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Student Name Instructor Course Date The Nature of Man Human nature is fundamental when studying the behavior of people. It denotes the fundamental dispositions that humans have naturally. Using human nature, comparisons can be made across individuals, demonstrating how they differ and how they are similar. This essay explores human nature through Thomas More’s, “Utopia” and compares how it is presented in three works: Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World,” Mikhail Bulgakov, “The Master and Margarita,” and George Orwell, “1984.” Thomas More, “Utopia” Sir Thomas More was the first to use the term "utopia" to denote an ideal, imaginary world where people share a common culture. The work describes a complex community where on an island where people have the same way of life. At its core, "Utopia" asks the question of whether there could ever be something like a "perfect world." Written in 1516, "Utopia" seeks to suggest ways of improving European society which at the time was marred with chaos of politics. The work reflects More's position in the English Renaissance where he cared a lot about the moral and political responsibilities of all citizens. More depicts a different society from the one he was living in in Europe, full of intrigue, scandal and corruption. The utopia society is communal, where all individuals can meet their needs. On the contrary, European society is characterized by wealthy nobles, whose greed drives them to gain more power and wealth at the expense of the people who continue to live in misery and poverty. Dissatisfied with the world he was living in, More sought to create a different society, a place where the hierarchies that eventually cost his life did not exist. A major theme in More’s work is the concept of the nature of man, which the author considers to be good. More approaches human nature with a high level of optimism, considering it good. The creation of a utopian society is possible because humans are capable of doing what is right. While in the present world, humans may appear as evil, More disputes the idea, instead considering humans as capable of transforming and activating their goods aspect (More). Having the nature of man as good makes people capable of creating a perfect world, dominated by strong values. In the utopian world, the institutions and policies are governed purely by reason. Such a world harnesses the very idea of human nature, amplifying it to create a society where violence, corruption and other evils do not exist. Humans are capable of giving up some of the major contributors to a dysfunctional society. Power struggles emanating from money and ownership of property can be avoided by relying on good human nature to give up these privileges for the greater good. "Utopia" presents the flaws in human beings, which are More attributed to the flaws in the environment, and political and social factors as opposed to the nature of humanity. More presents human nature as susceptible to the environment, such that improvements in the environment can alter it. Where improvements are made socially, politically and economically, then the behavior of humans will be improved, allowing the best in human nature. God created human nature to be good and capable of undergoing improvements needed to eliminate human misery and liberate fundamental human virtual. For instance, More insisted on socialism, which would serve to eliminate private property, which he considers to be the major root cause of evil (More). Due to private property, More believes, money dominates all aspects of life. As a result, it becomes challenging to govern the commonwealth justly or happily. More considers it impossible for justice to exist where the worst citizens own the best of things. In other words, society cannot exist harmoniously where property is in the hands of few people. In such an arrangement, those with more property live in fear that it will be taken, while those with little property are wretched (More 38). Justice does not prevail, since people do not consider any reward for virtue, causing individuals to behave to their lowest standards rather than their highest. More acknowledges that human nature, while flawed is capable of virtuous behavior when social conditions encourage such behavior. He sees human nature as capable of undergoing improvements where social, political and economic conditions are conducive. More sees human nature more optimistically. Rather than looking at human nature pessimistically, More is optimistic that it can be altered for the better by changing the basic institutions and arrangements in society. Rather than criticizing human nature, More focuses on the negative effects of the unjust social, political and economic conditions. More’s work is a comment on the characteristics of human nature and how it can be controlled or altered to create socially compliant and morally sound individuals for the success of the entire society. One of the challenges of human nature is pride (More). More sees pride as a part of human nature such that speaking of humans without pride is like talking of man without reason. In other words, man cannot exist without any form of pride. This is because pride constitutes an awareness of one’s worth. Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” demonstrates a perfectly controlled society to suppress the horrors of conflict and instability. The work explores the idea of human nature through the suppression of individualism, the prioritization of societal goals over one’s freedom and the manipulation of human desires. It creates a society meant to be perfectly stable and orderly, conditioning the people to be robots. Huxley attempts to display a society, where everyone is equal through the creation of large groups of identical twins and genetic classes of individuals meant to fit into particular roles in society (Huxley). However, this leads to division between the various groups by creating classes that predetermine the genetic makeup of individuals and every aspect of their lives. Individuals are denied basic human rights in the process of creating the different classes. Even worse, people lack individuality since they are created as twins and conditioned to have the same set of beliefs. Society is strict and forces everyone to conform to the order established, denying any personal opinions. Characters like Bernard struggle to survive in society because they feel different from the rest of the people and alienated due to their attempt to express their personal opinions, especially concerning their discontent with society. In both “Utopia” and “Brave New World,” human nature can be controlled. In the former, human nature can be altered by exposing individuals to the right environmental conditions. "Utopia" demonstrates that...