Machiavelli Hamlet Research Paper

Literary works that came out of Italy during the Renaissance influenced English writers of the Shakespearean era in how and what they wrote. Renaissance philosophy was a hallmark example of what influenced writers of that time period, often inspiring writers to break out of literary grooves set by the norms of yore and assert criticisms of authority, using satire or overly-dramatic tales as vehicles for said criticisms. In a similar fashion, various literary analysts have asserted that Shakespeare’s exposure to Machiavelli’s The Prince, a unique text and supposedly satirical political treatise written while Machiavelli was imprisoned, shaped the characterization and styling found in Hamlet. The gravity of Machiavelli's The Prince influenced Shakespeare, among other authors of the time, to assert his own criticism
of the British monarchy and preach the wisdom found in Machiavelli’s The Prince through Hamlet.
The origin of Machiavelli’s The Prince is due to a political scuffle he had with the emergence of a new ruling family in Italy. Due to the advent of the Medici family taking power (with one member taking the reigns of the Catholic Church as Pope Leo X) and their apparent distaste for Renaissance philosophers like Machiavelli (due to their penchant for extolling unconventional wisdom), the Medicis had Machiavelli imprisoned and later put under house arrest to forever curb his rhetoric. Under this harsh imprisonment, The Prince was born -- a political treatise set on advising new rulers on how to maintain power, according to Armstrong The Prince was written in prison to serve not only as a manual for new rulers to maintain power (it’s oft-explained intention), but as a satirical criticism of how the Medicis ruled. John Roe also states that Machiavelli directing rulers on how to handle political dissidents to maintain their power is a direct and bold response to
the cruel treatment he received as a supposed “dissident.” Machiavelli was known to have received less-than-hospitable living conditions while imprisoned under the Medicis -- he found the cruelty not inhumane but rather signifying a weak and insecure upper echelon in the Medici family, inspiring him to write The Prince as a marker for the faults he encountered under the Medicis and how they should be avoided or ameliorated upon. John Roe also asserts that though Machiavelli intended for The Prince to be slight satire on the Medicis, it also serves as a hallmark example of Renaissance political philosophy that has shaped how rulers have gone about securing power for the centuries succeeding the publishing of The Prince. Ergo, Machiavelli succeeded in figuratively hoisting a figurative middle finger to the Italian ruling class while also creating a manual for leaders to actually rely on while under imprisonment.
Like many other writers of his time, Shakespeare looked to Renaissance writings for inspiration or springboards for his ideas. Though political philosophy from the Renaissance was scant, the influence the small amount of works had was rather great, being exemplified by Shakespeare himself. According to Prior, Machiavelli heavily influenced political sentiments of Shakespeare’s area and time. Machiavelli drove Shakespeare to put his contempt for the Elizabethan reign into writing. Prior also asserts that the concepts Hamlet explores signifies a tie to The Prince: “Hamlet explores many various leadership-related topics which tend to overlap with Machiavelli's own The Prince. The overlap hints at a connection between Machiavelli and Hamlet.” This insinuates that Shakespeare must have had exposure to Machiavelli’s writings and they shaped the course Hamlet took in terms of the concepts explored, citing “familiarity of speeches” and relatability to everyday leadership problems man finds itself in. Evans also asserts that many authors during the Shakespearean era drew from Renaissance political philosophy much like The Prince -- the similarities of Hamlet’s abhorrence for Claudius to Machiavelli’s criticisms of the Medicis or Claudius exemplifying the Utilitarian demeanor Machiavelli tells leaders to adopt (in attempting to poison Hamlet) assert that. The characterization in Hamlet is a simple insinuation of Shakespeare coming into “contact” with Machiavellian literature (with the words and actions of Hamlet and Claudius pointing toward The Prince) due to the stark similarities in what Machiavelli preaches and what characters in Hamlet undertake and/or achieve. Literary analysts have also entertained the idea of Shakespeare using Machiavellian ideology to fuel the “man of action” persona Hamlet seems to carry -- Hardin asserts that Shakespeare found Machiavelli’s vigorous love for rationality and utilitarian ruling so enthralling that he based Hamlet’s “man of action” persona after someone who would embody Machiavelli’s words and characterize himself as a challenger to atrocious authority (the Medicis in Machiavelli’s case and Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare’s case). Machiavelli and The Prince served as a springboard for Shakespeare’s various characters and themes in Hamlet -- akin to other writers in his area and time period, Renaissance era philosophy fueled his writing and inspired him to assert social criticisms of his own. Shakespeare using Hamlet as a vehicle for his criticism of the reign of Elizabeth is largely owed to the inspiration Machiavelli’s own daring writing provided.
The characterization found in Hamlet mirrors points made in The Prince in some aspects, further fueling the idea that Machiavelli made a sizeable impact on Shakespeare (specifically Hamlet). The main points found in The Prince are exemplified by the demeanors of characters like Hamlet and Claudius. Haverkamp, for example, makes compelling arguments in how Hamlet’s actions mirror what The Prince hails as good work ethic for a leader. Haverkamp suggests that Hamlet utilizes the advice given in The Prince, showing how Hamlet is indirectly endorsing the words of Machiavelli. In contrast, Haverkamp also brings up the notion of Claudius exemplifying Machiavelli’s words on “how to rule” in action: ideas like manipulating Laertes to poison and effectively get rid of Hamlet embody the sort of Utilitarian approach Machiavelli was preaching in The Prince. Through this, Haverkamp suggests that Shakespeare took Machiavelli’s prominent stances and molded characters out of them or shaped characters around these points. All in all, the words of Machiavelli served to prop up characters in Hamlet in terms of how they acted and what they beseeched. Taylor also touches on the corruption of the Dutch being similar to that of the Italians of the sixteenth century in that the Italians became accustomed to backstabbing others and authoritarian attitudes after the advent of their power. Taylor offers a useful comparison of Dutch royal life to that of various other regimes, including the Medici family. Through this, Taylor suggests that Shakespeare used a mix of historical fact and Machiavelli’s own encounters with the corrupt Italian ruling elite to construct a backdrop for readers to experience the various facets of a powerful ruling elite. The Medicis sharing many aspects with the Dutch ruling elite in Hamlet exemplify the similar characterization other literary analysts spoke of, affirming how much of an influence Machiavelli was on Shakespeare in how he formed his story and its assertions.
Through his fascinatingly cruel and unusual circumstances, Machiavelli produced a treatise that served equally as a sufficient jab at the Medici family and their idiocies in ruling over Italy and an effective treatise instructing new rulers how to win over the support of the people and maintain power for the long term. In putting his contempt for the Medicis to writing, he inadvertently influenced not only leaders but other writers, most prominent of them being Shakespeare. Shakespeare took Machiavelli’s vast writings on the dynamics of ruling a large populace effectively and used his various points to mold characters, narratives themes. Machiavelli’s The Prince, a political treatise that also serves as a criticism of a ruling family, inspired Shakespeare in how he formed characters and rhetoric in Hamlet. Shakespeare is inspired by Machiavelli’s writings to make a similar subtle criticism of the ruling body he was dealing with in England.