BIOL1008 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Italian Peninsula, Moral Relativism, Anthropocentrism
Document Summary
Machiavelli is only interested in the outcome of decisions, while. Shakespeare examines the effect of these decisions in the individual. Social stability is the supreme aim of the state regardless of its form. Both william shakespeare and niccolo machiavelli shared the. Renaissance yearning to seek the truth regarding human nature and how this functions in the real world, discovering that to maintain stability, a ruler must be deceptive, disregarding morality to surpass political challenges. As a civil servant who had lost his position in the. Florentine republic, machiavelli cements the vitality of unfiltered power, enabling a ruler to enforce their influence without considering the repercussions. Diverging from machiavelli"s treatise, shakespeare offers a more ambiguous approach in his historic tragedy, displaying the detrimental effect of moral relativism upon the individual. This uncertainty of the individual enmeshed in julius caesar mirrors the insecurity of queen elizabeth"s reign, which was arriving to an end without an heir apparent.
