Self-knowledge vs Popular Perception - Zina - 08.doc

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Final Essay- Self-Knowledge vs. Popular Perception

FYS

Zina Huxley-ReicherDr. Matthews

6/9/08

Self-knowledge is a rare thing to attain. Yet once it is within a persons grasp it

allows them to navigate social intricacies and find their place within society. This allows

an individual to profit, whether in popularity, happiness, position or power. Many of the

books we have read over the course of these past two semesters have addressed different

ways in which this can be attained. They include The Prince andPride And Prejudice.

Machiavellis The Prince advocates a split persona between public and private spheres

that is contingent upon self-knowledge. Whereas Jane Austen, inPride and Prejudice,

displays, with her two main characters, the use of self-knowledge to unite a persons

public persona and character. Looking at PlatosRepublic in comparison, it becomes

clear that the split persona flagged in The Prince eventually leads to failure and it is only

by way of combining these dual personas that self-knowledge brings any gain.

In Machiavellis The Prince, he calls for a prince to appear compassionate,

religious, honorable, humane, and honest. Machiavelli acknowledges that a prince may

not actually possess all of these qualities, but he nonetheless calls for the appearance of

them. Machiavelli argues that, in fact, it is necessary that a prince not actually have them

because he must be able to take necessary actions when the situation presents itself,

whether or not they fit in with such good characteristics. He should not depart from the

good if he can hold to it, but he should be ready to enter on evil if he has to (Machiavelli

49). For Machiavelli a prince must combine fox and lion, cunning with brute force, and

in this way a prince can use the duplicity of his persona to his advantage. Machiavelli

states that the masses, as long as the prince is successful in his conquests and enterprises,

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will believe these false appearances.

Machiavellis duplicity of the prince is dependent on the concept that the prince

knows himself. Unless a prince truly knows himself he will not be able to manipulate his

character to fit the positive persona Machiavelli advances. In order to employ the sly

ways of the fox, the Prince must have self-knowledge. Without it he cannot know how he

can exploit his true nature but still maintain his good appearance and accomplish what is

necessary for his rule. Self-knowledge allows the prince to identify what in his character

does not fit within the confines of the public persona Machiavelli lays out.

Machiavelli, in his call for a double persona employs the metaphor of a fox and a

lion to try and describe the true nature a prince must have. This is very similar to the

metaphor that Plato uses in his description of the human soul in his Republic. Plato

divides the soul into a three-headed monster, a lion, and a man. In Platos soul, in order

for a person to be just, the human portion of his soul must govern and monitor the

monster and lion. the supporter of justice should speak and act as to give the man

within him in some way or another the most complete mastery over the entire human

creature(Plato 589b). Plato then advances the argument that anyone who believes that

the unjust man is more profitable would try to strengthen the monster and the lion and

enslave the man to these beasts. This characterization of an unjust man is in fact exactly

what Machiavelli is describing when he fails to address the human part of a mans soul.

Machiavelli believes that the cultivation of the bestial parts of the soul is the only way

that a prince can succeed; he, must know how to use the character of the beasts, he

should choose for imitation the fox and the lion (Machiavelli 48). For Machiavelli this

results in man being influenced by beast. The result of this is that reason, in the sense of

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morality, no longer dictates the princes actions and so the prince is able to seem just and

appear to be ruled by the human portion of his soul, when in reality it is the beast which

is holding the whip.

One of the arguments presented by Glaucon and Adiemantus is, if, though

unjust, I acquire the reputation of justice, a heavenly life is promised to me (Plato 365c).

The truly evil nature, as this argument alludes to, covered up by a veil of goodness, is

exactly the method of existence that Machiavelli proposes for his ideal prince as the

most prudent and profitable one. Platos next section ofThe Republic focuses completely

on dismembering this argument. His first counter to the argument is that, in the human

soul there is a better and also a worse principle; and when the better has the worse under

control, then a man is master of himself (Plato 431b). Plato offers up the opposite,

when the worse is in control of the better, as an example of a man being a enslaved to

himself. It seems that it is therefore more profitable to have the man in control of ones

soul as opposed to the beast. Platos second argument is that, one man should do one

thing only(Plato 433b). Just as a doctor should have his only focus be on healing a

mans life should only be focused on one thing and he should strive to do that thing to the

best of his ability; a man cannot be unjust but attempt to appear just. Machiavellis

prince, in trying to not only embody his true character in private but also successfully

appear as something else in public, is trying to excel at more than one thing and will thus

fail.

InPride and Prejudice we see another example of the failure of having a public

persona. Mr. Darcy begins the novel, cast in a negative light because of his public

character. The townspeople view him as a haughty, arrogant, and prideful man caught up

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in his own social stature and too superior to even consider the likes of themselves as good

company. Yet once Elizabeth arrives at Pemberly, it is made clear that Mr. Darcy has a

truly good nature. His servants and the people around him have nothing but good things

to say, I could not meet with a betterHe was always the sweetest-tempered, most

generous hearted, boy in the world(Austen 238). Thus it appears that there is a great deal

more than the persona Elizabeth has come to know. This clash between his public

persona and his character casts him in a negative light.

When Mr. Darcy appears in the story again, something has changed. The caring

and good character of which Darcys servants spoke has become his public persona as

well. He no longer seems pretentious or haughty; instead his actions suggest a warm and

welcoming character quite contrary to what was previously known. We learn later that

Elizabeths accusations of a prideful and haughty character did indeed affect Mr. Darcy

greatly. When Mr. Darcy shows up at Pemberly he has newfound self-knowledge and has

used it to make known to the world his true character. This profits him since it results in

his marriage to Elizabeth and his eventual happiness. Elizabeth herself has never suffered

from a duplicate nature but self-knowledge gained after reading Mr. Darcys letter allows

her to mature into the persona that she both wants to have and that she wants others to

see.

Pride and Prejudice and The Prince demonstrate clearly that there are different

ways to employ self-knowledge in an attempt to make ones way through societys

intricate social demands. Yet with the help of Plato, it is clear that the way Machiavelli

uses self-knowledge to foster the fox and lion in his prince ultimately ends with a prince

who is no longer able to maintain the appearance of a just man. Therefore, in the end it is

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more profitable to nourish the human part of the soul in order to check the beast with

reason and morality. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeths success without a public persona

reinforce this. A split character requires the person to employ trickery and deceit and

consequently leads to too great a division of the soul for either sector to be profitable in

the end.

Works Cited:

Machiavelli, Niccol. The Prince. The Prince. Ed. Robert M. Adams.New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1 74.

Plato. Republic. First Year Seminar Readings Fall 2007.

Austen, Jane.Pride and Prejudice. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2003.

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