Comparing The Prince and Measure for Measure Essay -- comparison compa

Parallels surrounded by The Prince and Measure for Measure The parallels between Machiavellis Prince and Shakespeares Measure for Measure are significant. The gigantic majority of characters in Measure for Measure - the Duke, Angelo, Claudio, Pompey and even Isabella - pageantry Machiavellian qualities. A comparison of key passages, both of The Prince and Measure for Measure, will certify this clearly. A study of kingship, arguably the entire premise for Measure for Measure, is right off introduced in the first scene, with the Dukes declaration Of government the properties to unfold/ Would seem in me taffect speech and discourse. It is not until the third scene of act one, however, that this political news becomes specific and, ultimately, linked to the Machiavellian notion of statecraft. In this scene, which details the supervene upon between Vincentio and the Friar, we learn the reasons for the formers deputising of Angelo. Both of the Dukes significant dialogues - I.iii .20-33 and I.iii.36-55 - reveal that, for the last fourteeen years, the stern statutes and nigh biting laws (I.iii.20) punishing pre-marital intercourse have slipped into disuse. Although this scene is by no means extensive, it furnishes the reader with much food for thought. Vincentios Machiavellianism, as clear in the above scene, is centred upon three main elements - his previous laxity, his present drive to deflect responsibility and his use of Angelo as an instrument in effecting the enforcement of this most biting law. Upon closer inspection, both of Measure for Measure and The Prince, we discern that the look out on apparent in the Dukes initial non-enforcement of the law may not real be neglect at all, but rathe... ...ouples) is profoundly Machiavellian. Not just does Vincentio conceal his knowledge of Claudios safety from Isabella, he uses it in an impressive display of stagecraft, specifically designed to evoke a sort of mystical astonishment in all onlookers (i ncluding Isabella, who he later asks to marry him). The Duke has clearly deepen his reputation by the spectacular deeds Machiavelli writes of in his Prince, finding a delegacy for punishing or rewarding... that is sure to be much talked about. BIBLIOGRAPHY Shakespeare, William Measure for Measure, ed. Brian Gibbons, Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1991. Machiavelli, Niccol The Prince in Machiavelli The Chief Works and Others, vol. 1, trans. Allan Gilbert, Durham and London Duke University Press, 1989 Machiavelli, Niccol The Prince, trans. George Bull, London Penguin, 1995.