To first understand the relationship that the two books obtain, one would need to put each work in context. Important, is to realize the role of Plato in both the period of Humanism, and within that, in the life of Thomas More. More like many of his companions of the period, "had enjoyed good humanist and retained a powerful love of classical literature" (Rice 141). To further complicate matters, he not only was a politician, but also a devout Christian who "secretly wore a hairshirt until the day before he died" (Turner/More). Cresacre More said that "When he was about 10 or 12 years old", More "tried to chastise and tame his unbridled sex

Plato differs in his educational system. He believed that education was the instruction for one to be a perfect soldier or perfect leader. He believed in a censorship unlike More. "We shall ask Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we delete these all and all similar passages...the more poetic they are they less they should be heard by...men who must be free and fear slavery more than death" (Plato 57). The arts were to be taught only to those which would serve some purpose other than concerning the appreciation of beauty. Plato only wanted to see poetry that had a good rhyme because it was directly related to the goodness of the soul.

More's developments are not in reference to Plato because data to him are absent from his works. Plato wrote the Republic before the Old Testament was completed while the Utopia was written in a time period of Judeo-Christian beliefs. An important example is that of sexual morality. Although both societies try to regulate sexuality, the method of More seems to be more westernized. Adultery leads to "penal servitude of the most unpleasant type" and "a second conviction means capital punishment" (More 104). On the total opposite side of the spectrum, "any boy or girl convicted of premarital intercourse is severely punished, and permanently disqualified from marrying, unless this sentence is remitted by the mayor" (More 103). More by his beliefs stated that his sexuality was "the worst of the sensual sins" (Marius 37). Thomas More was "a man whose views on sensual pleasures were much like Saint Augustine's: It was not that the pleasures of the senses were harmful merely when they were taken in excess; they were a sign of wickedness merely by their being, and the Christian should limit indulgence in them as much as possible" (Marius 36).

Thomas More's Utopia was written both as a product of his time, and also as a product of a previous time, when Plato's Republic was written. One can be sure that More read Plato and considered the Republic before writing his Utopia. Rather than accepting the Republic's provisions for a proper state in its total amount, he weaved and dodged among the currents of thought, picking out only those that were edible to him in his position and time. Whether it be his expansion of Plato's educational system or his development of a strict sexual moral code, More developed a new blueprint for the ideal state. More may have felt that his Utopia was "no place", but in actuality, it was merely a few roads down the block of human thought from Plato's Republic.

uality, even to the extent of wearing a rough and knotted hair shirt at such a young age (Ackroyd 69). More was a devout Catholic who was executed because he refused to take an oath swearing loyalty to Henry VIII, after the split of the Church of England, over the pope. His religion and beliefs makes one understand some of the differences between the Republic and Utopia.

More's family structure was much more conservative. When a couple is to get married a wife joins her husband's household, and men stay in the family unit until they b

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