Machiavelli Vs Caesar

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?

By comparing literature, changing ideas, values and attitudes all which reflect the current context is evident, none the more than in the Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, a treatise for young princes on power, and Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a tragedy which actualises Machiavelli’s cynical ideologies. The prince was written during the Renaissance where there was a shift from scholasticism to humanism and political turmoil within Italy. Similarly, Julius Caesar was written with the imminent demise of

Consequently, Machiavelli’s agnostic principles that separate ethics, religion and effectiveness all ideas of a realpolitik system- would have been considered heresy. He argued in favour of virtu- looking like a good, moral being while being internally Machiavellian and argued against Fortuna- the belief that success follows goodness and honesty. These shifts reflect the movement of medieval philosophy of Scholasticism- the attempt to link new knowledge to Christian ideals to Renaissance philosophy especially humanism. This ideal is seen in the quote “it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved”. The enjambment within the quote extenuates the shift in the moral values of society from one of being a good Christian to a sort of Antichrist while the counselling tone provides assertion to his points. However Caesar is seen an antithesis to Machiavelli’s fanatical ideals and instead attempts to incorporate religion into his rule and power but not for the usual reasons. Roman Polytheism was a popular religion in Roman times and in particular a god of theirs would be the current leader of Rome, in this case Caesar himself. “Beware the ides of March… He is a dreamer let him pass” is a line which emphasises Caesar’s arrogant nature linking back to his insistence of personal superiority over others. This is again seen through the repetition of “Caesar”, where he says his name in third person, the use of Illeism which highlights his idiosyncratic behaviour that isn’t fit for a humanist. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars” is also ironic in the it highlights both Caesar’s gullible nature and Brutus’s virtue’s nature in which the phrase “dear Brutus” acts also as an extended metaphor for queen Elizabeth’s