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Thomas More Satire

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Thomas More 's eccentric tale of 'Utopia ' serves as a criticism of medieval England of his time, where he employs satire to deliver scathing commentary on the fallacies present within the English government, societal structure and religion. Consequently, he applies satire to exaggerate humanities imperfection, and further does this through his paradoxical comparison between medieval England and Utopia. Hence, utopian and dystopian texts alike primarily serve as mirrors to identify what aspects of society an author has issue with, and then to provide insight into the mannerisms in which an alternative society deals with those issues. 'Utopia ' More discusses the absurdity of humanity 's attempt to impose order on society. More 's stern …show more content…

More uses 'Utopia ' as a medium for advocating religious freedom to respond to the fractious nature of the Catholic Church. He orchestrates Utopian religious freedom as a concept for Europe to model upon. Believing that religious fanaticism had the potential to fracture Europe 's kingdoms, More outlines Utopia 's adoption of religious freedom with the aim of promoting its success in transforming a profusion of conflicting religious sects into liberal minded supporters of the government. Furthermore, More believed that respective sects required to be tolerant in order for any civic peace to co-exist within Utopia; hence seeing practicality in its application in Europe by the Catholic Church. More 's reputation of being a Christian renaissance humanist is evidence for his attempt in contrasting the Utopian and Christian religion to revive the spirituality and morality that he once thought existed in Christianity. This can be noted when Hythloday describes Utopia 's religious stance in Book Two, "believe in a single divinity … Him they call their parent, and to him … they do not offer divine honours to any other", where there is allusion to the first line of the Lord 's Prayer 'Our father, who art in heaven ' when "Him they call their parent" is noted. The reference to this Christian sentiment signifies More 's willingness to revive the Christian faith 's effectiveness in controlling and administering the ordinary lives of those who held the Christian belief. Consequently, we see More resort to allusions to also remind those reading the novel at the time of how important the Christina faith was in

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