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Renaissance Literature

Renaissance Literature. Western Civilization January 16, 2013. Niccolo Machiavelli. Embodied Italian love of power Wrote earliest, and one of the most influential, books on political science and leadership The Prince. Machiavelli’s The Prince. Thesis: How to acquire and maintain power

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Renaissance Literature

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  1. Renaissance Literature Western Civilization January 16, 2013

  2. Niccolo Machiavelli • Embodied Italian love of power • Wrote earliest, and one of the most influential, books on political science and leadership • The Prince

  3. Machiavelli’s The Prince • Thesis: How to acquire and maintain power • Rejected medieval principle which stressed morality and leadership • Morals had little to do with politics • The ends justify the means • Judge actions by the outcomes; not the action itself

  4. Machiavelli’s The Prince Chapter 12: How Many Kinds of Soldiery There Are Chapter 14: That Which Concerns A Prince On The Subject Of War Chapter 15: Concerning Things For Which Men, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed Chapter 16: Concerning Liberality and Meanness Chapter 17: Concerning Cruelty and Clemency Chapter 19: That One Should Avoid Being Despised and Hated Chapter 20: Are Fortresses, And Many Other Things to Which Princes Often Resort, Advantageous or Hurtful? Chapter 21: How a Prince Should Conduct Himself As to Gain Renown Chapter 23: How Flatterers Should Be Avoided

  5. Machiavelli’s The Prince • That Which Concerns A Prince on the Subject of the Art of War • The Prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. • And, on the contrary, it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states. • For among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised, and this is one of those ignominies against which a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on.

  6. Machiavelli’s The Prince • Concerning Things for Which Men, Especially Princes, Are Blamed • Hence, it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity. Therefore, putting on one side imaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing those which are real, I say that all men when they are spoken of, and chiefly princes for being more highly placed, are remarkable for some of those qualities which bring them either blame or praise; … • it is necessary for him to be sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices which would lose him his state...

  7. Machiavelli’s The Prince • Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether it is Better to be Loved than Feared • Upon this a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. • Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women.

  8. Renaissance Fiction Used to comment on life, religion, and politics Often written as poetry or dramatic plays Vernacular – regional dialects Printing Press

  9. Geoffrey Chaucer • Popularized the use of vernacular • Used English Vernacular • Known for his Canterbury Tales • Collection of stories following 29 characters and their pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Thomas a Becket in Canterbury • Knight, Miller, Cook, Lawyer, Sailor, Monk, Merchant, Squire, Nun…

  10. Dante Alighieri • Religious poet & philosopher • Known for his Divine Comedy • Follows a soul’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven

  11. Dante’s Divine Comedy “Over the souls of those submerged beneath that mess, is an outlandish, vicious beast, his three throats barking, doglike: Cerberus. His eyes are bloodred; greasy, black, his beard; his belly bulges, and his hands are claws; his talons tear and flay and rend the shades.” • Inferno • The most popular chapter of the Divine Comedy • Journey through the 9 circles of hell • Guided by Roman poet Virgil • World of shadows, horrifying tortures, and unending lamentation

  12. Dante’s Divine Comedy • Purgatorio (Purgatory) • The mountain to heaven • Antepurgatory • Purgatory • Earthly Eden • “…and what I sing will be that second kingdom, in which the human soul is cleansed of sin, becoming worthy of ascent to Heaven.”

  13. Dante’s Divine Comedy • Paradiso (Heaven) • Voyage through the 9 spheres of paradise • Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Fixed Stars • Follows medieval astrology • The voyage culminates in a vision of God in the Empyrean, the realm of pure light.

  14. SHAKESPEARE And, the most famous one of all……

  15. William Shakespeare • Comedies: • The Merchant of Venice • A Midsummer Night’s Dreams • Much Ado About Nothing • Tragedies: • Macbeth • Hamlet • King Lear • Othello • The “Bard of Avon” • Prolific poet and dramatist • 38 plays • 154 sonnets • 2 long, narrative poems • 3 epitaphs

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