Comparing Caesar And Machiavelli's The Prince

The main concern of Shakespeare's 1599 play, 'Julius Caesar', is the focus placed upon the complex moral question of what would drive a good man to commit an evil act. Conversely, Machiavelli's treatise, 'The Prince' deals with the end justifying the means and how power can be both achieved and preserved. The comparison of these two texts clearly emphasises their distinctions, rather than there similarities, in relation to personal morality.

'Julius Caesar' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, based on the titular character's death and the civil war following his demise. 'Julius Caesar' is written as an allegory as parallels are made with 16th century English political concerns. When Shakespeare wrote this play, Queen Elizabeth I refused

One of his goals in writing 'The Prince' was to win the favour of Lorenzo de' Medici, then-governor of Florence and the person to whom the book is dedicated. Machiavelli hoped to land an advisory position within the Florentine government. Working in the humanist tradition of the Italian Renaissance, he uses the persuasive form of essay drawing examples from history to solidify his advice. Machiavelli breaks with tradition by looking at actions which would be effective rather than what would be morally right. "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." This and his admiration of Cesare Borgia, a name associated with betrayal and murder, led to the Machiavellian character to be born. The character in 'Julius Caesar' who best represents this characterisation is Mark Antony, Caesar's right hand man. In Acts II and III, following Caesar's death, he manages to keep on the good side of Brutus up to the chaotic ending of the funeral orations. During the oration, Antony uses pathos to appeal to the emotions of the audience, dramatic irony when he states, "I come to praise Caesar not bury him," and the continued repetition of the word 'honourable' undermines what Brutus said earlier and successfully twists the audiences mind to turn on the conspirators. In the

He often used the word 'prowess' and 'fortune' to describe two distinct ways in which a prince can come to power. "Fortune is a female and if you want to stay on top of her you have to slap and thrust." This metaphor describes how if you want to be a successful prince you must always maintain and control the fortune afforded to you. Similarly, 'Julius Caesar' raises many questions about the force of fate in our life verses the capacity for free will. Cassius refuses to accept Caesar's rising power and deems a belief in fate to be a form of cowardice. He says to Brutus, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves." This phrase means that it is not fate, but weakness of the character that forces a person to act against his will. The play is full of omens and prophesies that come true, undermining the sense that characters shape the outcomes of their lives. An example of this is when a soothsayer warns Caesar to be, "beware the Ides of March," the eventually date of his death. Machiavelli talks about how foresight is an important attribute in any prince, something Caesar lacks in this instance. Machiavelli uses a metaphor with tuberculosis to emphasis this point. "In it's early stages it's easy to cure and hard to diagnose…. as time goes by its gets easy to diagnose and hard to