Lucrezia Borgia

Machiavelli’s La Mandragola is a satire which focuses on major flaws in the world: the corruption and immorality of the Catholic Church. La Mandragola describes a great, wise, and virtuous woman, Lucrezia, who is turned sour and spoils. Lucrezia is manipulated by men to adhere to their wants and needs and, in the end, she becomes what every husband fears—unfaithful. This is very comparable to the behavior of the Catholic church during the same period; thus, Machiavelli thought to draw a parallel

Louis XII of France, Pope Julius II, and Cesare Borgia, and visited the Spanish courts. In 1512, the Medici family (not supportive of Machiavelli) took back power and dissolved the new Italian republic forged by the Borgia family. The family then accused Machiavelli of conspiracy, and he was imprisoned, tortured, and sent to exile south of Florence. This is where and when Machiavelli wrote his famous work, The Prince, loosely based off Cesare Borgia and his fairly successful acquisition of much of

Cesare Borgia was a famous politician and cardinal in Italy, but his rise to power is controversial because of the immorality that was necessary to get to that position. Cesare Borgia is mentioned many times in The Prince by Niccoló Machiavelli because of the discussion of whether it is appropriate to achieve goals by immoral means. Before passing judgment on Cesare Borgia it’s important to be aware of all the immoral actions he took over his lifetime. Cesare Borgia did many things that are considered

Lao-tzu vs. Machiavelli Government is the essential authority of a country or state, which is directly, affects society because it provides key securities. Two of history’s greatest thinkers Lao-tzu, authors of the Tao-te Ching, and Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince have similar but very contrasting ideas of government, and how people should be governed. Lao-tzu was born in the Chinese state of Ch’u. He spent most of his life working in the library of the Chou dynasty. Once he decided to

The Prince The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli provides an analysis on how to govern and maintain power in a principality. In the first five chapters, he defines the three ways a monarch can acquire his dominion: either he inherits it, whether he creates a new one, or annexes territories, and further discusses how to govern them. Machiavelli states that hereditary principalities are less problematic than the mixed ones since newly acquired dominion tend to be more rebellious. The ruler must therefore

Machiavelli’s View of Human Nature Simple versions of Machiavelli’s conception of human nature may readily be elicited from The Prince. It is easy to find textual support for claims that appear to presuppose or be equivalent to some version of psychological egoism. He says, for example, that “men in general … are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours,” but their “love is held by a chain of obligation

Shakespeare on Machiavelli:  The Prince in Richard III     According to many, Shakespeare intentionally portrays Richard III in ways that would have the world hail him as the ultimate Machiavel.  This build up only serves to further the dramatic irony when Richard falls from his throne.  The nature of Richard's character is key to discovering the commentary Shakespeare is delivering on the nature of tyrants.  By setting up Richard to be seen as the ultimate Machiavel, only to have him

Luke Pelagio Due 5/27/2011 Period 4 Machiavelli: Realism Over Idealism Nicolo Machiavelli is known as being an archetypical realist; in other words, he was someone who originated the idea that we should not try to figure out how people should be, but rather accept and deal with the world as it literally is. Unlike Machiavelli, Plato posited an idealist view of a philosopher king reigning through virtue. To Machiavelli, this is an extremely dangerous delusion for it ignores what he considers

The Prince vs. Henry V A comparison of attributes After reading Machiavelli’s The Prince and watching Shakespeare’s Henry V in class, one begins to notice similarities between the authors’ idea of what a “perfect king” should be. The patterns between the ideal ruler of Shakespeare and the ideal ruler of Machiavelli can be seen in numerous instances throughout this story. For the duration of this essay, I will compare the similarities in both pieces to give the reader a better understanding

The Prince      Governing countries and states properly has been a difficult task from the beginning of time. In every country there will be people to who are unhappy and will disagree with your rule, causing your system to fail. So, century after century, people have tried new ways to make their politics suffice everyone’s needs. However, the art of politics is a complicated and challenging issue that will always be needed to be dealt with. There have been many ways in