Machiavellianism: Evil, or Tough Love?

One of my personal favorite political philosophers, and one who until recently had effectively been exiled from the field of political theory because he was perceived to be the embodiment of evil and a man who encouraged atrocities, is Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli lived in Renaissance Florence, serving essentially as a Secretary of State for the Florentine Republic and basically the Chief of Staff for the ruler of the city until the prior rulers, the Medici, returned to reclaim their power and exiled Machiavelli for serving the Republic. Machiavelli lived the remainder of his life on a small farm in Florentine territory, where he developed and compiled his theories based on his own experiences with Renaissance Italian politics (which were essentially Game of Thrones without the dragons). In his book The Prince, Machiavelli provides advice to a fictional ruler about how to maintain state power and stability. 

Thus, the political school of realism developed, a school which was built on the principle of "the ends justifying the means" even if those means involve murder, oppression, manipulation, and other hobbies of sociopaths. Machiavelli also focused heavily on the manipulation of public opinion, and argued that a ruler must be feared and respected by his subjects in order to make any progress. The main tenet of this philosophy stated that a ruler should not do anything unless it provided some benefit to the state. 

So yes, on the surface, it isn't that difficult to see why people viewed this philosophy as evil, since it did say it was okay to kill, torture, and enslave people. Yet what many fail to realize is that Machiavelli and other realists aren't advocating evil; they advocate pragmatism, and the advancement of state interests above individual ideology or global interests. They recognized the need to abandon failing policies in favor of something else; examining realist politicians reveals this to be true. Otto von Bismark, a prime example of a more modern realist, unified Germany after manipulating the French in to starting a war and invading German territory. Yet he also recognized the need to provide basic civil liberties, civil rights, and similar protections to all citizens to encourage loyalty to the state and prevent disorder, chaos, and anarchy (another French Revolution). Machiavelli's beliefs can be understood better when looked at alongside the political landscape of Italy at that time; constant warfare, discontent amongst the lower classes, and frequent power struggles between political rivals (which were more often than not deadly). Given this environment, it makes sense why he would support methods that would increase stability in the region; nobody benefits from instability.

So why do I like Machiavelli and realism? It stems from my appreciation of their resolve to advance society's long-term interests at the expense of short-term gains that can result in instability: it is better to conserve your ice cream so you have some for tomorrow than make a  huge sundae today, have no ice cream for tomorrow and be executed by your friends when they realize they have no ice cream. (Best analogy ever: ice cream explains realist politics!) My admiration for realism also comes from its advocation of pragmatism. Personally, I believe modern society has become blinded by ideals, resulting in an inability to compromise, and thus an inability to resolve the problems that will inevitably arise from circumscribing to one set of ideals (no matter what it is, extremism and refusing to compromise are not good). While I recognize that many of the means Machiavelli advocated are, thankfully, no  longer necessary to preserve order, I still respect his end goal; a peaceful, stable society where all are able to live prosperous, comfortable, and free lives. (Yes, he did actually believe in republican government, though only when he felt society was educated enough to effectively maintain it [where have we hear that before?(Jefferson)]).

As actors become more acquainted and trusting of each other, one of the questions they will inevitably ask of each other is "what is your dream role?", "who do you most want to play?". At first glance, the question may seem innocuous, yet it is actually an incredibly deep an personal inquiry if one stops to think about it. If they are anything like me, they gravitate more to the characters they can relate to, but allow them to explore a different side of themselves; basically, a different version of themselves, one in which many traits are shared yet manifest themselves differently. Ultimately, this can either make an actor feel more comfortable with himself or it can inspire an actor to change something about himself.

Given the fact that I brought up the question, it seems only fitting, and should come as no surprise, that I will answer it. I most want to play Antonio Salieri from Peter Schaffer's Amadeus. (This is excluding musicals, as they tend to distort things because the quality of the music and the character's songs can affect the decision). For those unfamiliar with the play, it follows the fabled rivalry between classical composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri from Salieri's perspective. Salieri serves as the official court composer for the Austrian emperor, and promises God he will devote his life to Him if He makes him a great composer so he may use his talent to praise and worship God. Salieri is a highly respected figure in Viennese society, gives frequently to charity, tutors many pupils in music for free, and remains faithful to his wife (an impressive achievement for upper class men at this time). When he is introduced to Mozart, and finds him to be unfaithful, classless, and immature yet infinitely more talented than himself without any effort, Salieri snaps and eventually renounces his promise to God, vowing to destroy Mozart to spite God for giving him the desire to be a composer and the knowledge to recognize talent and genius, and denying him from even a fraction of Mozart's ability. Salieri violates all his vows and ruins Mozart's career, leaving him penniless; Mozart eventually dies in poverty, while Salieri's works fall from popularity and the world leaves him to die in obscurity. 

The natural follow-up question would be "why do you want to play Salieri?". Other than the excellent writing and plot, I find Salieri to initially be a sympathetic character who becomes steadily unlikable as he descends further and further in to his bitterness and spite; yet the entire time, he is understandable, allowing the audience to relate to him. I recognize my own traits of ambition and desire for self-actualization, and share his distaste when anything comes in between me and the achievement of my goal. When it becomes apparent that I will fail to achieve a goal, I do get angry and upset, but eventually these emotions subside and I move on to something else; I will clarify that I have never had my lifelong ambition thwarted by a person I despise, and I can only imagine the fury and contempt such a slight would bring. Yet I do recognize the desire to strike back against those we deem responsible for our failure, and while Salieri took it to the ultimate extreme by declaring war against God, the base desire for revenge and restitution is natural in all humans; this particular character simply chose to act on it. In truth, while I do believe I can recognize my attraction to playing the character of Salieri as a form of living out a strike back against the universe for a slight, more than likely there are other factors at play: my love of history, my appreciation for classical music, and my love of playing the bad guy most likely also act as influences. I highly recommend Amadeus to any theatre-lovers, and hope that my fellow performers can learn more about themselves by examining their favorite roles as I have.

Blog overview

So today, despite my relative technological handicap, or rather technology's innate desire to refuse to function properly whenever I attempt to use it, to the complete puzzlement and amusement of observers, I managed to start a blog with no troubles at all. Very shocking. Regarding the content of this blog, I will attempt to adequately address my major interests in some way or another: history, politics, literature, theater, film, education, and my own writings. No, I will not incorporate pieces from my novel for any number of reasons, but any other form of self-contained writing I do will probably wind up here in some way or another (and by that, I mean things that people would actually find interesting and not think"why would anyone write about that" when deep down they probably know it was because someone said "you have to write about that because"). The end.