Castiglione’s The Courtier; A Straussian ReReading
*Headed by the Duchess Elizabeta Gonzaga of Urbino on four consecutive nights in March 1507
*Following Duke Guidobaldo’s death in 1508, at the age of 36 she continued to live in Urbino as regent to her underage son
*Castiglione was at court 1508-1516
wrote Book of the Courtier 1516-1518, leaves to become Papal Nuncio to Spain.
Edits and rewrites The Courtier often over a ten year period.
*Elizabeta the Duchess dies 1526.
Only then does the book go to the printer (1527), and first published 1528
In Book 4, Castiglione is not present, in England
*On the Index in Spain 1590 for criticism of Church
Heavy reliance on Plato signals irony, as in evening four, when the point of the Bildung of the ideal courtier is revealed: to help the Prince he serves achieve moral virtue. It is an Anti-Machiavellian attempt to reunite politics and ethics by improved education. Or not. Machiavelli wrote the Prince because he was surrounded by people like Castiglione, who is as slick as a greased eel and a far more dangerous man than Machiavelli and Caesar Borgia combined. The key book to know is Ovid’s Art of Love.
DUCHESS
p.32 “paying what I owe to the memory of so great a lady.”
DUKE
p.41 Praises Duke, but sick and an invalid, regrettably
LADY
p.43 “supremely happy whenever we came into the presence of Duchess;”
LOVE
p.46 Topic of love introduced
STUPID JOKE: THE CENTER OF THE BOOK
p.48 “almost all women hate rats and love snakes;”
IDEAL COURTIER
p.51 perfect courtier introduced
SPREZZATURA
p.66-67 Sprezzatura “true art is what does not seem to be art and the most important thing is to conceal it, because if it is revealed, this discredits a man completely and ruins his reputation.”
WRITING IS SUBTLE
p.72 writing superior to speech, “veiled subtlety…cause reader to be more attentive and aware…
CASTIGLIONE = KING OF SPEZZATURA
p177 “ A very sophisticated kind of joke relies on a certain amount of dissimulation.”
DISGUISED JOKE
P181 “ Those witticisms are also very telling where the humor is subtly disguised”
PRUDENCE IS FOREMOST, BUT HIS PRIDE GETS THE BETTER OF HIM
p.116 “ our courtier will pay attention to the occupation of those with whom he is speaking and he will behave accordingly; and he will speak in one way with men and another with women; and if he should want to suggest something to his own credit, he will do so with dissimulation, as if purely by chance, and in passing, and with the discretion and caution that Count Ludovico explained to us yesterday.” Castiglione can’t help himself. He made himself de facto Prince and took control of a government without firing a shot but he was so goddam successful, nobody knew. He feels compelled to tell his picaresque story.
DISSIMULATE = PLAYING A PART
P120 “I wish him to dissimulate the care and effort that are necessary for any competent performance…”
REFLEXIVITY: A VERY COMPLICATED RHETORICAL CONSTRUCTION
p.78 Simile about metaphors! “Sometimes I would like him to use certain words in a metaphorical sense, putting them to novel use like a gardener grafting a branch on to a healthier trunk, and so increasing their attractiveness and beauty, so that what is said or written makes us seem to experience things at first hand and greatly increases our enjoyment” This autobiographical arboreal simile about metaphors is an example of the subtle ambiguity of spezzatura, because the topic is not ambiguous. Who knows when speaking privately with the Duchess, whether this discussion of a clever gardener grafting a potentially flourishing young branch from old, sickly trunk, onto a vigorous new one refers to deciduous trees or coniferous trees or perhaps even family trees?
SEDUCER NEEDS PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY THROUGH AMBIGUITY
P267 “Well if he wants to speak or write, continued the Magnifico, he should do so with such modesty and care that to start with his words should seem wholly tentative and even ambiguous and affect her in such a way that she may legitimately pretend, if she wished to avoid embarrassment, not to understand what is meant. Thus if he finds difficulties in the way, he can withdraw easily and pretend to have spoken or written with some other purpose in view.”
THE COURTIER IS THE EPITOME OF DISCRETION
p259 “…if however, he proves to be discreet, using modest phrases and hinting delicately at his love for her, in the suave way that I imagined the courtier fashioned by these gentlemen would adopt, then she will pretend not to understand and will take words to mean something else, trying all the time very modestly, and with the wit and prudence we have already said she should have, to change the subject.”
DON’T FORGET, THE SEDUCER/COURTIER IS CAREFUL WITH WORDS
257-8 ”To win the favors of women, every gentleman and knight makes good use of the noble recreations, fine clothes and elegant manners we were talking about; and so he rightly chooses his words for the very same purpose, not only when he is moved to passion, but also, very often, in order to honor the woman to whom he is speaking …as for responding or not, I think she must make up her own mind and not be influenced by anyone else’s wishes”
MEN ARE WILY SEDUCERS, SEDUCED WOMEN NOT BLAMEWORTHY
P254”…there has been no lack of clever writers to compose books in which they have applied their talents to teaching the ways a woman can be seduced.”
REFLEXIVITY HE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS BOOK!
LADIES HONOR: PROVING HIMSELF COMPLETELY SAFE
P187”… never impugn a ladies honor, since in this respect women are to be counted among the defenseless and so do not deserve such treatment, having no weapons with which to defend themselves.”
LIKE HE SAID, SPEAK NO EVIL
P195 “…they (women) may impugn a man’s virtue more freely than he may insult theirs. And this is because we ourselves, as men, have made it a rule that a dissolute way of life is not thought to be evil or blameworthy or disgraceful, whereas in women it leads to such complete opprobrium and shame that once a woman has been ill spoken of, whether the accusation is true or false, she is utterly disgraced forever. Thus since even to mention a woman’s honor carries the risk of doing grave harm, I say that we should refrain from this and get at them in some other way.”
NO TELL, I MEAN IT
P198 “… the emotions of love provide an excuse for every kind of fault…and even if the betrayal, even of an enemy, can be properly held to be a base and hateful crime, consider how much worse a crime is the betrayal of someone we love.”
LET ME REMIND YOU, A COURTIER CAN HOLD HIS TONGUE
P201 “… it is fitting for the courtier to have the greatest reverence for women, and that no man of discretion and courtesy should ever assail them for lack of chastity, either in jest or in earnest.”
LIKE HE SAID, HE MUST CONCEAL THE FAULTS OF WOMEN
P242 Conceal the faults of women “also consider it chivalrous and gentlemanly to conceal the fault which a woman may have committed either through mischance or excessive love;”
TORTURE KISS AND TELL BASTARDS, IT DOESN’T MATTER IF ITS TRUE
P245 “People of that sort, who make a vile boast, whether true or not, of having enjoyed some lady’s favors, deserve the severest punishment, even torture…For if they are telling lies, what could be more wicked than to employ deceit in robbing a respectable woman of something she values more than her life…Then, if they are telling the truth, what punishment is harsh enough for a man who repays, with such rank ingratitude, a lady who, won over by false flattery…has allowed herself to fall too deeply in love, and then has foolishly abandoned herself to the mercies of such a malignant creature?”
THE POOR DUCHESS IS LONELY
p.253 “And now I must say a word about our Duchess, who has lived with her husband for fifteen years like a widow… …those who resist the assaults of love are truly admirable, and those who are sometimes overcome deserve all our compassion.”
JUSTIFIES ADULTERY
P260-1 “I think you are imposing excessively hard rules on married women, for there are many to be found whose husbands hate them for no reason at all and do them great injury…And when that happens, why do you not want the woman to be allowed to give to others what her husband not only despises but detests?… if women in other circumstances do not respond to those who love them they are doing an injury to themselves.”
DUCHESS HAS LOVERS
P264”…if my court lady fails to win the love of those whose intentions are impure, this does not mean she will lack for lovers; for she will find many who are inspired both by her merits and their own worthiness, which will assure them that they deserve their affection.”
MIMESIS OF CASTIGLIONE AND DUCHESS’ COURTLY LOVE, HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
P270 Self reference! “I have sometimes heard between two lovers a long and open conversation of love, which those present failed to understand at all clearly or to realize was at all amorous. And it was because of this discretion and wariness of the lovers, for without showing any displeasure at being overheard they whispered the only words that mattered and spoke aloud those that could be interpreted in various other ways.” CASTIGLIONE MUST HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE TWO LOVERS. Who do you imagine the other one was? He began writing The Book of the Courtier for the amusement of the Duchess while he was in Urbino in 1513, it is a mimesis of their love affair, hidden in plain sight. The above is a mimesis of a game they played that only they understood.
Castiglione arrived at court in 1508, the same year the Duke died. The Duchess became regent for her minor son. Castiglione set to work seducing her, and succeeded. He actually explains how. Castiglione’s comedy is a real life Mandragola, in which a Courtier takes control of the court through an adroit manipulation of sexual politics. It is a real life Mandragola. Much of this is borrowed from Ovid’s Art of Love. The Duchess controls the boy and Castiglione controls the Duchess. However, the trapper got trapped. He fell in love with her and carried a torch for her his whole life. He is so careful and prudent that he withholds publication and works and reworks it for many years. Look at the publication dates. He does not send it to the publisher until 1527 when he hears that she has died in 1526. That way, no literary sleuth of his time could find the painting under the painting and traduce her reputation. By then, Castiglione was the Bishop of Avila, but unlike Beatrice and Laura his muse was all too real and all too carnal.
P345
End of book. Dawn is breaking, the only star left in the sky is the morning star. Venus is rising. This could be about astronomy, but its not.
CASTIGLIONE BECAME DEFACTO DUKE OF URBINO WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT. THE WAS SO SMOOTH THAT NOBODY COULD SEE HIS EXPLOITS, WHICH WERE HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT.
THE TRAPPER TRAPPED. HE FELL IN LOVE WITH THE DUCHESS AND HE IS SERIOUS ABOUT DISCRETION AND HONOR.HE WAITS UNTIL THE DUCHESS DIES IN 1526, THEN SENDS IT TO THE PRINTER AND EDITED THE PROOFS, THEN PUBLISHED IN 1528 TO GREAT ACCLAIM. BY THEN HE WAS A BISHOP IN SPAIN. YET HE COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT CREATING SOME MONUMENT TO HIS BLOODLESS COUP
CASTIGLIONE MAY BE A FUCKING SERPENT, BUT HE’S NO RAT.
SO, RIDDLE ME THIS: WHY DO WOMEN LOVE SNAKES BUT HATE RATS?
THE PUNCHLINE TO THIS “STUPID” JOKE IS THE WHOLE BOOK.
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