Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Harvey Mansfield has argued that despite the prominence of sex as a central plot device in Machiavelli’s Mandragola, it is not a play about eros. He is correct in this regard: insofar as love enters into the plot, it seems to do so only as a derivative of the baser passions. However, desire in Mandragola exercises a tremendous force, and it is not, end of the day, without reference to love. This paper argues, then, that although the Mandragola is not a play about eros in the classical sense, it is certainly a play that explores love and desire, and one that reveals something about the place of these in politics. It argues that although love in the Mandragola seems to be debased, it remains as powerful and politically relevant a force as forms of love that point to something higher. This baser love disarms those who are vulnerable to their desires and so provides arms to those who possess the virtù to manipulate those desires. Insofar as it can be wielded as a weapon, then, love becomes a political tool, one that I will argue is, for Machiavelli, a potent accessory to virtù. The paper examines Machiavelli’s treatment of love and desire in the Mandragola within this context, and considers what insights this yields into the interplay of desire and virtue in his political teachings.