Richard III Part 3 of 16 (1955 movie)

Part 3

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• film
• movie
• shakespeare
• richard iii
• laurence olivier
• 1955
• oscar
• motion
• picture
• part 3

[240soundwave]

someone put the latin subtitles, and french in henry the fifth! why not, also the harder they come when the majority of the audience cannot understand the language fucking subtitles]

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

"...because how one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil. Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity."

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RobertPeelite: But Machiavelli himself was far from being immoral! He only advised a prince to consider that humans are evil and therefore one has to take heed to this fact and rule accordingly; so it is mankind who is immoral! While the fact alone that 500 years after his death there is still fierce discussion about his works, while most modern writers are likely to be forgotten long before they even die! I think I should quote Machiavelli on the necessity of being capable to act unjust:

[RobertPeelite]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar I don't deny that the detractors of Machiavelli were often immoral themselves. But a tu quoque defence is no defence at all, two wrongs do not after all make a right. And whilst I agree that science and fact cannot be established by consensus, moral judgement tends to be. In the case of whether Machiavelli has won immortal glory would rely on a general consensus, otherwise he merely has subjective reverence.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RobertPeelite: So you see: Those who condemn Machiavelli the most often follow the very same mechanisms of power, which he did first unveil! Not to mention that minority and majority is not a good indicator for truth or knowledge, since the world will not become banana shaped by popular demand!

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RobertPeelite: Well, take his most outspoken detractors: Frederick the Great, who did compose, with the help of Voltaire a book against him, called the Anti-Machiavelli, while he was heir apparent, but as soon as he did ascend to the throne he did behave in all as Machiavelli had advised and later did even confess in his political testament, that Machiavelli was right; so how can the public ignorance harm to immortal glory of Machiavelli, when he prevails so much over his critics?

[RobertPeelite]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar ... and indeed become a byword for immorality - don't get me wrong, extremely intelligent and grossly villainised beyond proportion, but the bloke probably can't be said to have become immortalised with glory for most people. Again, not that I have a great problem with Machiavelli but I think that opinion may be rather in the minority.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RobertPeelite: Sure, if you want to conquer Libya and steal all its precious oil but then again: Had the Libyan leader read Machiavelli he would have killed his internal detractors in time and made his army ready for battle with the dull-brained Americans and their lackeys! While Machiavelli did no more or less than to free politics and the state from the serfdom to religion and morale and did establish it as a sphere of its own right and for this he has won immortal glory!

[RobertPeelite]

@FireEyedMaidOfWar Well, some governments would, but were it up to Machiavelli then the war in Libya at the moment would involve killing Gaddaffi, his whole family, his advisers, his friends and close aides as well as his entire government and leading soldiers. Il Principe has been vilified more than would be just, but the man took the world for how he thought it was, not how it should be and that meant he advised an awful lot which flies in the face of political virtue.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RobertPeelite: While I must protest against the diabolising of noble Niccolò Machiavelli, the great Italian political philosopher, who was unjustly blamed for all sorts of political mischief at the times of Shakespeare and even today! If governments would heed the advice of Machiavelli the world would be in much better shape, especially in matters of political virtue.