In the story, The Red Lotus of Charity written by Somadeva (11th century) , Devasmita, a female character who lives in a caste-based society of ancient India, is facing the conspiracy of the four sons of a local merchant, who want to seduce her during her husband’s absence for a business trip. Throughout the story, the concept of the virtuous is controversial: the story literally defines Devasmita as a wise and virtuous wife, who is able to stay faithful to her husband under any circumstance; meanwhile, Devasmita shows her violent and cruel when punishing those who want to seduce her. These traits of Devasmita: her cunning and ruthless, however, will be regarded as unethical traits instead of virtue in many cultures. Any theory of justification …show more content…
Devasmita embodies the fox role that Machiavelli emphasizes in The Prince: she is clever to protect herself from the conspiracy of the four brothers, who want to seduce her to betray her husband. A particular moment in the story shows that Devasmita emulates the traits of the fox. On page 965, when Devasmita penetrates the nun’s deception, which is to convince her to commit adultery, she did not take straight forward approach to refuse the nun. “This nun has some crooked scheme afoot!” thought Devasmita. Instead, in order to ruin the plan thoroughly, Devasmita shows her ability to deceive; she is cunningly pretended that she was convinced to follow the plan to find out the conspirator that hidden behind. Referring to Machiavelli 's claim of the importance of being a fox, one will realize that it is Devasmita cunning and clever rather than her virtues, namely, are royalty and faithfulness, should be credited for the primary factors that help her to protect herself from the conspiracy. The character embodies Machiavelli 's philosophy that as clever and cunning as a fox, one could protect herself from falling into the trap of
Martin Espada’s poem is a tragic view of what people living in poverty were subjected to. Several lines of this poem, paint a horrific picture of their lives. As the poem progresses the tone changes to what his hopes and dreams were for the future of these people. The author wrote this to help other people be aware of the tragedies that have and could happen again.
Through Machiavelli’s perspective, the lion cannot protect herself from traps, and the fox cannot defend herself from wolves. Wherefore, Devasmita would likely be either falls into the deception, or receive revenge upon her family if she shows only to be cruel and cunning. By reading the Red Lotus of Charity through the perspective of Machiavelli, one would better understand the concept of virtuous in the two literature, in which both emphasize that the greatest virtue of individual is the ability to evaluate the circumstances and correspondingly make the correct decision to manage
Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect.
The first book in Cinda Williams Chima’s Seven Realms series, The Demon King, takes place in a world teeming with its own social issues. One such topic that is prevalent in the book, is the conflict between the different political powers in the queendom. The main character, Raisa, also battles with the role she is expected to fill as the heir princess and what it means to be of the royal line. Readers can also see the familiar pattern where winners shape how history is perceived, often skewing what really occurred.
In Castiglione's realm, she matches the qualities of dignity and strong virtues. Hillary Clinton clearly shows qualities mentioned in both excerpts regarding her position as a leader and as a woman. First, Hillary Clinton as a leader possesses a great number of qualities mentioned by Machiavelli, one of which is represented in her handling of the Whitewater scandal. Machiavelli gives an example of how it is important to, "in order to keep his position, act contrary to the truth." Mrs. Clinton most likely lied about her involvement in the scandal in order to "keep her position" as a leader. Mrs. Clinton also fits true to what Machiavelli says about appearance: ".it is not actually necessary to have all the above-mentioned qualities, but it is very necessary to appear to have them"; the qualities being: merciful, trustworthy, humane, blameless, and religious.
Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is a novel about how people’s pursuit of their own interests, influenced by the cultural and social contexts in which they live, ultimately determines their behavior. Through utilizing subthemes of self-preservation, the maintenance of social status/the status quo, and power, she portrays Velutha as the only wholly moral character in the story, who, because of his goodness, becomes the target of frequent deception. Roy argues that human nature is such that human beings will do whatever they feel is necessary to serve their own self-interests.
...mmoral decisions. In contrast, Lucius rewards subservient women, such as the victimized Charite and his lover Phobis (before she oversteps her bounds as a servant and mistakenly turns him into an ass), with favorable descriptions and virtuous qualities. However, anomalous Byrrhena is a woman of power but Lucius does not condemn her with a weak nature and a corrupt character. Rather, he attributes her power as a motherly influence and describes her as caring for him. In this way, she is contrasted with the seemingly childless, old hag, the witch Meroe, and the evil stepmother, so vile that she is not bothered when she accidentally poisons her own son and even using the mistake to take her revenge. Therefore in both fantastical and societal realms, women in The Golden Ass are praised when they are subservient and faulted when they misuse power with corrupt motions.
Machiavelli discusses assertive and bold ideas in “The Prince,” revealing his radical and courageous nature. His treatise is deceptively self-soliciting, because he disguises his extreme notions behind a veil of feigned expertise. His frank approach makes him appear confident and deserving of the utmost respect; however, he cautiously humbles himself by pouring immense flattery for the ruling prince into his work and, in doing so, assures protection for himself and his notorious ideas.
Can you imagine a stranger coming to your house and telling you information about you and your husband and use this information to try to deceive you? In “The Red Lotus of Chastity” that is exactly what happened. A nun who is a crook uses deception and disguise to have an advantage on Devasmita. Devasmita is the main character and she married Guhasena. Guhasena had to go on a business trip and she became jealous. Devasmita was afraid that her husband would be unfaithful (Kathasaritsagara 1275). Both Devasmita and Guhasena decided to go to the temple and the god Siva gave them each a red lotus (1275). The lotus that each of them had represented their faithfulness to each other and as long as they stayed devoted to one another the lotus would never die. While Guhasena was away on his trip four merchants’ saw the red lotus in his hands and they became curious. Their curiosity got Guhasena drunk and that is where
The Prince, written by Machiavelli is concerned with the issues politics, ruling a state and how a ruler or a leader should be. The key properties of a ruler are represented by Machiavelli in details and the inner and outer effects of the success in ruling are mentioned. One of the most important topics in The Prince is about the relationship of skillfulness (virtù) of the ruler and his good or bad chance (fortune) and their effects on gaining and keeping the power. Virtù, which has the present meaning of manliness, is used by Machiavelli as having skills, strength, intelligence and prudence of a ruler. It is the inner ability to gain the power and not to lose it easily. Fortuna, with the present use, fortune is explained as the word of God and the luck and opportunity that is given to the ruler. A ruler by fortune is dependent
Additionally, The Prince states that secular forms of government are more realistic than pious ones because a pious government would be bound by morals. In the Prince, Machiavelli tries to convey that the end justifies the means, which means any thing goes. He claims that it would be ideal for a prince to possess all the qualities that are deemed good by other men, but states that no leader can accomplish that. He also states that the security of the state should be the prince’s first priority and it must be protected by any means necessary. Although, this can be true in certain cases, Machiavelli uses it as an excuse to use evil and cruel tactics.
The Dhammapada is a unique book that addresses about Buddha speaking upon how to free one’s self from suffering based on the eight fold paths. The book talks about how we live life and how to learn from our suffering to prosper without any suffering in the afterlife. There are many proverbs of wisdom, similes, metaphors, and analogies where one can learn from Buddha’s teachings to live a better life without enduring any more pain. What I have learned the most coming from the eight fold paths are the following; right speech and right concentration.
Lady Fortune, in Philosophy’s words, is a “monster” who “seduces with the friendship the very people she is striving to cheat, until she overwhelms them with unbearable grief at the suddenness of her desertion” (Boethius, 22). She is the representation of all good and evil which can happen to a human being, seemingly, without warning. Fortu...
The bond of love is one which men, the wretched creatures they are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; ?? fear is held together by a dread of punishment which will never abandon you?(649). Machiavelli suggests that the key to being a good ? prince,? is deception. ? It is necessary to know how to disguise this nature well and to be a great hypocrite and a liar: and men are so simple-minded and so controlled by their present necessities that one who deceives will always find another who will allow himself to be deceived?
The battle between what is right and wrong is a classic struggle that has existed from the beginning of time. The most honorable people face the crossroad of choosing either the angel’s path or the devil’s; one path leads to an honest yet difficult life while the other is an easy and selfish one. Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the reason of Man’s downfall. The male dominated world has created stereotypes to blame females for their defeats due to ignorance. Leo Tolstoy’s “The Devil” explores the dichotomy of the objectification of women as the angel and the devil.