Machiavelli writes in the prologue to Clizia that comedies were invented for the dual purpose of amusing and benefiting the audience. Clizia is no exception. It is a raucous comedy about love that extends to the scandalous, but it also contains a serious teaching about managing passions and relationships.In Clizia, as in the better-known Mandragola, Machiavelli intends reform through comedy. It is a reform that mixes liberation with techniques of management, an eerily contemporary reform of...
Machiavelli writes in the prologue to Clizia that comedies were invented for the dual purpose of amusing and benefiting the audience. Clizia is no exception. It is a raucous comedy about love that extends to the scandalous, but it also contains a serious teaching about managing passions and relationships.In Clizia, as in the better-known Mandragola, Machiavelli intends reform through comedy. It is a reform that mixes liberation with techniques of management, an eerily contemporary reform of private life that complements Machiavelli s famous reforms of public life.