Thomas More encourages Raphael to serve a king, however, not for wealth but to
contribute to the public good. Raphael answers that he cannot fill a king’s head with virtue
and truth, because princes are more interested in chivalry, war, and conquest than good
,governance. Besides, “privy councilors are either too wise to need, or too conceited to take
advice from anyone else – though of course they’re always prepared to suck up to the king’s
special favorites by agreeing with the silliest thing they say. After all, it’s a natural instinct to
be charmed by one’s own productions.” (pp. 8 – 9).
Then Thomas More asks Raphael whether he has been to England. Raphael has been there for
several months, shortly after a civil war. He spent much of his time in England in the
company of John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury. “He was a person that one
respected just as much for his wisdom and moral character as for his great eminence” (p.
10).
At some point Raphael got into a discussion with a lawyer concerning English law. The
lawyer was speaking with great enthusiasm about the stern measures that were then being
taken against thieves (hanging them). The lawyer finds it odd that they are plagued with so
many robbers, considering how few of them get away with it.
Raphael does not find it odd: “This method of dealing with thieves is both unjust and socially
undesirable. As a punishment it’s too severe, and as a deterrent it’s quite ineffective.” (p. 11).
Raphael argues that no penalty on earth will stop people from stealing if it is their only way
of getting food. Instead of executing thieves, England should make it so that the thieves can
live by honest work instead.
According to the lawyer there is plenty of work and they deliberately choose to be criminals.
Raphael answers that there are idle gentlemen who live by exploitatively raising their tenants’
rent and who hire serving men to proudly show off the wealth of their estates. But these
serving men never learn any craft. “The moment their master dies, or they themselves fall ill,
they’re promptly given the sack – for these noblemen are far more sympathetic towards
idleness than illness, and their heirs often can’t afford to keep up such large establishments.”
(p. 12). The serving men have no choice but to become a thief.
The lawyer responds that England should cherish these men for the army for wartime.
Raphael agrees by saying “thieves do make quite efficient soldiers, and soldiers make quite
enterprising thieves. The two professions have a good deal in common.” (p. 13). However,
Raphael finds it troubling to have a standing army in peacetime. Standing armies of thieves or
slaves have a history of turning against the countries that support them.
Then Raphael introduces a second reason for thievery in England. For the sake of reaping
huge profits in the wool trade, houses and towns are being teared down to pasture their sheep
on what could otherwise be farmland, thereby making it impossible for people to live on and
, work the land. “Result – hundreds of farmers are evicted. They’re either cheated or bullied
into giving up their property, or systematically ill-treated until they’re finally forced to sell.”
Eventually these farmers inevitably turn to theft, having no other way to get their living, and
then they are hanged. Those who beg instead are often imprisoned; in any case, they can’t
contribute to the public good either.
The decay of farming causes other problems: food shortages and a spike in the price of wool,
which makes it so that poor people can no longer afford to buy wool and make cloth from it.
“Thus a few greedy people have converted one of England’s greatest natural advantages into
a national disaster. For it’s the high price of food that makes employers turn off so many of
their servants – which inevitably means turning them into beggars and thieves. And theft
comes easier to a man of spirit.” (p. 17).
Raphael says there should be a law that forces people who despoiled farmland to restore it,
and he calls for an end to idleness.
“In other words, you create thieves, and then punish them for stealing!” (p. 18).
Archbishop John Morton asks Raphael how he thinks thieves should be punished. Raphael
says that no amount of property is equivalent to a human life. “If it’s argued that the
punishment is not for taking the money, but for breaking the law and violating justice, isn’t
this conception of absolute justice absolutely unjust?” (p. 19). Besides, God says thou shall
not kill. And moreover, thieves who know they’ll be hanged for thieving and murder alike are
more likely to kill their witnesses.
Then Raphael turns to how thieves should be punished. He says the best arrangement he
knows is one he came across while travelling through Persia, in a district generally known as
Tallstoria. Here a convicted thief has to return what he’s stolen to its owner. If the stolen
goods are no longer in his possession, their value is deducted from his own property. The
thief is sentenced to hard labor. These laborers are humanely treated if they work hard,
otherwise they are whipped. The slaves are distinguished from other citizens by common
color of their clothes and the tip of one of their ears is cut off. “Their friends can give them
food and drinks, but it is a capital crime for anyone to give them money, or for them to
accept it.” (p. 23).
“Each slave is given a badge to show which district he belongs to, and it is a capital crime to
take one’s badge off, to be seen outside one’s own district, or to speak to a slave from
another district. As for running away, it’s just as risky to plan it as to do it. The penalty for
being accessory to any such plan is death for a slave, and slavery for a free man.” (p. 23).
