 Hello friends, welcome to arpitakarwa.com India's finest online coaching for English literature. And today we are going to talk about the very notable author Sir Thomas Moore. We will discuss his biography and then the famous work Utopia in detail. So to begin with, let us first discuss the religious inclination of Thomas Moore. Thomas Moore was a Catholic but unlike other Catholics who blindly followed church, he believed that some areas of the church needed reform. So we must also know that he was against the Protestant reformation that happened in the early 1500s. You must be wondering why was he against that movement when he himself believed that church needed reform. It is because according to him, the people leading the movement were too undisciplined. Moore opposed the religious school of thought of Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and William Tyndale. It was because Moore thought that their philosophies would weaken the church. Moore also refused to accept King Henry as the supreme head of the Church of England and this led to Moore's beheading. He was executed by King's men, meaning he was killed by the authorities by cutting off his head. Before dying, he said, I die the King's good servant and God's first. It means, even in his death, he chose God over the King. Now moving on to the work Utopia and we are going to talk about the like This is one of the finest work of Thomas Moore and we will talk about it in detail. It's a fictional book. It was first written in Latin. It was translated into English in year 1551. The book is a political satire. It means that the author has subtly made fun of the political condition of England. It was written from the point of view of a first person. And it has two narrators, first person narration by Raphael Hithlode and first person narration by a narrator named Thomas Moore. It is divided into two parts or you can say two books. Now, friends, before we move ahead, let's first understand the meaning of Utopia. The name Utopia is taken from the Greek for no, oju, and place, topos. Thus meaning nowhere. Utopia means an ideal state or a society which does not even exist. Moore's Utopia displays strong influence of Plato's Republic and Vespachy's account of the travels. There are three main characters in Utopia, namely Thomas Moore, Peter Giles and Raphael Hithlode. Out of these three, Thomas Moore and Peter Giles are real historic figures whereas Raphael Hithlode is a fictional character. Thomas Moore was the author and Peter Giles was Thomas Moore's friend in real life. On the other hand, Hithlode is a fictional person created by Thomas Moore. The name Hithlode in Greek means dispenser of nonsense. In other words, it means someone who speaks nonsense. So friends, now without much ado, let's begin the story of Utopia. Utopia is divided into two parts. The first records a conversation between Thomas Moore and Raphael Hithlode and the second is Hithlode's discourse on the institutions and practices of imaginary city called Utopia. When the book one begins, we find that Thomas Moore is travelling to a place named Antwerp. There he meets and befriends an honest man named Peter Giles. One day, Moore was returning from church and he went to Peter Giles' house. He sees that his friend is talking to an old man. The name of the old man is Raphael Hithlode. This old man had come from Portugal and was very knowledgeable and wise. All three of them go to Thomas Moore's place. There they have a conversation during which we get to know that Hithlode is a historical explorer and travels to a lot of different and interesting places. He has even seen the Asian roots and that's how he came in contact with Utopians. The two men, Thomas and Peter, got very impressed with the old man. The two men recommend the old man that he should provide his services to the prince as he will be a valuable asset for the country. However, Hithlode refuses. He told the two men that clergymen in nobility are corrupt and he does not want to give his service to them. Hithlode further tells them that years ago he had dinner with Cardinal John Morton in England and on the dinner table a lawyer appreciated how England had the policy of giving death sentences to the thieves. Hithlode told them that rather than giving death sentences, they should focus on improving the social conditions of England. He suggested that you can ask the thieves to do hard work which in turn will also better their social conditions. All the people disagreed with Hithlode. The old man realized that they all are selfish people who only like hearing priests. Now at the end of Hithlode's story, Thomas Morton still thinks that he should be an advisor of the king. Hithlode refuses outrightly. However, he says that had I been the king's advisor, I would have asked him to leave their wars and focus on domestic issues. That means the issues within the country. But the king won't listen to me and even I have to accept the unfair laws and regulations. Now in the book too, Hithlode tells the story is about Utopia in detail. I have broken it down point wise for you. First, city planning. Now the present day Utopia consists of 54 cities. He says that all the cities are alike. They all have same basic structure, architecture, language, customs and laws. All the cities in Utopia are surrounded by a thick wall. Its streets are rationally planned to allow for easy movement of traffic. Buildings are well maintained. Every house has a front door that opens on a street and a back door that opens onto a garden. Houses are well built and three stories high. Next is capital of Utopia. Amau Road is the capital of Utopia. The city of Amau Road is the political center of the island simply because it is the city which is most accessible to all the other cities. Each year three representatives from each city meet here to make island wise policy. Then we have family structure. The Utopians live together in patriarchal families with between 10 to 16 people. Then work culture. All Utopians work at both farming and at least one other craft and they work for at least six hours each day. Leisure activities. When the Utopians are not working, eating or sleeping they are free to use their time as they please. People of Utopia don't like playing dicing and cards. Slavery. Slaves in Utopia are never bought. Utopian slaves are either people captured by the Utopians in battle people who have committed a horrible crime within Utopia or people who have committed crimes in other countries and have been condemned to death and saved from their faiths by Utopians. The children of slaves are not born into slavery. Slaves work constantly and are always chained. Marriage. Women cannot marry until they reach the age of 18. Men must be 22. No premarital sex is allowed. If anyone is caught doing such an act they are forbidden to marry for life. Now this policy exists because Utopians think that if premarital sex was allowed no one would choose to marry. Adultery or cheating on your partner is ignored for the first time but it attracts the death sentence if you commit this crime again. Divorce is allowed only in cases of adultery or extraordinary abuse. Adulters are condemned to become slaves. Concept of individual property. The people of Utopia do not have individual assets. They share their resources with each other. Home, bread, wine, everything is shared. There is no concept of money and the people of Utopia hate gold. Law in Utopia. The cities are looked after by magistrates known as philarchs. Utopia has no lawyers. Utopian leaders and judges are immune to bribery because money does not exist. Approach on war. Utopians hate war and try to avoid it at all costs. They find no glory in the practice of killing though they constantly train and if pressed prove a mighty enemy. They engage in warfare only to protect themselves. Their friends or to free oppressed people. Religion. Though people worship different deities from the sun known planets to great heroes of the past they believe in a single infinite power and people who condemn other religions and attempt to force others to their opinions are subject to exile or bondage. All people worship in the same churches together and the priests are elected by secret ballot to provide the community with spiritual guidance. At the conclusion of Hitler Day's discourse Moore offers some remarks of his own indicating that he was not wholly converted to the utopian system but that he regarded some of its features as meritorious and wished they might be adopted in Europe. So this was all about this lecture and Utopia. I hope you enjoyed it and till the time you meet next happy learning, keep loving literature and stay tuned to arpitalkarwa.com.