The Comedies of Machiavelli

by Niccolò Machiavelli, David Sices (Translator), James B. Atkinson (Translator)

English (translation)Original Italian

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama

416 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 1985

About the author

The Prince , book of Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian political theorist, in
1513 describes an indifferent ruler to moral considerations with determination to achieve and to maintain power.

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, a philosopher, musician, and poet, wrote plays. He figured centrally in component of the Renaissance, and people most widely know his realist treatises on the one hand and republicanism of Discourses on Livy .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%...

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Updated Roman comedy. Tricksters expose selfishness and hypocrisy, restore harmony and order.

[Zee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fantastic! I was really surprised. Usually I' not a big fan of reading plays in general, and I was really hesitant about reading some Italian Renaissance plays, but I ended up laughing out loud from this book. It was a really quick read - I got through all 3 plays in a day - the writing is really clear and easy to understand, and I couldn't be any more pleased. This translation's fantastic. I picked this book up and assumed it was going to be like reading Shakespeare, but it wasn't at all. I'd definitely revisit this text.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, comedies! The Mandrake was hilarious; Clizio much less so. In particular, the satire and farce within The Mandrake pokes fun at ideas like 'the end justifies the means' and others often associated with Machiavelli.

[Grant Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ONLY read Mandragola: The Mandrake. It was for class.

This was by far the best thing that Machiavelli wrote. Actually really crazy play. The interpretation (taught to us by the professor, but originally from the professor's wife) of Lucrezia was mindblowing.