Cesare Borgia

How does a comparison of Machiavelli's the Prince and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar reflect the way their social, cultural and historical contexts can influence their choice of language forms and features and the ideas, value and attitudes? Does the end justify the means? I am sure you all would have your own personal opinions in response to this perplexing question. Two composers in the Renaissance era also pondered upon the issue. Consequentialist Machiavelli in the political treatise The Prince…

I. Preliminary Info A. The Prince B. Niccolo Machiavelli C. The University of Chicago Press; Chicago D. Originally: 1532; This edition: 1985 E. N/A F. Harvey C. Mansfield G. 111 pgs. H. Non-Fiction II. The Book’s Contents A. Non-Fiction 1. The general topic of this book is Machiavelli’s view of how to aquire and maintain power. It also gives his ideas of how and why the Italian government isn’t doing well. 2. In the book The Prince, Machiavelli doesn’t realy use characters as in a novel;…

Morality and Necessity: What Makes a Prince Just? Whether using the Machiavellian terminology (i.e. the prince) or the Socratic nouns (i.e. citizen, philosopher, or civil servant), the three literary works, “The Apology”, “Crito”, and “The Prince”, address the same topic: what should a leader be. Socrates valued individual characteristics considered to be moral and just more than anything. He was not afraid to place leaders to the same standard as the ordinary citizen and in fact encouraged…

The passage’s central argument is that the end justifies the means. More specifically, if a prince achieves a good end, he will be respected, regardless of the methods he employed to get there. A prince should act virtuously when he is able to, yet there are times in which he has no other choice than to act cruelly. In addition, a reputation of generosity requires a lot of money; expensive and ostentatious demonstrations of giving take away from the budget for protection and projects that…

Machiavelli should however only enable those who attain power through modesty rather than opportunity. In chapters seven and eight, Machiavelli refines his original definition of virtu through his descriptions of Cesare Borgia (or Duke Valentino), who is unnecessarily glorified by Machiavelli, versus the history of Agothacles the Sicilian. Duke Valentino rose to power only through opportunity but Agothocles rose to power through opportunity and ability. In the life of…

Sly, coning, deceitful, ruthless, words often used to described the political philosophy of Niccólo Machiavelli. He was the first philosopher of the renaissance, lived in an Italy divided by states, he lived in Florence Italy under different Florentine empires. His exile ethic took place under the Medici family rule. "One should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person,”Machiavelli was a realist and made a point of writing things as they were rather than as…

The immoral acquisition and abuse of authority is facilitated by the presumption of inherent human morality within political systems. This is the dominant intertextual perspective between William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, examined through the values of stability and morality within politics. Texts, as manifestations of values and attitudes, are incontrovertibly influenced by their distinct contexts. As such, though an intertextual perspective may exist…

Another Machiavellian idea is that morality and ethics are for the weak, powerful people should feel free to lie, cheat, and deceive whenever it suits their purpose. A prince should weaken people that are stronger then him to ensure that no foreign power invades another state. Weaker powers will side with those that are stronger than them to ensure protection (The Portable Machiavelli, Page 80-88) This idea is encompassed in Law 14 of 48 Laws of Power, stating Pose as a friend, work as a spy.…

Through their powerful renderings of war and politics, Niccolò Machiavelli's iconoclastic 1532 political treatise The Prince and Shakespeare's 1599 historical tragedy Julius Caesar mutually seek to explore the nature of human weakness. A manifestation of Machiavelli's radically realpolitik interpretation of Renaissance humanism, The Prince subverts the traditional Christian moral zeitgeist, redefining weakness in instrumental terms - that a leader's results are superior in importance to his…

square.” The scapegoat is an essential part being to a true Machiavellian leader, but it can be utilized poorly. The mark of a good ruler is the ability to know when and how to use their de Orco. In the Prince, Machiavelli retells the story of Cesare Borgia or Duke Valentino. The Duke is a man that controls his own fate and makes plans to counteract Fortuna. As Machiavelli says…