Different Readings of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia - from an Ideal state to the First Dystopia

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, RWTH Aachen University (Institut fur Anglistik), course: Utopian Novels, language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is to point out some of the main trends in current criticism of More’s Utopia, by presenting and discussing some of the most important theses from the most representative critical writings from each of the aforementioned arches of interpretation. Special attention will be given to the question in how far it is justifiable to read Utopia as a negative concept, albeit even partly, or even as the first dystopia. In order to analyse this, a number of aspects has to be considered first. One has to differentiate between the questions of More’s intentions and modern readers’ point of view on the Utopian commonwealth. Even if More meant his island to be ideal and a blueprint for a new and better society, which is itself already very disputable, it does not necessarily mean that it can still be seen as such. Most modern reader cannot be expected to see Utopia as society which is anywhere near perfect or desirable. Values, of societies as well as individuals, have shifted in their meaning and focus between the era of Tudor England and today. It is also rather questionable in how far the utopian society would have appeared as ideal to More’s contemporaries, especially in regard to its communism and its religious practices.