Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the significance of Machiavelli’s recommendation that the Prince embody the lion and the fox and compare those findings to Bruce Wayne’s choice to take the bat as his symbol. Taking examples from Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and selected Batman comics the concept of animal nature will be explored. Both Machiavelli and Batman utilize fear as a basis of power, which serves as a useful lens to examine the murder of Remirro de Orco which rendered the people of Romagna “satisfied and stupefied.” Do Batman’s public displays of revenge have a similarly satisfying and stupefying effect? In what ways does the bat combine the fierceness of the lion with the cunning of the fox?
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Notes
- 1.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (New York: Penguin Classics, 1961).
- 2.
Ibid., 29.
- 3.
Ibid., 99.
- 4.
Ibid., 58.
- 5.
Ibid.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
CHIRON—Elder Centaur of Greek Mythology. http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentaurosKheiron.html (Accessed on August 27, 2018).
- 8.
Revital Refael-Vivante, “Of Lions and Foxes: Power and Rule in Hebrew Medieval Fables,” revista paz y los conflictos, no. 2 (2009): 24–43.
- 9.
Ibid., 99.
- 10.
Ibid., 100.
- 11.
Ibid.
- 12.
Ibid., 102.
- 13.
Ibid., 95. Romagna was a historical region that roughly corresponds to present-day Emila-Romagna. The region was bounded by the Apennines to the southwest, the Reno river to the north, the Sillaro river to the west, and the Adriatic to the east. Cities in the region included Cesena, Forli, Imola, Ravenna, Rimini, and San Marino. Ibid.
- 14.
Pistoria was a client-city of Florence which broke into conflict between two factions in 1501–1502. Order was finally restored only through the use of force.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
Ibid., 96.
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
Ibid., 97.
- 19.
Ibid., 98.
- 20.
Kane, Bob. Detective #27, New York: DC Comics, 1939.
- 21.
Kane, Bob. Detective #33, New York: DC Comics, 1939.
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
Miller, F. and Mazzucchelli, D. Batman #404, New York: DC Comics, 1987.
- 24.
Miller, F. and Mazzucchelli, D. Batman #405, New York: DC Comics, 1987.
- 25.
Ibid., 16.
- 26.
Dixon, C. and McDaniel, S. Nightwing #14, New York: DC Comics, 1998.
- 27.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 57.
- 28.
Ibid., 58.
- 29.
Ibid.
- 30.
Dr. Jeff Black, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science at the US Air Force Academy, conversation with the author, July 22, 2018.
- 31.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 58.
- 32.
Ibid., 61.
- 33.
Ibid., 40.
- 34.
King, Tom and Weeks, Lee. Batman #53, New York: DC Comics, 2018.
- 35.
Murphy, Sean Gordon. Batman: White Knight #1, New York: DC Comics, 2018.
- 36.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Shaun Baker of the US Naval Academy and Dr. Jeff Black of the US Air Force Academy for editorial support and encouragement. Any errors or deficiencies in this chapter are solely my own. I would also like to thank my family for allowing me to take over the end of the family dinner table and cover it with comic books.
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Goff, D.V. (2019). The Lion, the Fox, and the Bat: The Animal Nature of Machiavelli’s The Prince and Batman. In: Picariello, D. (eds) Politics in Gotham. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05776-3_8
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