Governance by the Hope of Love

Governance by the Hope of Love

Miniaci Performing Arts Center

Castiglione’s The Courtier was the decorum book of its time. Everyone was trying to achieve the perfect courtier status so Castiglione used a series of conversations at the court of Urbino to tackle the issue. Through the course of the novel, many people speak of attainable characteristics that the courtier should have. They speak of skills at arms, reputation, breeding and courtier’s dealings with others. Only one person’s speech breaks the mold. Pietro Bembo speaks not of characteristics but of love, neoplatonic love. It can be questioned as to whether this atypical characterization is a necessity in the novel, and this analysis argues that it is. While the other conversations gave the courtier rules to follow, only Bembo gives him the will to live. Through dissecting his discourse and the new definition of love, it is found that Bembo is organic to the discussions in The Courtier.