Machiavelli And His Effect On Politics

Machiavelli has been deemed by many, as a misogynist. In various texts of Machiavelli’s work, he speaks to the inferiority of women. Many believe that Machiavelli’s texts can simply be explained as a product of his time, which displays the way women were seen. However, others believe that Machiavelli’s views on gender as a whole were blank out sexist and very clearly against our modern views. His views on gender were quite stereotypical and biased, often referring to women as weak and incapable of functioning without men. This profound view of women has created a long history of sexism in politics. Many women in the 21st century continue to struggle in the political realm with being equally represented. In this essay I will be comparing two of Machiavelli’s works, ‘The Prince’ and ‘The Devil Takes a Wife’. Through these texts, I will be able to analyze Machiavelli’s view of women and uncover how sexism came to be in politics.

The prince was written by Nicolo Machiavelli and was addressed to Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino. Machiavelli wrote this text in the hopes of helping Lorenzo de’ Medici achieve greatness as a leader. The prince is a text which shares Machiavelli’s life experiences and provides key advice to achieve the title of a perfect prince. Although many passages in the prince can be seen as helpful, true and relatable many are seen as misogynistic. One passage in The Prince that is infamously known as a sexist passage can be found in chapter twenty-five. The passage reads “ Fortune is a woman. If you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and I’ll use her.” (The Prince, 70). Machiavelli states that fortune is a woman and that to win a fortune, you must beat and abuse her. This concept stems from the idea of men doing whatever is necessary to gain control and power. To fully understand why Machiavelli wrote this it is important to first understand the role of women in the renaissance. To begin with women in the renaissance of the upper class were not expected or even allowed to work outside of the home; even breastfeeding was considered a job for a lower-class woman. One woman that was mentioned in the prince of the upper class is Bianca Maria Visconti. Machiavelli discusses how Bianca was the daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan and how Francesco Sforza came to power by marrying her. Knowing the way women were treated in this era we could easily assume that Bianca was not allowed to take part in any discussion or duties regarding Milan. Filippo Maria Visconti did not have any sons to take over power, and because women were not allowed to be in a position of power it was only fitting that Bianca found a husband who would serve as the duke of Milan in her father’s place. However, when we consider women in the renaissance of lower-class we come to the understanding that they were seen as property to men. Their role in the home was to take care of their husbands and ensure that they have everything needed. By comparing this perspective on women with today’s perspective on women, we can see how drastically things have changed. With the women’s suffrage movement and different feminist movements throughout history, women have earned a certain amount of respect and equality in society. However, in the realm of politics, women are still underrepresented. Andrew Filala is an author and lecturer who wrote an article back in 2017. The article discusses how Machiavelli’s misogynistic views in The Prince, has a direct correlation to President Donald Trump’s current way of being a “leader”. Men in politics who act as a ‘Prince’ and follow Machiavelli’s way of leading are known as Machiavellian men. “He makes groping and glory-seeking a way of life. He models depravity and makes it appear to be good. The tragic fact of political life is that so many Machiavellians have so much power”. In this passage Filala talks about how President Donald Trump, gets away with the horrendous acts of groping and assaulting women with no consequences, as he is seen as a leader. He states that this is the reality of men in politics, Machiavellians have so much power that they can abuse and misuse it.

Niccolo Machiavelli also wrote a short story called ‘The Devil Takes a Wife’. This story originated from medieval Slavic folklore. In Machiavelli’s account, Pluto notes that crowds of male souls arrive in Hell blaming their wives for their misery. The princes of Hell intrigued by this decide to send Belfagor, known as the archdevil to earth to find out why all men claim women caused them eternal punishment. Belfagor takes a human form known as Rodrigeo of Castilo, and arrives in Florence with a hundred thousand “ducats”. Belfagor marries a woman named Onesta Donati and immediately falls in love with her. However, Onesta’s greedy and wasteful spending of his money leaves him poor and in debt. He ends up escaping imprisonment and returns to Hell, declaring marriage to be evil and wrong.

In this textual writing of Niccolo Machiavelli, we can see the way in which he views women. Machiavelli has strong negative views on women and believes that they are so terrible that they will put men in a state of eternal punishment. He believes that all they do is sit at home and use their husband’s money on unnecessary things overall sending their husbands into debt and misery. Michelle Tolman Clarke wrote an article titled “On the Woman Question In Machiavelli”. In this article, Clarke shares an interesting viewpoint surrounding Machiavelli’s views on women. She says that through Machiavelli’s texts we begin to a theme emerge, it seems as though successful lovers make poor princes. This means that to be a successful prince, one must not be blinded by a woman and a true prince must not fall in love. This idea is also seen in The Prince when Machiavelli talks about fortune and how to maintain it you must treat it as a woman and abuse it. Machiavelli is not a fan of love, in fact, it seems as though he does not believe in it at all. Niccolo Machiavelli condemns the ideas of male dominance and misogyny and makes it very clear through ‘The Prince’ and ‘The Devil Takes a Wife’. Machiavelli has had a huge impact on politics as a whole, his literary works have been used and modeled by many of today’s leaders. However, his views on women have also had a huge impact on today’s politics as in the political realm there is still the issue of sexism. The fact of the matter is, with philosophers like Machiavelli, having such strong views on women and being a role model to many men in politics, sexism and misogyny will always be prevalent.

Niccolo Machiavelli has had a profound effect on politics. Many of his ideas have been used by leaders in the past and many leaders today still use his views on politics. Machiavellian men have a deranged idea of how to gain control and maintain power in politics. They see women as inferior to them and because of this, women remain underrepresented in the political realm. I believe that in order to change this it is important to educate young men on the empowerment of women and teach them to be better men than the Machiavellians in today’s society.