WOMEN AND FEMINISM IN SIR THOMAS MORE'S UTOPIA
First published in 1516, Sir Thomas More's Utopia is considered as one of the most influential works of Western humanism. Through the first-person narrative of Raphael Hythloday, More's mysterious traveler, Utopia is described as a pagan communist city-state or polis governed by intellect and rationality. By addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism and justified warfare, the main protagonist seems to be a very recognizable character to many contemporary readers even after more than five centuries while Utopia itself remains a foundational text in human philosophy and political ideology through the world.
In his description of the religious practices held within More's perfectly structured Utopia, Raphael Hythloday informs the reader that "Women are not debarred from the priesthood, but only a widow of advanced years is ever chosen, and it doesn't happen often" (Utopia 78). Examples of this rather discriminatory, symbolic remark can be found throughout the text of Utopia which is embedded with many inconsistencies and conflicts related to philosophy. At the conclusion of Utopia when Hythloday has terminated his extremely detailed narrative of the Utopian polis, Thomas More interjects with "When Raphael had finished... It seemed to me that not a few of the customs and laws... As existing among the Utopians were quite absurd. Their methods of waging war, their religious ceremonies and their social customs were some of these, but my chief objection was to the basis of their whole system... their communal living and... moneyless economy" (Utopia 84).
According to Stephen Greenblatt in his Renaissance Self-Fashioning From More to Shakespeare, this "communal living" appears to be the "central motivation" of the entire story (36), yet More's opinion on this condemns it and virtually upsets all the important aspects of his Utopian culture. Greenblatt sees this upset as part of the numerous factors underlying More's entire idea of the communal system which views communism as less than "a coherent economic program" and teeming with "selfishness and pride" (37).
After analyzing the personal and political views contained in Utopia, recent feminist scholars have deciphered More's application of inconsistencies into a progressive statement regarding gender rights and privileges. Upon citing certain resigned attitudes in Utopia pertaining to women's equality, these scholars have come to the conclusion that women must thoroughly be encouraged to arm themselves, become professional and intellectual and chose their own husbands. Also, More's obvious tolerance for women's rights have influenced the progressive tactics of the feminist in the face of defeating the conservative bias of the modern world.
With Hythloday's revelation that "Women are not barred from the priesthood," it becomes clear that two operatives are in action -- the maintaining of female/male equalities and the experience of seniority over the innocence of the young, much like William Blake's poetical thesis. According to More, communal living allows for the breakup of many familial obligation roles as shown by Hythloday's statement that "No man is bothered by his wife's querulous complaints about money, no man fears poverty for his son, or struggles to scrape up a dowry for his daughter" (Utopia 82). Through this, all male-female relationships, usually dependent on some sort of financial stability, are reconstructed via utilitarian means. All gender and familial positions are placed on a lower level for the good of every citizen and every contribution made by a member of this society is deemed as being equal to all those made by others which creates a sense of commonality; however, this type of gender indifference creates numerous limitations as far as individual freedom is concerned. Women are allowed to work and achieve a certain amount of self-power while at the same time giving up those powers traditionally held as domestic. The power to debate or criticize one's husband for insufficient financial means or to ensure that one's daughter marries into a respectable and stable family are lost in More's ironic Utopia.
Most certainly, much of the indifference to gender in the citizens of this polis can be traced to their dislike for private property (land, wealth, jewelry, clothing, etc.) which creates an entire plethora of problems related to the self and familial prosperity. The domestic side of this issue, i.e. physical and emotional activities, becomes completely secretive which enables the women to maintain conditional power. In this Utopian civilization, privacy is transformed into public, as in the wearing...
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