On the subject of “false pleasure”, More includes the absurdity of having lavish things and wanting to be or thinking of oneself as better than others. He begins to discuss people who want to own expensive jewelry and the like, “But if you consider the matter, why should a counterfeit give any less pleasure, when your eyes cannot distinguish it from a real gem? Both should be of equal value to you – as they would be, in fact, to a blind man.” (pg. 563) What intrigues me with this section is More has broken through the role of the narrator and is openly voicing his options on the matter. This section doesn’t seem to have any literal connection to the Utopians, except that they wouldn’t do such things, it is more an example of More looking at the current society with shame. This passage seems to me to be a response to the corruption and falsehoods of England as More sees it.
I couldn’t help but draw a distinction between a text I’m reading for Medieval English Literature. In Ecclesiastical History of the English People Bede does a similar thing in criticizing the society in which he lived. After an abundance of grain, Bede noted that the people began to be terrible to one another and cast their morals aside. “With abundance came an increase in luxury, which was immediately followed by every sort of crime; in particular, cruelty and hatred of truth and love of falsehood increased so much that if anyone among them happened to be milder than the rest…all the rest heaped hatred and missiles upon him, as if he had been the enemy of Britan.” It seems to me that both More and Bede are making a direct assumption that with luxury comes downfall. I think that is a very astute observation of human nature.
To address the question in class if More actually believed what he was writing was possible, I think that isn’t the way to look at Utopia. Instead of a matter of plausibility, I think it was a matter of getting the public to pay attention, or rather the educated to pay attention. I think More believed that by writing of a “perfect” society he would then be able to make people realize that what they lived in was far from perfect. It was a way to spark change, not actually a plan for civilization. Whether or not it worked, who knows.
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It's neat that you're reading Bede and More at the same time -- they're strikingly similar writers and thinkers.
ReplyDeleteMany medieval and Renaissance writers (and more modern ones) focus on the dangers of excess. In fact, contemporary US society is unusual in that we've moved away from that particular critique.