The Ever Present Hypocrisy and Dystopia Within More's Utopia

Utopia, as presented by the character Raphael Nonsenso in Thomas More's novel, is a place that considers itself home to the perfect society. The contradictions and imperfections inherent in any given society, then, would presumably be absent within this society. As the verbal sketch of Utopia is fleshed out, however, it becomes clear that Utopia is not truly perfect even though the Utopians and Nonsenso apparently believe that it is. One would imagine that an ideal society would be free of such injustices as religious persecution and any other form of discrimination or judgment, but Utopia is a place where all these non ideals not only exist, but thrive. No matter how sincere the intentions of the Utopians or their founder Utopos, sincerity only goes so far - the truth of the matter is that human beings are imperfect and therefore, their logic is inevitably flawed and hypocritical at times.

One of the great ironies of Utopia is that all the qualities that Utopians find disgusting or apprehensible in others clearly exist within themselves as well, just manifested in different ways. How disgusting can other society's love for gold be, if Utopians place just as much value on another metal? Just because Utopians value iron instead of gold, this hardly makes them "right" and another society "wrong;" it simply demonstrates their own version of materialism. Though Utopians seem to feel that iron is somehow more practical than gold, they disprove their own alleged disdain for gold by making practical use of it as chains, chamber pots, and the like. Utopian society, however, is quick to recognize the value of gold once it becomes necessary to do so, like in the face of war.