Thomas More's Letter to William Gonell and the Goal of Education

Abstract

In this essay, I examine the structure and language of More's letter to William Gonell, the tutor to More's children, so as to understand what More takes to be most important in the education of his children. Indeed, the circumstances of the letter's composition suggest that More writes in reply to Gonell's objection to More's educational directives. More's reply from court suggests that he viewed Gonell's opposition as a family crisis that required More to articulate his fundamental principles of humanist education.