Punishment In The Grand Inquisitor And The Prince By...

Throughout history, every form of government has had a system of laws and punishments for the transgression of those laws. This is also true in literature as seen by The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and The Prince by Niccolà ² Machiavelli. Both texts discuss a government or an empire’s attempt to maintain power over the people and punishment plays a key role in maintaining this power. According to both The Grand Inquisitor and The Prince punishment can counter instability and provide the illusion of strength to a ruler while weakening the people by portraying their selfishness and incapability. It is therefore evident that the purpose of punishment in government is to advance power. According to the prince and the grand Inquisitor,†¦show more content†¦This demonstrates how punishment defines people as self-serving. When the Grand Inquisitor steps out people immediately stop worshipping Jesus and cower in fear. People act in their own self-interest; they do not act because they love the Grand Inquisitor or because they do not love Jesus, but instead because they do not want to be hurt. They act to avoid punishment. This supports Machiavelli’s theory that fear is better than love because fear allows for the people to be kept in line, as the Grand Inquisitor has done. According to the Grand Inquisitor and the Prince punishment defines the citizens as self-serving since the people in both texts follow the ruler and the law that directly affects their own well-being. According to both the prince and the grand inquisitor, free will is a punishment that defines the people as weak and incapable. According to the grand inquisitor, free will is a burden to all humans. The Grand Inquisitor states â€Å"You chose what is utterly beyond the strength of men, acting as though you did not love them at all†¦Instead of take possession of men’s freedom, you increased it and burdened the spiritual kingdom of mankind forever† (136). God has given people the freedom to choose what to follow, however most people are not strong enough to have faith in God. People are instead influenced by material things and can only be convinced by proof of miracles. As a result the vast majority of the