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Examples Of Leadership In Julius Caesar

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The contextual ideals of an era influence a composer’s depiction of an ideal leader through their characterisation. Niccolo Machiavelli’s political treatise The Prince (1513) explores the requirements of a successful leader. Through the exploration of a leader’s violent nature toward the populace and the importance in the manipulation the citizens and public thought, Machiavelli reveals the requirements of a good leader. These ideals expressed by Machiavelli are evident in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar (1599). Although contextual differences are apparent, the differing texts reflect similar ideas in relation to the attributes of a good leader. Through the composer’s depiction of leadership, Machiavelli and Shakespeare reveal the …show more content…

“Antony is but a limb of Caesar” The simile of Antony being a limb of Caesar reveals Brutus’ blindness to the importance of Antony. Brutus’ avoidance of violence and cruelty leads to his eventual downfall. Through this representation, Shakespeare reflects Machiavelli’s view that a good leader is one who is willing to use violence to achieve their goal. “If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.” Machiavelli’s use of imperatives conveys a sense that violence is a necessity for a leader to be successful. It reveals that to be successful, one must be feared. Machiavelli’s belief was that violence was the most effective method in creating this fear. The ideal leader, in Machiavelli’s opinion, was the son of Pope Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia. “Cesare Borgia was thought to be cruel, yet his cruelty restored order to Romagna.” Through Machiavelli’s representation of his ideal leader, Cesare Borgia, he expresses the importance of cruelty in establishing and holding power. As Machiavelli developed his principles from Borgia’s leadership, he communicates that for a leader to be successful and feared, he must be cruel. Accordingly, Shakespeare’s representation of Julius Caesar reveals him as a successful warrior and leader of Rome. Caesar’s military success depicts him as a violent and cruel leader, the ideal leader by Machiavellian principle. “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Antony’s juxtaposing ideas of good and evil conveys that Caesar will be remembered for his violent nature rather than the good that he achieved. Caesar’s violence with his army reflects Machiavelli’s beliefs on the requirements of a good leader. Through this, it is evident that Shakespeare drew on Machiavellian principles surrounding the violence of a leader to present his view of an ideal

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In Niccolo Machiavelli's book, The Prince (1513), he evaluates on how a prince can be a successful leader. Machiavelli’s purpose of this guidebook was to construct his argument to the rising ruler Giuliano de Medici for when he comes to power in Florence. He adopts a casual but authoritative tone in order to convince the prince that Machiavelli’s evaluation on how to be the best prince, is the right thing for the prince to do without coming off as he knows more than the prince or is trying to intimidate him.. Machiavelli’s reference to previous rulers and whether their tactics failed or succeeded helps to benefit his credibility along with his allusion to historic text. He appeals to our logic by simply stating a prince can only do what is within his power to control, and his use of an analogy furthers his argument.

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A person’s ability to thrive is determined by their ability to broaden the perspective and potential of others for the better. While serving for the Florentine Republic under Pier Soderini, Machiavelli’s dedication and input on matters were greatly valued. He was awarded the honor as Soderini’s most trusted assistant through his precise judgment, detailed explanations, and endless love for Italy (Donno 1). Machiavelli always searched beyond limits and preconceived notions set in society; the wisdom, honesty and accuracy of his statements were what made them so widely accepted, as an advisor’s “words will be the more welcome the more freely they are spoken” (Machiavelli 88). Nothing constrained his thought process, thus making his perspective vital to his superiors as he examined matters for what they truly were.

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Shakespeare shows Antony’s decline of power perhaps nowhere better than when he depicts Antony as man who involves himself in wild, directed violence. This kind of behaviour suggest incompetence rather than strength. When Antony sees the servant Thidias kiss the hand of Cleopatra, he orders for him to be

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Consequently, Machiavelli gathered, the ruler needs to get a decent notoriety while really doing whatever wrong appears vital in the circumstances. Along these lines, rulers must appear to be liberal while using their cash shrewdly, seem, by all accounts, to be empathetic while managing their armed forces cold-bloodedly, and act with incredible clever while developing a notoriety for integrity. Despite the fact that it is alluring to be both adored and dreaded by one's subjects, it is hard to accomplish both, and of the two, Machiavelli pronounced, it is far more secure for the ruler to be

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Module A: Comparative study of texts and context Shakespeare’s “Julius Ceaser” explores the concept of absolute authority and how manipulation can cause chaos whereas the Prince by Machiavelli asserts that without absolute authority there is chaos. Understanding of authority has been enhanced by the comparative study of ‘The Prince’ by Niccolo Machiavelli and Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Ceaser’ in the aspect that they are both bold statements to their respective political situation. Understanding of these texts is further enhanced by watching the Charlton Heston rendition of Mark Antony’s speech to the people. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote the prince to serve as a political treatus for an effective leader who is void of morals to achieve his goals, Julius Ceaser is a political play that serves as a statement as

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Machiavelli's book XV teaches us how a ruler should conduct himself with his subjects and friends. In the mind of this author, he devised to create a more realistic leader than idealist when he pointed out that. "For Many authors have constructed imaginary republics and principalities that have never existed in practice and never could; for the gap between how people actually behave and how they ought to behave is so great that anyone who ignores everyday reality in order to live up an ideal will soon discover he has been taught how to destroy himself, not how to preserve himself. ”(Morgan P.508). Machiavelli recommends to the ruler how to stay in power, and to achieve this goal must develop virtues of nobility and evil if necessary, and should

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Machiavelli was not looking for princes to become cruel, militant tyrants, but rather wanted effectiveness to unite a kingdom and to unite the people. Through Francesco Sforza, Cesare Borgia, and even Pope Julius II, the author is stating the unspoken truth, supporting it with the figures he derived inspiration, those who used underhanded methods when needed to hold reigns on their power, that "for a man who strives after goodness in all his acts is sure to come to ruin, since there are so many men who are not good. Hence it is necessary that a prince who is interested in his survival learn to be other than good, making use of his capacity or refraining from it according to need" (Machiavelli

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Both composers reflect on the idea that the easiest way to gain support, is through the manipulation of the populace. Machiavelli states that successful leadership is attributed to being able to manipulate people’s perspective and appear desirable to them, as the Renaissance Italy’s Humanist movement led to people supporting those who benefitted them. “if the people turn hostile (…) they will desert him” through high modality and syntax, Machiavelli is able to claim the detrimental impact of not acquiring public support on power. He gives the example of the Spartan King (Nabis), another successful leader observed by Machiavelli, who was “besieged by forces from all over Greece (…) all he had to do was take precautions to deal with a few internal enemies but if he’d had the people against him, this wouldn’t have been enough.” And addresses the ease in maintaining power when the public had his

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Consequently, both Machiavelli and Shakespeare voice a leader must commit immoral behaviour to gain power in spite of sacrificing their honour and

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Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer of the Renaissance period, has believed that you should rule through fear rather than love. Machiavelli said “One ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting.” He wants people to be able and willing to lie, cheat, and kill when it is needed. ”However, Machiavelli did not believe in ruthlessness. He recognized the acts of cruelty need to be clearly justified.”

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He was not for the minimization of violence. He knew the inevitability of war and violence and it was vital for a growing, conquering republic. The Roman Republic had a fierce reputation and did not always have to use force. Once again, however, Machiavelli’s vision was for the collective good. There will always be a body count for the

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Machiavelli believed that men will follow a ruler as long as the ruler serves their interests, and a quick to turn against the ruler unless they fear great punishment. Machiavelli would say that it is best to be feared rather than loved as long as the fear does not cause hate, which he believed to be perfectly possible.

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In his work, Machiavelli asked the now famous question of "whether it be 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" (Machiavelli 409). He proposed in his writing that if all men were good, there would be no need for these tactics, but since this is not the case, violence and fear is a necessary evil. This comes back to the main synopsis of Machiavelli 's work that is the ends justify the means. A ruler may want to be favorable among his subjects and be considered a good ruler, but at maintaining power and peace in the kingdom is top priority.

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This is a work that still influences us today and is still relevant in today’s complex society. Some of the most prominent leaders of the 20th century have been influenced by Machiavellian ideas. U.S Presidents like Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton and U.K Prime Minister Anthony Blair are called Machiavellian leaders today. According to Machiavelli a prince must focus all his serious time and energy to war and how to wage it (Machiavelli, 31).

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Machiavelli, in his medieval philosophy and political thought from the prince, departs from the ‘approaches of others’, with the cynical doctrine ‘the ends justifies the means’, viewing power politics through successful princely behaviour, with scheming, shrewd, manipulative, and egotistical, private profit-cantered genre of leadership practices. This is contrasted with Salisbury’s moral and political philosophy in the ‘Policraticus’, which adopts the Ciceronian moderate perspective to offer an unselfish and egalitarian leadership system, with its marked proclivities for sociologically democratic, classless and common good philosophies. Machiavelli, in his Politics, claims that deceits and hypocrisy, are legitimate approaches in politics, hitherto he does not overlook ill-advised uses of them. Therefore, a prince should embrace good virtues and qualities such as “merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious” (Machiavelli, 1988); just appear to have them. Machiavelli emphasizes the importance of having the qualities of both the fox and the lion in order to rule as best as possible, “One needs, then, to be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten away wolves” (Machiavelli, 1988).

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