Social Life in Medieval and Early Modern Italy
Nicolo Macchiavelli and The Prince
At the end of the 14th century, Italy was still politically organized by city-states. Emerging as one of the most influential writers of the Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli was a political analyst,
whose aim was to free italy from foreign rule, as well as to unite and strengthen the Italian city
states. Machiavelli believed Italy could not be united unless its leader was ruthless. In 1513, he wrote his best-known work, The Prince, in which he describes the ways that a prince may gain and
maintain his power. Machiavellie advises his rulers to be kind only of it suited their purposes. Otherwise, he warned, it is better to be feared than loved.
Machiavelli is considered one of the great early modern analyzers of political power. Born in Florence in 1469 and living until 1527, Niccolo Machiavelli experienced what we now consider the height of the Italian Renaissance-a period that produced some of Italy's greatest achievements in the arts and sciences, but that also produced horrible scandals and the establishment of foreign domination over the peninsula (Microsoft Encarta 99). He grew up during the reign of the Medici family, and he learned to read and write in Latin while he studied the classics. Humanistic ideals were popular in Florentine government, and although Machiavelli’s family was neither rich nor aristocratic, they were supporters of the city’s leading humanists. Machiavelli showed a keen interest in the world around him, and from this interest he demonstrated a remarkable ability to learn. By the age of seven he had begun his formal education, and by age twelve he had graduated from primary school and was enrolled in private classes. He was later accepted into the University of Florence where he studied humanities, literature, and sciences.
In 1498, the year that Florence became a republic, Machiavelli was awarded a position in the government as a clerk. He rose quickly through governmental ranks and soon he became head of the ...
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...ositions on how a prince should rule and what qualities he should possess are relative to his particular view of human nature. Machiavelli believed that naturally man is greedy and concerned only with himself, therefore I agree with Machiavelli’s view that it is better for a prince to be feared than loved because I agree that people will be less likely to go against the ruler when they are fearful of the consequences. Machiavelli was perhaps 350 years ahead of his time with his vision of a united Italy and his unique thoughts have changed the face of political science forever.
Works Cited
•Machiavelli, Niccolo, Ed. Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. The Prince, The University of Chicago Press.,1985.
•“Machiavelli, Niccolo,” Encyclopedia Britannica CD 98 ©1994-1998 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
•“Machiavelli, Niccolo,” Microsoft Encarta 99 Encyclopedia ©1993-1998 Microsoft Corp.
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses the suicide of Blanche's husband to illuminate Blanche's insecurities and immoral behavior. When something terrible happens to someone, it often reveals who he or she truly is. Blanche falls victim to this behavior, and she fails to face her demons. This displays how the play links a character’s illogical choices and their inner struggles.
Niccolò Machiavelli was known during much his life as a part of the republican government in Florence until 1512. At that time, the Medici family took over the city and ruled under a more monarchical system. From that point until his death in 1527, Machiavelli was always just on the outside of Florentine politics. He would occasionally get work from the Medici but his tasks were never as important as they had been under the republican government of the past. As he was trying to find his way back into a major role in Florentine government, Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a manual of sorts that explained how a monarch should rule his state and why. While Machiavelli had been a strong proponent of republican ideals in the past, in The Prince, his ideas are far from adhering to republicanism. The book seems to promote the ideal monarch as a cold, heartless person whose only goal in life should be to retain power, regardless of who or what he destroys. This includes killing enemies of the state, personal enemies of the Prince, and even, in some cases, friends or family. While The Prince was not the first book of this kind, it was the first to suggest a government that rules with no regard for religion or morality. Machiavelli did not particularly pay heed to religious law in the way he lived his life, but he also did not particularly care for the Catholic Church of the time because of the lack of morality demonstrated by the Pope's and other supposedly "religious men's" actions at the time. There are other works that Machiavelli wrote both before and after The Prince that survive today, as well as letters he wrote to his friends that demonstrate a different set of ideals than th...
...s country. He believed an organized Italy could recapture past glory. When the Medici returned however, he was exiled and it was during this time that he wrote The Prince. His motivation was two-fold: to offer what he believed to be the best advice for Italy, and to impress the Medici, in hopes that he could again be involved in the government. Sadly the latter never happed and Italy would remain fragmented until the 19th century.
After Victor Frankenstein had accomplished his task of reconstructing another human being, he stared at his Creature in horror and immediate regret. He rejected the Creature, and
Niccolo Machiavelli lived in Florence, Italy in the 1400’s. The country of Italy was divided into city-states that had their own leaders, but all pledged alliance to their king. In time in which great leaders were needed in order to help the development of a city-state and country, Machiavelli had a theory that man needed a leader to control them. In his book The Prince, he speaks of the perfect leader.
At night Christine is singing to Raoul, and makes him sad because he can tell she isn’t herself. Carlotta is singing when she suddenly can’t. Moncharmin and Firmin sitting in box five feel as if there is some else there. Carlotta keeps croaking the chandelier crashes to the ground killing a woman. Christine is suddenly gone after the night of the crashing of the chandelier. She is not found for two weeks; until Raoul finds out she was taken by her “Angel of Music”. He sees her riding in a carriage with a ghostly looking male appearance. The opera holds an annual masquerade ball. Christine comes with a man who is in a Red Death costume. Christine and Raoul get out together but only getting into their first fight. He has a confrontation with Red Death, which is presumed to be the Phantom. Christine comes back from the Angel of Music, but won’t answer any of the questions that Raoul ask. He notices on her left ring finger she has a simple gold ring. He wishes th...
Machiavelli’s views were drastically different from other humanists at his time. He strongly promoted a secular society and felt morality was not necessary but stood in the way of a successfully governed state. He stated that people generally tended to work for their own best interests and gave little thought to the well being of the state. He distrusted citizens saying, “In time of adversity, when a state is in need of its citizens, there are few to be found.” In his writings in The Prince, he constantly questioned the citizens’ loyalty and warned for the leaders to be wary in trusting citizens. His radical and distrusting thoughts on human nature were derived out of concern for Italy’s then unstable government. Machiavelli also had a s...
Machiavelli believes that a government should be very structured, controlled, and powerful. He makes it known that the only priorities of a prince are war, the institutions, and discipline. His writings describes how it is more important for a prince to be practical than moral. This is shown where he writes, "in order to maintain the state he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity, and against religion" (47). In addition, Machiavelli argues that a prince may have to be cunning and deceitful in order to maintain political power. He takes the stance that it is better for the prince to be feared than loved. His view of how a government should run and his unethical conduct are both early signs of dictatorship.
In the story, “Oedipus the King” before Oedipus became king of Thebes, he made choices that led to events that defined his fate. The first event emerged when Oedipus heard a drunken man saying that the ones who cared for Oedipus at Corinth were not his biological parents. The terrible news is what set forth the very first steps towards the beginning of the events that led to his fate. Oedipus confused and interested in the truth, went on to speak with God. However, the God did not answer what Oedipus questioned and instead had his fate foretold. “The god dismissed my question without reply; he spoke of other things. Some were clear, full of wretchedness, dreadful, unbearable: As, that I should lie with my own mother, breed children from all men would turn their eyes; and that I should be my father’s murderer,” (Gioia, 2010). Oedipus still unfamiliar, of who his parents were, chose to flee from home in attempt to prevent the God’s statement of his fate from coming true. Oedipus’ choice of fleeing the country was perhaps a bad decision. It was what led him to experience the first event of his fate. As Oedipus goes his...
He could have also declined to marry the former king 's wife, unaware that the queen was his own mother. He accepted both of these without any regrets. If his decision was different it might have altered the course of events in the future. His personality made sure that the decisions went the way they did. These choices were made by Oedipus with his own free will, his own decisions. He didn 't have to accept these gifts, but did none the less. These conclusions would lead to his own demise, but they were his own mistakes, not
If Oedipus's adoptive parents would not have noticed him, then he would not have escaped from home to go to his birthplace. If Oedipus did not run away from home, he would not have killed his father on the way to Thebes. Subsequently causing Oedipus to marry and have kids with his mother. After all, they showed free will but ruined their lives forever. They decided how everything was going to end, they decided who kill, marry, and how many kids to have.
His desire for knowledge along with continuously trying to find answers about himself, is something the Gods did to make him that way. I think that no matter what Oedipus chose as his path it could not be averted. He can not escape the fate that was chosen by the Gods, no matter what would have happened through out the play he would still have ended killing his father and marrying his mother. When Oedipus reached the cross roads where he killed his father, it was fate that led him there, “short work, but god with one blow of the staff”. This demonstrates that he did not have free will in this choice because there was events that led him there where he would kill his father. Although he was using his own decision making he was not able to change his fate. The way he handles things because oh who he has become is something that eventually makes his fate come
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Hall-25 Anniversary Celebration was filmed for the 25th anniversary for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s critically acclaimed Phantom of the Opera. The script was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The show is based off of the book Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. The show opens in Paris 1905 at an auction of old theater props from L’Opera Populaire. As they are auctioning off old props of the theater they come up to an old music box with a monkey on top of it. An elderly man buys it and the auctioneer soon moves on to what he calls “ chandelier in pieces” and coincides with the mysterious Phantom of the Opera. The cloth over the chandelier comes off and the it comes to life with light and we are transported back to 1881. The show follows Christine, a young vocalist with great beauty, and an Opera House Phantom who yearns to be closer and love her. The Phantom, who has a deformed face hides it from the world behind his mask try to lure Christine to his heart by teaching her the ways of music and vocals only for her to fall in love with her childhood friend Raoul. The Phantom, who has been alone for all this time, does
Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher from Florence, Italy. The period that Machiavelli lived in was the "rebirth" of art in Italy and rediscovery of ancient philosophy, literature and science. He wrote The Prince, in which he discusses the proper way of living as a prince. His ideas, which were not viewed as beneficial at the time, were incredibly cynical and took time for the rest of the population to really catch onto the ideas. Machiavelli’s view of human nature was that humans are born evil, and while they can show good traits, and the common man is not to be trusted. Unlike Confucius, Machiavelli believes that human nature cannot be changed, and unlike Plato, where Plato believes in humans as social beings. Each respected view
During the time 1469, a child by the name of Niccolo Di Bernardo Del Machiavelli was born. Some may know him as an Italian philosopher, humanist, or an evil minded fellow associated with the corruptness of totalitarian government. In Machiavelli’s home state of Florence, he introduces the modern political theory. Hoping to gain influence with the ruling Medici family, Niccolo wrote a pamphlet called The Prince (Prezzolini). Niccolo lived a nondescript childhood and his main political experience in his youth was watching Savonarola from afar.