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25 September 2005
HomeworkFilter: If you were to write, say, a 2-3 page (non-research) paper on anything having to do with Machiavelli's The Prince tonight, what would it be about?
I'm working on it right now ;(
and anyway, I'm not asking for anyone to write the damn thing, I'm just looking for an interesting topic to write about.
I managed to work the word existentialism into every paper I wrote my last two years of college, including one on Hieronymous Bosch, so I challenge you to match my record. Machiavelli was totally existential. Also, think birth of the indivdual; that's always good.
I'd write about the life or death struggle between Darlin' Nikki in the hotel pleasuring herself with a magazine and those who would seek to silence that kind of behavior with a titanium-plated fist of the bourgeoisie.
It would be about how a pretty boy marries a fox and becomes governor of a large eastern state. Then he tells a citizen how the state will pay well over market rates for the citizen's land by mentioning the word "Machiavelli." Thus ends the fairy tale. Later, the governor inexplicably resigns upon the unshocking revelation that he prefers boys. Who cares? Who understands?
I run on, and on, and on. My state is broken. Apologies.
edible... i meant no reflection on you; I don't know how your life goes, and I do empathize. It would still be my assumption that the paper's subject and its due date are not brand-new information that you just received.
wendell gave an excellent suggestion; i second it. You can surely write a couple of pages on how the term "Machiavellian" is misused. This may seem stern, but =D the end justifies the means. (sorry, sorry, sorry, I hadda!)
It's worth taking a look at XVII Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than Feared and XVIII How Princes Should Keep Faith. There is always a way to tie these two in with current events, particularly the latter, and my students tend to have a lot to say on the subject--perhaps you will, too.
I have read the papers Wolfdog and box refer to. The Wolfdog paper always gets an F, and he/she gets a stern talking to in my office about actually doing the reading, or at the very least looking at the syllabus so the crappy Google paper will at least be on the right topic. And the Tupac papers are sometimes quite good.
Seconding kortez. In university, we spent several weeks examining both chapters from different points in history and perspective. While I hated that book with an uncommon passion, those specific chapters remain pertinent and provocative.
I just wrote a great essay starring Tupac as The Little Prince who says "fuck" repeatedly, and is crowned the governor of New Jersey when he crash lands on Karl Rove. Actually, I googlefu'd it off of the internets. I don't know what I would do without you guys ;-)
Actually it's about chapter 18, and how Machiavelli saw having a deceitful ruler as being beneficial for the people. I'm not too proud of it, but it'll do.
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