Machiavelli's Influence On William Shakespeare

The English Renaissance began in England from the early sixteenth to the early seventeenth century. This era in English history is described as a cultural and artistic movement and sometimes referred to as "the age of Shakespeare" or "the Elizabethan era," taking the name after the English Renaissance's most famous author and monarch. William Shakespeare, however, was not the only influential writer during that time. In fact much of his work was influenced by famous philosophical thinkers at the time, including Thomas Moore and Niccolo Machiavelli. Their philosophies of a perfect society and a perfect leader are reflected not only in Shakespeare's writing, but in the writings of many others. The ideas of strength, power, and paradise were a
common theme in England at the time and also in a poem by Michael Drayton called Ode. To the Virginian Voyage! Niccolo Machiavelli's most famous piece of work, The Prince, was first written not as a book but as a letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence, composed as a guide on how to be a ruler. Machiavelli offered practical advice on a variety of matters, he believed that ultimately, in order for a ruler to become great and powerful, he or she had to follow certain steps such as be feared rather than love, know when to be strong or cunning, to hide your weaknesses and to avoid hatred. When talking about fortune and how to go about it, Machiavelli argued that while two men can work equally as hard to achieve their goal only one might, while in a different scenario, one man can work hard and the other one not over the same goal and they both achieve it.
Machiavelli, however, also acknowledges that " it is better to be heady" in other words headstrong, bold and impetuous, "than wary" and it is better to keep fortune in "obedience, to ruffle and force her." Therefore, fortune, according to Machiavelli is most likely to come " to young men because they are less respective, more rough, and command her with more boldness." (Page 105) In his poem, one of Michael Drayton's centered themes is bravery and the pursuance of a quest, much like Machiavelli's advice on fortune. The poem is surrounded by action verbs such as "pursue," " go," "bestow," and "subdue." The beginning of the poem starts off with "you brave heroic minds" addressing the men who are willing to go and explore the New World, while the rest "lurk here at home, with shame." (Line 5) The poem is praising those who are brave and bold enough to explore, because according to the poem they will gain honor at home jus as the young men Machiavelli described gain
fortune. In his book, Utopia, Thomas More used the problems he saw in his world to create a perfect society, which, unlike the society he lived in full of poverty, crime and political corruption, was full of harmony, equality and prosperity. This is almost the same kind of world our English explorers were set to discover in Drayton's poem. A world "where nature hath in store/ Fowl, venison, and fish." A land where there is the "fruitful'st soil" that doesn't require their "toil," and "three harvests more/All greater than you wish." (Lines 25-30) The sought land is described as a paradise, an Eden, a perfect world, a Utopia. In many ways Michael Drayton's Ode. To the Virginian Voyage! portrays some of the major themes of the English Renaissance. Some might say that Machiavelli was one of those men in the poem, taking a bold step and talking about his ideas, views, and the world they sought was the same world Thomas More sought in his quest to escape the harsh realities of poverty and corruption. The most important themes of both the poem and era, however, was to satisfy curiosity, thirst for something more, boldness and bravery of doing something that was never done before, whether it was a Virginian voyage, a political theory or an ideal world.