Utopia Book One - Sir Thomas More

"Utopia - Book One" was written by Sir Thomas More to place "Utopia-Book Two" into context. It is a written regurgitation of a fictional conversation between Raphael Hythloday (the main character and a fictional one), Peter Giles (a real life acquaintance of More's), and Sir Thomas More himself. The language of the conversation is (of course) one that was used in period and is one that, unlike today, very formal. Initially, the language appears very polite. By today's comparison, one may think that to bo be true. Upon closeer inspection, you can see that isn't the case at all.

If you evaluate the way things are said only in the piece, solely on the surface and removed from the context of the time, it does seem as if they are being painstakingly polite. I site the line on page 579 for my example. It reads, "It is clear, my dear Raphael, that you seek neither wealth nor power, and indeed I value and revere a man of such a disposition as much as I do the mightiest persons in the world."

Plucked from the context of the time, the identity of the author, and isolated from the text, it seems as if he were paying Raphael a great compliment. However, he immediately follows the statement with the line, "Yet I think that if you would devote your time and energy to public affairs, you would do a thing worthy of a generous and philosophical nature, even if you did not much like it."

Sir Thomas More was a man in who was a personal counselor to Henry the VIII. He had strong and controversial ideas. In this respect, he never compromised and would place his thoughts in the ear of the court, and the king himself, even at the risk of personal detriment. It was his strong convictions that eventually caused him his life when King Henry VIII had him beheaded.

I feel that More was actually insulting Raphael. He was essentially stating that it was all well and good to sit back and reflect on what is wrong with the world, but the real challenge was in applying yourself to make a change in the world you find fault with. Reading the work, is obvious the scorn that More has for those in power and he said he revered Raphael as much as he revered the mightiest in the world. That, in my opinion, was not very polite at all.

Should we follow this same pattern of speech in today's world? Sometimes we do. We are often more flattering and polite to strangers or others in the workforce. We often will placate someone with niceties and know when others are nice to us with ulterior motives in mind. The expression "kill them with kindness" puts it in perspective. Things are not so different from now and then at all.

Everyman - A Middle Ages Morality Play

"Everyman" is an example of English morality plays that were written in the middle ages. This particular play was written around the middle of the era that these plays existed (1400-1579). It also corresponds with a tumultuous point of the protestant reformation movement in England. I think that the morality play, citing examples specifically from "Everyman" was a tool used by the Catholic church to reach the public and an attempt to dissuade them from the protestant church. 

The play's main theme involves the salvation of Everyman through Good Deeds. Everyman is visited by death and after approaching the personified Kindred, Cousin, Goods, Knowledge, Beauty, Strength, Five-Wits, Discretion,and Fellowship. Each forsakes him and he is left with only Good Deeds (whom he resurrects through charitable actions). It is Good Deeds that ultimately get Everyman into heaven.

Although it is Catholic doctrine that embraces entry into heaven through charitable works, this is not the reason that I feel Everyman was a specific tool of the Catholic Church to battle Protestantism.

It is the characters Knowledge and Five-Wits that I find most suspect. Beginning in line 758, Knowledge states, "Sinful priests giveth the sinners example bad: Their children sitteth by other men's fires, I have heard; And some haunteth women's company With unclean life, as lusts of lechery. These be with sin made blind." This would be the voice of the Protestant movement whose secession was partially related to the corruption of the priests in the Catholic Church (among other reasons of course). The rebuttal of the Catholic Church follows as a response from Five-Wits, "I trust to God no such may we find. Therefore let us priesthood honor, And follow their doctrine for our souls' succor. We be their sheep and they shepherds be By whom we all be kept in surety." Essential, the Catholic Church is telling the audience, don't listen to what others tell you they know, use your wits. You could not have been witnesses yourselves (using your 5 senses) of such things, so don't listen.

Many types of art (visual, literature, architecture, song, plays) were commissioned by the Catholic Church and I believe that "Everyman" is an example.

Middle English Lyrics

The Middle English Lyrics are a collection of short verse from the middle ages. I chose to discuss the pieces "Westron Wind" and "My Lief Is Faren in Londe". Because of their brevity, I will include the entire texts here.

Westron Wind

"Westron wind, when will though blow?
The small rain down can rain.
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
and I in my bed again."

I believe that this particular piece of literature was one that was not normally written, but was sung by sailors out to sea,. It was said almost as a prayer. The Vikings had invaded Middle Ages England and are well remembered for their proficiency on the sea. I think that this song was sung by the viking sailors and soldiers who traveled from England to their home. It was a song that was sung out of a longing to be home in their motherland and with their wives.

My Lief Is Faren in Londe

"My lief is faren in londe -
Allas, why is she so?
And I am so sore bonde
I may nat come her to.
She hath myn herte in holde
Wherever she ride or go - 
With trewe love a thousand folde."

This poem is somewhat the opposite. Here, the fair maiden is again the beloved, but it is she that has traveled far from home. This verse speaks of longing to be near her but he is unable to due so due to the distance now between them. This doesn't alter his love for her, but rather, it seems to strengthen it as expressed in the last two lines.

Chaucer - A Nun's Priest's Tale

In the Chaucer's "The Nun's Priest's Tale", Pertelote (Chauntecleer's wife) has a strong reaction to Chauntecleer's emotional state following a nightmare he had in which he died. I believe that Pertelote's reaction is contradictory to the socially accepted gender roles of the Middle Ages and is what ultimately forces Chauntecleer into a role that would be deemed more appropriate for a man. This forces him to face his fear and overcome it.

During the Middle Ages, women were perceived to be the inferior sex. This is made evident in story. My main reference for justification is this: in lines 343-346 Chauntecleer quotes a Latin phrase to Pertelote. He tells her that the phrase "In principio, Mulier est hominis confusio" means "Woman is man's joy in all his bliss". In actuality, it is translated to mean "Woman is man's ruination". Pertelote was Chauntecleer's saving grace. She forces Chauntecleer out of the hall and into the yard. Beginning in line 90, after the nightmare, She tells him "Now han ye lost myn heart and al my love! I can nat love a coward,by my faith. For certes, what so any womman saith, we alle desiren, if it mighte be, To han hosbondes hardy, wise, and free." She continues to belittle Chauntecleer through line 149. Some may perceive this to have pushed Chauntecleer into harms way. This is not so. It was Pertelote's aggressive and dominant nature exhibited through "henpecking" that eventually drove Chauntecleer into the yard and saves his manhood.

If he had stayed inside the hall, succumbed to his fear, his wives would have been the target for the fox and he would have been ridiculed for being a coward. Since he did confront the fox and ultimately win, he changed the course of action, proved the dream to be wrong, and was a hero.