Beyond the Comedy of Deception

Machiavelli, Girard, and the limits of scapegoating

Abstract

The article examines Niccolò Machiavelli’s Mandragola as a unique case within the tradition of classical and Renaissance comedy, arguing that it departs significantly from the conventional comic structure based on the restoration of social order. Drawing on René Girard’s theory of the scapegoat, the study analyzes how Machiavelli transforms the typical ‘comedy of deception’ by leaving the central trick unresolved and by stabilizing, rather than resolving, the disorder it generates. Unlike classical models in which deception leads to the reaffirmation of social norms, Mandragola exposes a society grounded in deception, violence, and self-interest as permanent conditions. The doubling of sacrificial dynamics – targeting both the deceived husband and an external victim – reveals that no character is morally exempt and that social cohesion depends on the marginalization of the weakest. Ultimately, the play undermines the reassuring ideological function of comedy, offering instead a politically and philosophically charged vision of human relations in which truth is subordinate to utility and power.