Abstract
Scholars often analyze the works of William Shakespeare for their extensive connections to classical sources. Seneca, Plutarch, and Ovid are common authors to connect to the great English playwright and such comparisons have yielded many fruitful interpretations of Shakespeare. One classical author less compared to the bard is the great Roman statesman and philosopher, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Although his writings on oratory and the art of rhetoric are still quite famous, Cicero’s works on political philosophy have fallen out of favor in recent scholarship. Contemporary scholars miss a lot of wisdom in ignoring Cicero’s political philosophy and further insight is lost in the lack of its comparison to Shakespeare’s political plays. This thesis seeks to amend this loss by comparing the statesman, a key figure in Ciceronian political thought, to one of Shakespeare’s lesser known (though perhaps one of his greatest political characters) Sir Thomas More from his collaborative play Sir Thomas More. While an examination of Cicero’s primary political texts De Republica and De Officiis will provide the significance, character, role, and tools of the Ciceronian statesman, a close analysis of Sir Thomas More will argue that More’s virtuous character and well-executed acts as an English statesman excellently model Cicero’s model statesman.