A Deconstruction Reading of Thomas Mores Utopia Essay

A Deconstruction Reading of Thomas Mores Utopia Thomas Mores Utopia is the bastard child of European conventions and humanist ideals. Inspired by Mores belief in the elevation of human manners, education, and morals, the text also concedes to the omnipresent traditions of European society. While More accepts parentage of the text, he distances himself from its radical notions and thinly veiled condemnation of Europes establishment. Through the use of a benign narrator, Raphael Hythloday, and the assumption of a royalist persona by a character of his own name, More discloses the tale of the island of Utopia and its communist society. Rife with realistic details that lend life and credibility to the existence of such a foreign†¦show more content†¦The monarchies of England and other European nations are chastised for basing power and leadership on heredity and riches rather than merit and devotion to societys needs and care. The text lambastes Europes inattention to its own misdeeds by comparing it to a land where all peopl e are valued above bloodlines, gold, or tradition. More uses the two lands to symbolize different states of human existence. Europe represents the failings of a society obsessed with wealth and power, while Utopia represents societys potential when such distractions are removed. Literary deconstruction focuses on the assumptions made within a text as represented by such oppositional relationships. Because of its satirical stance, the text of Utopia inherently represents two factions-good and evil, or as identified by Robert Elliott, positive and negative. While Thomas More conveys the disparity between Utopia and Europe to emphasize the negative aspects of European society, the binary must be dismantled in order to expose the unknowns contained within the text. According to scholar Donald Hall, deconstruction identifies oppositions and seeks to probe their fragile, hierarchal nature and thereby challenge them (165). The obvious contrast between the signs suggests the appearance of truth; however, the meanings within the binary and the text itself are ambiguous. Deconstruction attempts to reveal the