The Significance of Lucrezia in Machiavelli'sLa Mandragola

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6403271
AutoresSusan Behuniak-Long (autor correspondente)
Ano1989
Volume51
Fascículo2
Páginas264-280
Data de publicação1989-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Review of Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034670500048117
OpenAlexW2113290895
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas14

The “fall” of Lucrezia in Machiavelli's playLa Mandragolais a puzzlement. She is presented as an intelligent and virtuous wife who by play's end not only agrees to commit adultery but murder as well. Any attempt to interpret the play must address the significance of Lucrezia and her fall. It is argued here, however, that the real deception is that Lucrezia does not undergo a conversion—she is of questionable character from the start. Upon examination, her similarity with the Goddess Fortuna reveals a deeper tale being told within the play. Machiavelh uses her to mock the Church, and St. Augustine in particular, and to deliver a frightening message that the free will is no match for the goddess

Adultery · Art · Character (mathematics · Commit · Deception · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Similarity (geometry · Theology · Wife · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Philosophy · Psychology · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies · Social Psychology