52 pages • 1 hour read
Augusto BoalTheatre of the Oppressed
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1977A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 2 Summary: “Machiavelli and the Poetics of Virtù”
Boal explains that the following essay was written as an opener to a performance of La Mandragola, a play by Niccolò Machiavelli. Boal directed the play at the Arena Theatre in São Paulo from 1962-1963, utilizing Theatre of the Oppressed techniques.
The Feudal Abstraction
Aristotle viewed art as the transmission of knowledge through the perfection of forms. Karl Marx expanded this definition to suggest that art inherently reflects the social and political context within which it is created. Boal provides evidence for Marx’s argument through monarchy’s patronage of Shakespeare and other artists. Differences between Shakespeare’s works and those of Anglo-Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan reflect the influence of the different contexts of power that influenced their works. Because art was historically funded by the ruling class or the government, plays performed an important function, and Boal asserts that “[t]he aims of feudal art were the same as those of the clergy and nobility: to immobilize society by perpetuating the existing system” (55). Therefore, theater became a mechanism for the maintenance of sovereign political power.
In this context, catharsis is therefore intended to move audiences toward the political good—the perceived virtues of the historical and social context of the period, which inevitably promote the interests of the ruling class. Boal traces how the use of theater as catharsis shifted from archetypes like “Lust” and “Sin” to more complex characters through which audiences could purge their culturally defined vices.
The Bourgeois Concretion
Boal refers to Machiavelli as a witness to the vast changes of social and political power. Machiavelli’s response to these changes was the development of virtù, the collective traits used by rulers to establish and expand power. Boal traces the intrinsic relationships between commerce, art, and power from the Renaissance, noting that virtuous ideologies were shaped by economic power.
Over time, the wealth and well-being of the individual began to outweigh the value of the collective. Religious beliefs started to reflect the new widespread cultural emphasis on commerce, and those who had wealth were considered blessed by God. Shakespeare’s protagonists likewise reflected a Machiavellian idea of virtue, championing rationalism over emotionalism and projecting colonialist perspectives.
Machiavelli and Mandragola
Boal establishes that art as power shifted from abstract representation of simple ideas—such as “Courage” and “Satan”—to more complex and realistic representations of virtù. The protagonist of Machiavelli’s Mandragola represents the play’s virtuous character, which Boal challenges through his directorial choices.
In the play, Ligurio desires the wife of the elderly Nicia and takes extreme measures to steal Nicia’s wife, exhibiting Machiavelli’s theories on how to seize and hold power. Ligurio is championed for his virtù, which he expresses through his cunning, rationality, and relentlessness. Machiavelli uses the character of Ligurio to show that a person’s actions are the deciding expressions of virtù. The act that Ligurio performs is considered virtuous within the historical context when it was written. He and Friar Timoteo convince the gullible Nicia that they must drug his wife with mandrake so that a servant can impregnate her. (Ligurio fails to tell Nicia that he intends to dress as the servant.)
In Machiavelli’s version, the friar represents a new religious mentality; Timoteo’s motivation is partially driven by commerce and the need to fund the church. This pragmatic perspective reflected a new political shift in which the Church took greater control of its finances and future by dipping into the public sector. Machiavelli’s interpretation was praised by Pope Leo X, who felt that the play exemplified the needs of the Church.
Modern Reductions of Virtù
Boal examines modern examples of virtù and the ways in which these values have changed with the shifting priorities of the ruling class. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel helped to shape the changing values of performance arts through his study of phenomenology and the dialectical method. In Hegel’s model, the protagonist’s flaw must be punished so that synthesis can occur.
Chapter 2 Analysis
Boal directed The Mandrake from 1962-1963 at the Arena Theatre. During his stay in São Paulo, the Arena Theatre was participating in a revolutionary act. São Paulo had recently become the largest industrial city in South America, a new development as American companies began building factories in Brazil and taking loans from Brazilian banks. The new class system created by the economic boom caused a heavier influence of Western theater in Brazilian performance arts. While European plays were more popular during Boal’s time, the Arena Theatre produced plays by Brazilian writers, and these productions were intended for middle- and lower-class audiences. Because censors limited the production of realistic plays that focused on contemporary issues, the theater used classic plays to indirectly explore relevant themes and challenge oppressive powers (Boal, Augusto. “The Joker System: An Experiment by the Arena Theatre of São Paulo.” The Drama Review, vol. 14, no. 2, 1970, pp. 91-96).
Boal’s use of Machiavelli’s play, The Mandrake, is an example of taking historical works and reconfiguring them to fit the needs of a modern audience. Essentially, Boal uses a play that was published hundreds of years earlier in a way that allowed him to defy the censors and shed light on contemporary issues of power and entitlement. He and his contemporaries used new approaches to performance in order to transform uncensored works into clever forms of collaborative protest. Chapter 2 outlines his approach to Machiavelli’s play and explains how the work fits into his theories and examination of the history of performance arts.
By using Theater as a Tool for Social and Political Change, Boal reinterprets Machiavelli’s play in a way that challenges the Italian philosopher’s ideas about the principles and expressions of power. The Mandrake exhibits Machiavelli’s theories about the maintenance of power as a primary goal of virtue. In the play, the protagonist uses manipulation and deception to get what he wants, and Boal’s use of this play is significant. The subtle techniques of the protagonist speak to common expressions of power and oppression. Often, manipulative power is wielded at different levels and therefore goes understated and unnoticed. The play thus becomes a mirror for Boal’s discussions about Western philosophy and the subtle ways in which power shapes art.
The reflection of economics in performance arts also contributes to Boal’s argument that The Interaction of Power and Art is innate. In the first chapter, Boal argues that the history of Western performance arts is built upon a foundation of oppression. In Chapter 2, the Brazilian director uses art to challenge power while utilizing a work by a Western writer. Through these conceptual choices, Boal illustrates the inherent relationship that exists between wealth and power, emphasizing the ways in which art was influenced by political power and the bourgeoisie as early as the Italian Renaissance, when Machiavelli developed The Mandrake.
Machiavelli’s ideology regarding the relentless pursuit of power through violence and manipulation contextualizes Boal’s argument, particularly the observation that power and art are wrapped up in a third factor: money. Because the ruling class has a vested interest in art as a mechanism for control, the bourgeoisie funds and therefore determines the trajectory of the field. This position is supported by the fact that Machiavelli’s performance was praised by the Church, which held political and economic power in the 15th and 16th centuries. Notably, the pope praised Machiavelli’s work for its ability to synthesize, justify, and make palatable the new priorities of the Church and its movement into the public economic sector. Thus, it is clear that performances engaged with virtues that supported the industrial interests of the ruling class:
To spend less than one makes, to economize strength and money, to economically manage the body as well as the mind, to be a hard worker in contrast to the idleness of the medieval nobility: those became the means by which each enterprising individual could rise socially and prosper. (59)
These popular ideologies reflected a society that was shifting closer and closer to capitalism. Boal argues that the virtues expressed in performance arts serve the overarching moral and ethical center of the bourgeoisie. He also shows that the new interpretation of the Bible as an aid for the shifting needs of the Church creates a system of self-justification, stating, “The Bible comes to serve merely as an aid for the friar, to explain and support his decisions. Thus, the naive behavior of Lot’s daughters serves to justify the adultery of Lucrezia” (68). Machiavelli therefore uses comedic principles to challenge earlier religious interpretations that did not prioritize advancement over peace. Ultimately, The Mandrake serves as another example of how art can be used to advance the ideologies of the ruling class and change patterns of thinking on a grand scale.
