By: Alexis Ballerstein

The Renaissance was a time of great cultural change during

the end of the 13th century in Europe. In this time period people
began to feel a sense of individuality and emerge as new people
with different views, thoughts, and styles. Many humanists arose
during this time and began to study the “classics” of Greek and
Roman culture. This spurred a drastic change in the artwork and
literature of the era. Art now became more detailed and
naturalistic while literature turned into writings like the stories of
Shakespeare or discussed the controversial ideals of many
Renaissance men. People also began to focus of the science in the
world and the “here and now” aspects of our world rather than
otherworldly beings like God, this caused people to begin to
separate from the church. Overall, the renaissance was just a period
of great change in society that caused people to think more for
themselves and change the way society acted as a whole.
 Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) was a
humanist who was later made a Saint by
the Catholic Church. During his lifetime
More was also the chancellor for Henry
VIII, English lawyer, a social philosopher,
and author. The most famous of his
works was a book entitled Utopia, this
novel outlined “the perfect” society that
civilization should strive to accomplish.
He married a young woman, Jane Colt,
who bore him four children, after her
early death he remarried a widow named
Alice Middleton to be the mother of his
four children. In 1535 he was imprisoned,
tried, and executed after refusing to
sanction Henry’s divorce of Queen
Catherine.
 Civic Humanism and Individualism-
 More tries to convince Raphael (a main character in the
novel) to find a good job in the courts advising the kings
but he refuses the offer saying that his views are too
radical and that they would not be taken seriously. This
demonstrates the way that men are forming their own
views with individualism. Also through suggesting that
Raphael use his education to find a good job in civil
services it shows characteristics of civic humanism.
 Secularism-
 When describing the islands inhabitants and their living arrangements
More focuses on their worldly possessions. He carefully describes what
every person owns, and also explains that everyone has the exact
amount of things that everyone else has. He stresses equality with these
worldly possessions while not really mentioning any (Christian)
religious aspects of the culture.
 Scientific Naturalism-
 When Raphael eventually discovers the island of Utopia, he spends
time studying the natives and their customs as well as the island itself.
By doing this Raphael is studying the natural world and it’s inhabitants
through close observation, which is the definition of scientific
naturalism.
 Scientific Naturalism and Secularism-
 He also states that the religions on the island are “sun, moon, planet,
or ancestor-worshipers, or monotheists.” This implies that the people
worship the natural world rather than an otherworldly being.
 Individualism-
 In More’s book, in order to create this “perfect” society,
everyone is given the same options, same housing, same
customs, same jobs, same clothes, and basically the
same lives. They have no real options except if they want
to live in a colony for awhile, what job (they choose one
out of four) they wish to take after agriculture, and what
religion they want to believe in. They have limited
opportunities to become their own person and thus
don’t experience the individuality that arose with the
Renaissance.
 More’s novel demonstrates the spirt of the renaissance
by using the “isms” to create a “perfect” society. This work
also uses the satire, irony, and wordplay one would fins in
the works of classical Greek authors, through this
demonstration of the classics. He also demonstrates a
concentration on the application of classical ideas to
contemporary society and particularly, politics in his
creation of Utopia. Without the study of the classics and
humanism during the Renaissance, More never would
have been able to publish or create this novel.
Utopia
This was the map
illustrated in the original
1516 copy of Utopia. The
island was depicted as
being “…two hundred
miles across in the middle
part, where it is widest,
and nowhere much
narrower than this except
towards the two ends,
where it gradually tapers.
These ends, curved round
as if completing a circle
five hundred miles in
circumference, make the
island crescent-shaped,
like a new moon.”
Utopia

This map was put in

the 1518 edition of
the novel and was
drawn by
Ambrosious Holbein.
In the bottom left
corner it depicts
Raphael describing
the island to More.
Utopia:

This is a map of the

island, Utopia, as
drawn in 1595 by
Ortelius
The Garden
Scene:

This is a scene in the

novel Utopia by
Thomas More. In the
scene, More
converses with
Raphael
Hythlodaeus, John
Clement, and Pieter
Gilles before Raphael
departs on his voyage
to find Utopia.