Baldesar Castiglione, the Book of the Courtier (1528)

Baldesar Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (1528)

1.  This text is written in the genre of the dialogue. Refer to your introductory material and describe what this generic form allows Castiglione to do. You might consider the similarities (if any) between the way Erasmus destabilizes certainty in Folly's satiric oration and Castiglione suggests truth through a decentered dialogue form.

2.  Trace the images of “public opinion,” doubt, and contextual knowledge throughout the Book of the Courtier.

3.  Trace the images of rarity and variety throughout the Book.

4.  Why do you think the Book opens with an overview of the crippled and lame Duke Guido? What function does this description serve?

5.  Describe, in your own words, sprezzatura.

6.  Describe, in your own words, mediocrita.

7.  Find one example in the text where Castiglione refers to sprezzatura (focus on the idea, not the word).

8.  What is the goal of Castiglione's Book of the Courtier?

9.  What are some “exercises befitting noble cavaliers” (2554)?

10.  What is the “chain that bound us all together in love” (2554)?

11.  What is the Duchess' role in the dialogue? Consider both your introductory material and what you learn in conversation 4.

12.  Why does Count Ludovico believe, in conversation 14, a courtier should be “born of a noble and genteel family” (2555)?

13.  What else, “besides his noble birth,” does Ludovico desire in the courtier (2555)?

14.  In conversation 15, Gaspar disagrees with Ludovico's claim that “nobility of birth” is “essential” to the courtier (2556). Why?

15.  How, in conversation 16, does Ludovico respond to Gaspar's claim? What does he mean by “public opinion” and “reputation”?

16.  What, according to Ludovico in conversation 17, is the “principal and true profession of the Courtier” (2557)?

17.  How does Ludovico describe the ideal “bodily frame” of the courtier (2560)? Why?

18.  Why is horsemanship so important to Ludovico's idea of the perfect courtier?

19.  Why is “judgment and grace” in horsemanship so important to Ludovico (2560)?

20.  What are some of the “other exercises” that “demand much manly vigor” (2561)? List 4. Why are they important?

21.  Why, in conversation 22, does Ludovico urge the courtier to “do all that others do, yet never depart from comely conduct” (2561)? What does he mean by “comely conduct”?

22.  In conversation 23, Cesare asks a question. How does the Duchess respond to his questioning? Emilia? What role are the women fulfilling here?

23.  What is Cesare's question, asked in conversation 24?

24.  What are the two key ways in which, according to Ludovico, a courtier can “acquire grace in bodily exercises (granting first of all that he is not by nature incapable)” (2563)?

25.  In conversation 26, Ludovico describes sprezzatura in detail. What does he understand the function of sprezzatura to be?

26.  “[W]e may call that art true art which does not seem to be art” (2564). What does this mean?