Der Hofmann

Castiglione's courtier is the opposite of Macchiavellis Prince. At the court of Montefeltro in Urbino, ladies and gentlemen talk about customs, culture and what makes people seem pleasant and lovable. It is not, however, birth, it says at the outset, but rather the nobility of the spirit that determines destiny ? the first sign of the rise of the bourgeois age and a form of behaviour to which etiquette was still oriented. The selection contains all the important ideas that Castiglione puts into the mouths of the members of the table. Whoever argues better, wittier and more logical in a dispute is right. Surprising things are also said about equal rights for women, about beauty and the most effective way of advertising love.