I know that Thomas More in the book may not be the same as Thomas More the character. However, I feel like Thomas More is channeling his conflicting emotions/ideas through two different characters. I feel like Hythloday is serving to portray the more exaggerated opinions of Thomas More, and More the character has a more conservative point of view. I think he is trying to send the message that he has mixed feelings about how government and his country should run. Whenever Hythloday (meaning nonsense talker) comes up with a crazy idea, such as enslaving thieves, More goes on to disagree with his ideas and says they won’t work. However, he will still assure Hythloday that he would do well to “engage in public affairs”. To me its saying that More is ambiguous about his thoughts, and is almost trying to write out his thoughts on paper to compare. The fictitious More goes on to support Hythloday’s ideas and decides that with patience they can be implemented and help improve the current system. Hythloday disagrees and says that his radical ideas will cause the government to tighten their ways more than in the past. I feel that this further supports the idea that More is trying to rationalize his mixed thoughts.
Hythloday then states his opinion that:
"As long as there is property, and while money is the standard of all things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily; not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to the absolutely miserable."
I feel like this is one of the biggest moments where the ideas to come in Book 2 are foreshadowed. And we all know how I feel about Book 2…but why not elaborate anyway J
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