Machiavelli's The Prince

[Stergios Botzakis]

The Prince (or Il Principe, if you prefer the original Italian) is a political treatise that was published in 1532 and has been creating controversy ever since. A translation of the text can be read for free online here.

Self-described as a realistic take on leadership, The Prince contains advice and suggestions for how to best govern people, acquire and maintain territory, and deal with enemies. It is known for an emphasis on guile, expediency, and deception. According to Machiavelli, the sole intent of any political action is to keep the power structure in place through any means necessary. The Prince was infamous and also well distributed, so many people have read it throughout history. It was declaimed for its godlessness, disregard for common decency, and its blind devotion to despotism. Its content and reputation lead to the author Machiavelli's name becoming an adjective meaning deceptive and dishonest.

More recently, some have posited that Machiavelli's treatise is so over-the-top that it was actually meant as a satire, but this is a minority opinion. A number of scholars, including Don MacDonald, have spoken out to debunk such modern revisionism.

This adaptation of the book was created by Shane Clester who is also Art Director for Round Table Comics. He captures the aphoristic tone of the book in his illustrations, providing some dark humor and levity to the political situations depicted. His love of drawing pantaloons and a wily little tow-headed prince also shine through.

Certainly the political situations contained within would be worthwhile points to bring up regarding politics and government in any era. Clester highlights areas that could generate good discussion within the text, and it would be interesting to compare his interpretations with those in the original. Going beyond uses in social studies, educator Katie Monnin gave the book an A+ and also provided some teaching tips for using it in ELA classes.

The Prince was published by Round Table Comics. A preview and a number of reviews are available here at Amazon.com.

 

More links at http://graphicnovelresources.blogspot.com

[Rachel]

I was so excited that The Prince was adapted as a graphic novel; I immediately bought the comic on Amazon when I saw your post. I started reading it today and I must say I am a bit disappointed. In the introduction the author states that Machiavelli has a bad reputation as being cruel and shrewd, and then contradicts this popular belief by saying that Machiavelli was just speaking the truth about great leadership. With this in mind, I am wondering why the author makes Machiavelli look so malicious in the beginning of the book? Furthermore, I am not sure this graphic novel does more than chunk the original text and add some pictures to go along with it--which does make the original Prince much easier to read, but for what demographic? If you are not going to change the vocabulary nor are you going to make pictures that help explain the text , than you are not writing for a younger audience. At the same time the pictures do not add much analysis to the text so then the book might not appeal to an older more critical audience. I am wondering if others have read this graphic novel and have ideas about which students to give this book to read? 

 

[Stergios Botzakis]

I agree with what you are saying about the adaptation. I think its meant for high school students in particular, sort of like a Cliff Notes to go along with the text. I thought it was ok as far as an adaptation goes, but it was a choppy read in general.

[Rachel]

When you frame it as Cliff Notes I can definitely see the value in the novel. Upon deeper reflection, chunking and images might go a long way to help students with the language.

Thanks for responding to my post!

 

[Gareth Hinds]

It's also worth noting that (the aforementioned) Don MacDonald is in the middle of his own graphic novel about Machiavelli's life, which he posts online as he goes along. http://donmacdonald.com/

[Stergios Botzakis]

Thanks for this information. I was unaware of the project, and it looks great!