If society fails to educate its people, it should not be surprised if they turn to crime. One of the root causes of thievery, Hythloday says, is poor education. Hythloday would ban gambling and bring in government legislation to regulate the production of wool, forcing the rich to rebuild the villages and turn most of the land back to agriculture. Thus large populations of unemployed and starving agricultural laborers roam the land.Īnother class of people who turn to thievery is gamblers, who must find a way of replenishing their lost money. While arable farming requires many laborers, the keeping of sheep needs few. To this end, they turn out of their homes the farm tenants who previously worked the land to grow food, and fence it in for sheep pasture, often demolishing the houses to make room for more sheep. Wool has become profitable in England and landowners are keen to cash in. The French make the mistake of keeping a standing army in time of peace, and these men prove a menace to society, since they are either idle or trying to overthrow the government.Ī third class of people who are forced into thievery in England, says Hythloday, are rural people who are victims of the growing practice of enclosure of arable land for the grazing of sheep. These include disabled war veterans, who cannot follow their old trades and are too old to learn new ones and the servants of aristocrats who are suddenly without a job if their lord dies or if they fall sick and are turned out. There are some people in English society who have no choice but to steal. It would be better to ensure that nobody needs to steal to survive. Hythloday said it is no wonder that the punishment is not effective: theft is not a crime that is worthy of the death penalty, and no punishment can make someone refrain from theft if it is their only means of survival. He could not understand why so many thieves were still active. Hythloday recalls that one day in England, he was dining with Cardinal John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, when an English lawyer praised the severity of English justice regarding thieves, who were executed by hanging, and remarked approvingly on the great number of thieves who were hung. He has been to England, and found the government of that country particularly resistant to improvement. Also, courtiers are governed by envy, and would respond with hostility to any influential advisor. Kings, he says, are more interested in making war and acquiring new territories than in learning to govern better those territories they already rule. Hythloday rejects this idea, at first giving the reason that it would interfere with his freedom, but as the discussion continues, another reason emerges: he feels that his advice would not be welcomed or listened to. Giles asks Hythloday why he has not offered his services as an advisor to a king, since any political leader would benefit from hearing what he has to say. He begins to tell More and Giles about the many excellent aspects of Utopian life. He has discovered an island called Utopia, where the people live in a perfectly ordered society. Hythloday explains that he has been traveling with Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer. There he meets a friend, Peter Giles, who introduces him to a Portuguese seaman, Raphael Hythloday (his name is taken from the Greek meaning “speaker of nonsense”). More tells how King Henry VIII (1491-1547) of England sends him to Flanders, Belgium, on a diplomatic mission. For the purposes of distinguishing the two, the author is referred to as Thomas More, while the character is referred to as More. Note: Thomas More the author of Utopia should not be assumed to be identical with More, the character in the book.

Utopia by thomas more