SOURCE: Atkinson, James B. “An Essay on Machiavelli and Comedy.” In The Comedies of Machiavelli, pp. 213–31. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1985.

In the following essay, Atkinson shows how the plays reflect Machiavelli's politics and philosophy.

The name of Niccolò Machiavelli is not generally associated—at least by English-speaking audiences—with the drama. According to a tongue-in-cheek prologue written for a recent production of The Mandrake,

The man, of course, was known far more For his wicked Prince, and for his Histories, As well as for an Art of War, But he also mastered theater's mysteries. 

Many readers may be surprised to learn that the author of The Prince is also responsible for a trio of comedies, one of which is considered by Italians to be the earliest—and by knowledgeable authorities such as dramatists Carlo Goldoni and Luigi Pirandello to be the greatest—of their country's theatrical...