Novel Satire

Utopia
Author Year Published Original Language
Thomas More 1516 Latin

MAIN IDEAS

Exploring the More invented the word utopia from the Greek words for “no place” and
“good place” to describe a perfect society where all property is shared,
Perfect Society government is rational, and everyone is happy. The story is told by Raphael
Hythloday, a fictional traveler to the New World who discovered the island
of Utopia by accident.

Property & Wealth

Sharing property and doing

away with money make theft
and hoarding unnecessary.

Perfect Place

The word utopia came to

mean a “perfect place”
where everyone is happy
and provided for.

Crime & Punishment

Rejecting the use of

execution for most crimes as
ineffective, More proposed
alternative punishments—
enslavement and banishment.

Main Characters

DEBATES FRIENDS

Raphael Hythloday Thomas More Peter Giles

Fictional Portuguese Fictional version of the Fictional version of More’s

academic and sailor; author; debates Hythloday friend; hosts More and
discovers Utopia Hythloday

Influence

Literary Utopias & Political Impact

Dystopias of Utopia
Later authors built on the ideas laid The idea of utopia has influenced the
out in Utopia to write utopian and development of such political philosophies
dystopian books such as 1984, as communism and the cooperative and
Brave New World, and Walden Two. commune movements.

Symbols

Island Gold

Represents Utopia’s Unvalued and used for everyday

uniqueness and isolation from things in Utopia; symbolizes the
the rest of the world, as well futility of greed in a society where
as it being a paradise everyone’s needs are met

Author
Utopia
by the Numbers

~15 7/6
Months More spent in the Date More was executed
Tower of London after being after being found guilty
accused of treason against of treason
THOMAS MORE
King Henry VIII
1478–1535

An English writer,
philosopher, and politician,
More lived during the reign
of King Henry VIII, whom he
served as a councilor. A
dedicated Catholic, More
refused to support the king's
1935 1848 decision to divorce his first
wife and was accused of
Year the Catholic Church Year Oneida—one of the treason, a crime for which
made More a saint most notorious American he was beheaded.
utopian communities—was
founded based on the
concept of group marriage

t is the fear of want that makes ... animals

either greedy or ravenous.
Raphael Hythloday, Book 2, Chapter 6

Sources: BBC, British Library, The Center for Thomas More Studies,
Encyclopaedia Britannica

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