The present study compares two poets and scholars (English and Persian) in terms of subject and utopia. Sir Thomas More’s Merry Jest is compared with one piece of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh in terms of the common subject or message they convey in classification of people’s occupations. Having a civilized and more disciplined society, both poets believed in classifying people based on their skills, competence and efficiencies; and insisted that each group should remain in their own category and avoid interfering or entering the profession of which they know nothing. Moreover, as social scholars, both put forward the theory of utopia and describe the ideal society in which people can live more comfortably and pleasantly. Living in the 16th century, the principles proposed by More for his utopia basically turn round modern social interactions and attempts to recognize the reason of problems at the first step, and then amending them through the laws he suggests. In Ferdowsi’s utopia, however, the ideal society is based on two distinct factors: physical structure of towns, the number of necessary architectural buildings constructed, and the moral enhancement of its residents in holding high human values as honesty, integrity and knowledge. The present research aims to probe, examine and find answers for two main questions: what affinities and dichotomies are there in “job classification” and the concept of “utopia” held by Ferdowsi & More? The research method is library-based and the obtained results are categorized by descriptive-analytic method.
Brian Gogan. The Common Corps of Christendom. Ecclesiological Themes in the Writings of Sir Thomas More, (Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Vol. XXVI), Leyde : E.J. Drill, 1982, XII-404p
