A characteristic that was also true of that time and in fact still stands true in the 21st century is the corruption of society from Christian values. Quite simply put, what was happening at the time of the renaissance was that men like Sir Thomas More were beginning to realize that the heads of state were molding society so that there laws would in fact be above the laws of Christ and were succeeding at achieving this. For example Christ proclaimed that no human being should kill another. However with the implication of capital punishment this was being broken very boldly. For a sample of More’s opinion on this matter Hythloday states “For if we ought to omit everything, as being strange and inappropriate, which the corrupt ways of men have made appear odd, then we ought to cover up among Christians practically everything Christ taught and so strongly forbade us to cover up..."(More,p.35). Sir Thomas More seen this characteristic of society as one that could only initiate problems within itself.

“The enclosure movement”, as Sir Thomas More described it was also a failing aspect of his society. The enclosure movement can be described as the process of transforming arable land into private pastures. More rightfully claimed that this movement in a sense steals the livelihood of peasants and creates an oligopoly, which in more reasonable terms simply means ownership by the wealthy few. This simultaneously raises the prices of essential things such as bread. In utopia to sum it up in short terms the character Hythloday implies that society is manufacturing thieves and then blaming them for stealing. He develops this theory by referring to the political leaders as “bad teachers, who more readily beat their students than educate them”(More,p.11).

The second part of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia deals with the charaterb Hythloday sharing his experience of visiting the Island of Utopia. More uses this fictional account to describe his personal views on what would actually make an ideal society. He leads the reader gradually out of book one by sharing his opinion that the concept of communal property must be enforced for a society to function properly. His reasoning behind this, is that if all citizens shared the land than everyone would be fed and their would be no reason to steal or beg. A good example of this way of thinking is when Hythloday staqtes “So I am quite convinced that things cannot be distributed in equity and justice, nor mortals’ affairs be managed prosperously, unless private ownership is totally abolished”(More,P.38). More begins book two of Utopia by descrb

Some topics in this essay:
Sir Thomas, Island Utopia, Thomas Mores’, Thomas Mores, Utopia Utopian, Raphael Hythloday, sir thomas, , More’s Utopia, 16th century, ideal society, european society, capital punishment, humanist movement, poor political, political practices, thomas mores, sir thomas mores, character hythloday, poor political practices, sir thomas key, thomas key exponent, “the enclosure movement”,