Sir Thomas More:


·         Sir Thomas More:

       The fame of Thomas More mainly rests on his great work ‘Utopia’.

Utopia:   It is originally written in Latin and it appears in English after the translation by Ralph Robinson (1551).

* The full title is ‘The Discourses of Raphael Huthloday, of the Best state of a commonwealth’.

* The book is divided into two parts.
* First Part:
     It describes how More and his friend Peter Giles leave church service in Antwerp, encounter Raphael Hythloday, a Portuguese  seaman who accompanied Amerigo Vespucci on his third voyage to the New world. The mariner found in Utopia, a far different world from European corruption, crime, waste and ward.
* Second Part:
    Hythloday then describes that ideal state of commonwealth. The economy is communistic. A six hour day is all the work required of a man. Happiness is the highest good. The Utopians hate war and bear arms only for self-defense. There is a complete religious toleration.

* It is a powerful and original study of social condition. In ‘Utopia’ we find for the first time, as the foundation of civilized society, the three great words- Liberty, Fraternity and Equality. The book is remarkable for confident idealism, witty phrasing and fertile imagination.

* His other works are – ‘The life of John Picus’, The history of Richard-III and a number of tracts and letters.

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