Thomas More
the author of Utopia. He is a character in his own work. In the opening letter to Peter Giles, More explains that he is writing a record of a conversation that he and Giles had with a man named Raphael Hythloday. More does not do much speakingHythloday is the main speaker. In the opening and closing letters to Peter Giles, More reveals aspects of his character. More is very clever and he makes several jokes and puns in attempts to be humorous. In the closing letter to Giles, More makes it clear that Utopia is a fictional place that does not actually exist.
Peter Giles
a friend of the author, Giles was a printer and editor, also serving as the Clerk of Antwerp. In Utopia, Giles meets More when the Englishman travels to Flanders (present-day Belgium). Giles introduces More to Raphael Hythloday and Utopia is a narration of Raphael's words to Giles and More.
Raphael Hythloday
a fictional character. Though Giles and More are actual people, Hythloday is entirely fictional. Raphael is the name of a Biblical angel but the name Hythloday means "peddler of nonsense." Hythloday brings good news of the ideal society, found on the island of Utopia. Unfortunately, the island does not exist. Hythloday is a Portuguese man who sailed on the fourth voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was actually a sailor and discover (after whom America is named).
Hythloday is the main character in Utopia and he is distinct and unique from the others. Hythloday is very wordy and he speaks in long sentences. It's difficult for the other characters to get a word in edgewise. At the same time, Hythloday tends to be pretty dogmatic in his views. He is an absolute fan of Utopia: he praises all of their customs, criticizing nothing. Hythloday can seem very sensible at times, despite his ridiculous traits. In discussing court politics, Hythloday is wiser than More, realizing that the fickle shifting views of a king's flattering advisers can make the court an unpleasant adventure for the well-intentioned honest adviser. More rejects Hythloday's advice and learns his lesson the hard way.
Utopus
the ancient conqueror who built the Utopian state. 1760 years before Hythloday's visit to Utopia, Utopus conquered the brutish people and separated the area into its own island by cutting through the narrow isthmus that connected Utopia to the mainland. Most of the laws, institutions, and values passed down by Utopus remained in place 1760 years later, when Raphael visited.
Cardinal John Morton
Cardinal John Morton appears in Hythloday's story regarding his last visit to England. Morton is a kind, generous, and thoughtful character. He was also a real person, serving as the former Chancellor to King Henry VIII (the same king that More served). The Cardinal is notably fair and able to bring together many different people for long, meaningful conversations. Many also speculate that the Cardinal appears as a gesture to More's respect for the Church, we he often criticizes throughout Utopia. The presence of the benevolent Cardinal would have helped defend More should anyone accuse him of contradicting or challenging the Church's influence.
King Utopus
King Utopus is the only character in Utopia who is from Utopia and mentioned by name. He is the founder of the city, and More describes his development of Utopia in terms very similar to the founding of England and the mythological background of King Arthur. That King Utopus is the only named Utopian in the text is significant because it underscores More's project of portraying a world where individual accomplishment is insignificant compared to communal growth. Furthermore, by describing King Utopus similarly to the founders of Britain, More suggests that these two places (one fictional, one real) are not so different in their origin stories.
A Fool
The Fool appears briefly in Hythloday's story about the Cardinal's dinner party. Like most fools in early modern English literature, the Fool is not so foolish after all. Instead, fools usually serve the purpose of revealing the inherent foolishness of other characters, and are sometimes considered some of the wisest people to appear in plays and narratives from the period. In this case, the Fool is a foil for the Friar, who is embarrassed to discover the Fool knows just as much about Biblical matters as he does.
A Friar
The Friar appears alongside the fool in Hythloday's story about the Cardinal's dinner party. He gets into an argument with the fool and becomes so incensed that he starts spouting rude insults at the dinner party guests. The Friar, in this way, is posited as the opposite of the kind Cardinal, who lets his Christian faith fully define his life. The narrative suggests that the Friar, by contrast, is a corrupt and self-interested representative of the Church who is giving the Christian faith a bad name.
A Lawyer
The Lawyer is an unnamed guest at the Cardinal's dinner party. Hythloday describes the Lawyer as someone who is better at summarizing arguments than engaging meaningfully in conversation – the latter of which is a trait held most dear by virtually every character in the text. The Lawyer is rude, defensive, and close-minded, and he thus serves as a character meant to inspire readers to see the value of Utopia (where these type of people would not thrive).
King Henry VIII
Though not mentioned directly in Utopia, King Henry VIII plays an important part in the context surrounding More's work. More was a trusted advisor to King Henry VIII, and as such would have had to ensure that Utopia was not critical (or at least ambiguously critical) of the crown. Scholars have pointed out that the ambivalence of More's text (is Utopia really a perfect world?) encourages readers to question the influence that one person can have on the world. As King Henry VIII enjoyed absolute power as the reigning monarch of England, this question would have been an important one for his advisors to consider. When Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church over his divorce dispute, Thomas More resigned his position, as he was a staunch supporter of the Catholic Church. More was eventually tried for treason and executed on King Henry VIII's orders.
