- Oct 2022
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human.libretexts.org human.libretexts.org
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“’Luxury likewise breaks in apace upon you to set forward your poverty and misery; there is an excessive vanity in apparel, and great cost in diet, and that not only in noblemen’s families, but even among tradesmen, among the farmers themselves, and among all ranks of persons.
Protestantism is something that comes to mind during this quote. A strong belief of Protestantism is to have minimal decorations and More is saying that having extravagant clothing and items is too much and not necessary for a person’s life. That is something that a person would expect even now from people with more money, but More is saying that even people of middle and lower classes have a problem with vanity.
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“But you are much mistaken,” said he, “for he has not sailed as a seaman, but as a traveler, or rather a philosopher.
By describing him as more of a philosopher, he is trying to put him above other people to give him a higher social standing. People would be more open to his opinions if he was a philosopher over a seaman because of social status. A traveler could be a seaman or a philosopher, but philosopher has a more prestigious connotation that he was trying to have his reader, and More, think.
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After those civilities were past which are usual with strangers upon their first meeting, we all went to my house, and entering into the garden, sat down on a green bank and entertained one another in discourse
In this More is talking about his friends and what they would do together to hang out. By saying the “garden” and “green bank” are at his house, he is claiming that he owns them, and owning land was a sign of status. Utopia is a land that is perfect and a safe haven, and by being someone who is of a higher status and without problems, he is implying that he would be worthy of Utopia.
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“’The increase of pasture,’ said I, ‘by which your sheep, which are naturally mild, and easily kept in order, may be said now to devour men and unpeople, not only villages, but towns; for wherever it is found that the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer wool than ordinary
This is a reference to the expansion that was happening during the time and countries wanting to have as much land as they can get. The soldiers that they have prepared for these wars sometimes would revolt in order to get what they want, because they know that their countries rely on them. More is trying to say that it probably isn’t a good idea to have a standing military because of what has already happened, people revolting and causing problems for the country.
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voyage
The word “voyage” comes from Anglo-Norman and Old French and is used through Utopia when telling the stories of travels that were noteworthy or long adventures. The etymological meaning is “An act of traveling, a journey, by which one goes from one place to another” (OED). The word “journey” helps to better understand “voyage” because it implies that it is a longer trip and someone is doing something with a specific end goal in mind.
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