Sommers 1

Ben Sommers
Professor Heather Cross
Literature 207
20 October 2013
The Wealth of Value: Thomas More's Utopians' Views on Precious Metals and Gems
In Utopia, Thomas More offers us the vision of a land that is inviting and safe,
where people live in harmony, and there is very little to fear. His book is where we
get the term utopia from, and is looked back to by many as the origin for various
ideas about society. However, many of his ideas are also quite controversial, with
numerous claims of this idea or that idea not being feasible. In this paper, I will
investigate the position More has indicated that the Utopians have about gold and
silver, talk about some arguments others have given as to why or why not it might
be a feasible idea, and conclude with my own thoughts on the matter.
The utopians have a very low view of the value of precious metals, with gold
being the main one talked about in the book. Since the Utopians show a tendency to
value things for their practical use over any other innate value, gold is particularly
of very little use to the Utopians. Also, since it is a material that is highly revered by
other peoples of the world, the Utopians sought a solution to keep gold from the
admiration of the people, for only "Human folly has made (it) precious because
(gold) is rare" (More 55). So the solution in Utopia is to make gold used as the
material for the most degrading of items: chains for slaves, toilets, and marks to
indicate criminals. In doing so, the Utopians have depreciated the view of gold so
that any of its citizens will look down upon gold items or those that are wearing

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them, as seen in the tale of the Anemolian ambassadors (More 56). This serves to
keep its citizens of buying into the folly of making something so worthless precious.
However, the Utopians also make a somewhat complicating claim, that
another reason that gold is being treated in this way is because it is a "vain and
unprofitable thing (Nature) has hidden away in remote places" (More 55). This
complicates matters because, if gold is supposed to be rare, why would it be
present in large amounts in their society? Mention is made of keeping gold stored
up in a treasury for contact with other nations, but why would it be necessary to
have it in their society as well to try and downplay its significance? It seems that
gold does have an intrinsic value to humans, however much the Utopian leadership
tries to downplay it, and it not just precious "Because it is rare". If it were, could not
the Utopians give it out freely among the populace in order that everyone could
have a fair share and not be prone to envy?
This handling of gold also does not rectify the problem of gold being a status
symbol. Since another main reason to mention the way they handle gold was to
show a difference to the way it was handled in Europe, as alluded to strongly in the
introductory sentence many times "because you probably won't believe me" (Utopia
54), it would be logical to think that the degradation of gold would serve to also
lesson the disharmony of clothing as a status symbol. However, in the story of the
Anemolian ambassadors, they are also looked down upon by the Utopians, since
their gold adornments are foolish. While at first glance it might still show a positive
outcome since the folly of gold is abandoned, there is still the dividing human
sentiment to divide people based on your perception, which does not seem
indicative of a better society.

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One researcher who has offered some wise words about this subject in Utopia
is Richard Halpern, where he discusses some issues in Utopia in his book The
Poetics of Primitive Accumulation: English Renaissance Culture and the Genealogy
of Capital. In his writing, I have found agreeance and exposition of some of the
issues inherent in this use of Gold in Utopia. One quote I found particularly well
reasoned was as follows: "With gold so superabundant, a Utopian indifferance to
gold would make sense; a ritual debasement of it, on the other hand, suggests a
desire that must be repressed.... Far from devaluing gold, the Utopian practice
invests it with an innate desirability that trascends all social contexts" (Halpern 145146). This quote seems to best put into words the sentiment I already felt, that the
extra emphasis put onto gold in the Utopian society does nothing to distract the
focus on gold and other beautiful things, it seems to be merely another way to treat
it, while still singling it our from other more common materials.
In conclusion, the way that the Utopians use gold as More has delivered to us
seems to fall short of reaching its intended target, while the way it is treated differs,
it still presents problems to the "sameification" of value of materials in a utopian
society. Just because something is said to have a different value than others claim it
too, it still has an innate value shown in its being singled out, the wealth of which
cannot be downplayed.

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Works Cited:
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia. Ed. Robert M. Adams. New York: Norton and Company, 1992. Print.
Halpern, Richard. The Poetics of Primitive Accumulation: English Renaissance Culture and the
Genealogy of Capital. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991. Pp. vii + 321.