The Renaissance, Middle Ages, and Ancient periods, characterized by a plethora of academic literature concerning human conduct, pioneered the current Bible-based view on how individuals should serve others. Renowned writers, such as Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri, and Michel de Montaigne, used a series of poems, plays, essays, and a book to express how human beings ought to serve others, albeit using actors. Through fictitious and real-life characters, the authors above advanced acceptable and controversial views on how during the Ancient, Middle Ages, and Renaissance periods, individuals of their respective countries should have acted when handling life. Themes, such as vindictiveness, gluttony, murder, and upholding morals, values, and ethics emerge throughout the literature works of the writers mentioned above. The extensive analysis of Renaissance classics, such as The Prince , Hamlet , Of Cannibals , and The Divine Comedy , show how elites perceived the question; What is my duty to serve other people?
Dante’s The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, wrote The Divine Comedy , an expression of his supposed experiences in paradise, hell, and purgatory, during the Middle Ages period between 1308 and 1321. In The Divine Comedy , Alighieri visits Inferno (hell) first, where he is guided through seven circles that show how Satan punishes individuals who violate their human duty towards others. In the first circle, Limbo, Alighieri learns that his service towards others is unacceptable before God if he does not seek baptism first when he meets unbaptized pagans stuck in an inferior Heaven, such as Julius Ceaser, Socrates, and Ovid. Alighieri then visits Lust, the second circle, where he encounters people who failed to control their lustfulness when alive, such as Helen of Troy screaming in agony and being blown by stormy winds ( Alighieri, 1892) . Lust is a lesson that humans should serve their counterparts without being lustful, or else their souls will be banished to hell when they die. In Gluttony, the third circle, Alighieri learns that in serving others, human beings should be content with the food and drink they are blessed with by meeting sinners who failed to control their eating and drinking habits when alive, such as Ciacco, being slashed by icy rain ( Puchner et al., 2019) . In Greed, the fourth circle, Alighieri learns that human beings should not display greed when serving others, or they will be punished when they die when he encounters familiar cardinals and popes who prioritized possession hoarding and being extravagant pushing heavy mountains.
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In circle five, Anger, Alighieri learns that human service towards others should be devoid of anger to avoid punishment after death by gurgling dirty water from river Styx when he encounters sinners such as Fillipo Agenti , who committed vengeful acts in a fury. In circle six, Heresy, Alighieri learns that human service must embody the Christian faith to evade punishment when he sees Pope Anastasius II and other sinners guilty of rejecting Christianity when alive being burned alive in tombs ( Puchner et al., 2019) . In circle seven, violence, Alighieri learns that even when human beings experience challenges when serving others, violent acts, such as suicide ideation and actualization, are unacceptable before God when he sees sinners turned into trees that scream in pain, such as Pier Della Vigna, who committed suicide. In circle eight, Alighieri learns the importance of serving others without committing sinful acts, such as seduction, pander, sorcery, corruption, theft, and hypocrisy, by observing how familiar figures the deceased Pope Boniface VIII, drowning in wells. Finally, in circle eight, Alighieri learns that human service towards others must be free from treachery when he observes traitors, such as the deceased Bocca degli Abati, being submerged in icy lakes with their heads afloat.
Alighieri then visits Purgatorio, where he meets persons purged of the seven deadly sins: envy, wrath, pride, sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. Purgatorio teaches Alighieri that human beings should avoid evincing the seven deadly sins mentioned above when serving others. Finally, in Paradiso, Alighieri learns that human service should comprise good deeds, such as promoting trust, diversity in society, prudence, faith in God, justice, temperance, and praying. Therefore, The Divine Comedy shares insights on how human service should be conducted appropriately to desist being punished in Inferno and Purgatorio.
Machiavelli’s The Prince
Machiavelli, an Italian author, wrote The Prince during the Renaissance period after helplessly observing how opportunists were invading Italy, and yet the country failed to defend itself. The author indicates that for Italy to have a strong army, its princes must not engage distrustful and unreliable armies during the war, such as mercenaries, auxiliaries, and mixed troops loaned by other countries’ rulers ( Puchner et al., 2019) . Instead, Italian princes should empower native soldiers born and bred in Italy to fight its battles. Machiavelli teaches Italian princes that in human service, a charity must begin at home and that foreigners must not be trusted with critical duties, such as defending a country from enemies.
The author then highlights the characters that an Italian prince should embody, such as stinginess over generosity, cruelty over mercy, and breaking promises over being trustful. Machiavelli’s controversial principles aim to elicit macho character in Italian rulers, but they comprise behaviors that human service must not enshroud. However, human servants can constitute Machiavelli’s other suggestions to Italian princes, such as significant projects, avoiding being despised and hated by people, and choosing wise advisors ( Machiavelli, 2015) . Finally, Machiavelli used instances, such as the corruption advanced by Catholic Pope Alexandar VI, to teach Italian princes to avoid electing leaders who embarrassed the country. In the end, Machiavelli hoped that Italian princes, in following his human service principles, would create ruthless, robust armies that would overpower Italian invaders, such as France’s King Charles VIII, Ludovica Sforza, and King Louis XII.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Hamlet, a classical play by William Shakespeare, was written in 1603 during the Middle Ages, which indirectly shows how human acts towards others should be devoid of deceit, treachery, and violence. In Act 1 of the play, Hamlet is visited by his father’s ghost, a former Denmark king, who convinces the prince that the ruling uncle, Claudius murdered him. Hamlet immediately starts planning revenge by plotting his uncle’s murder, teaching human beings that in serving others, anger and vengeance are unacceptable deeds as they result in detrimental outcomes, as seen later in the play ( Shakespeare, 1877) . In Act two, Hamlet pretends to be insane by rejecting his betrothed, Ophelia and writing a fake plat with Claudius as a murderer to be presented to the king. Hamlet’s actions in scene two teach human beings that wisdom should be used to achieve desired outcomes in serving others.
In act 3, Hamlet sits in a crowd to observe Claudius’ reaction when travelers present the play to the king, who reacts by leaving the scene in anger and vowing to have Hamlet murdered. The act above teaches that human servants must cease anger because it quickly exposes their weaknesses and fuels evil thoughts ( Puchner et al., 2019) . In front 4, Claudius sends Hamlet to Poland, hoping that the prince will die. When Hamlet discovers Claudius’ intention, he implores his companions, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, to fight on his behalf, and the latter soldiers die in battle ( Shakespeare, 1877) . Act 4 is a lesson that human servants must be considerate of their subjects besides being quick decision-makers. In the final Act5, Hamlet and Claudius meet and duel, and the play ends with the two characters dying. Shakespeare teaches that human servants must solve issues diplomatically to evade untimely deaths propelled by angry reactions.
Michel de Montaigne’s Of Cannibals
Michel de Montaigne wrote Of Cannibals in the Ancient period, 1580. In the essay written initially in Tuscan dialect, the author asserts that human beings should cease forming conclusions without evidence. De Montaigne launches his article's topic, "The New World" and its inhabitants' lifestyles as narrated by "a plain ignorant fellow." The author notes that elites tend to be more deceitful than "simple men" because they embellish their narrations and condemns the "inconvenience practice" by imploring that people should embrace objective reporting, a habit that must be displayed in human service towards others ( de Montaigne, 1580) . Additionally, de Montaigne observes in his thesis that ancient people were quick to judge detrimental experiences while ignoring their flaws, and human-made physical buildings would never surpass the beauty of nature's works, a damaging character that human servants must avoid.
De Montaigne maintained that the New World's inhabitants were corrupted and had flawed views of the world and how to conduct themselves, a flawed character that human servants must not manifest. Finally, de Montaigne maintains that human service should be the epitome of the Brazilian Tupinamba, a local community in Brazil that did not engage in greed, stealing resources, betrayal, and lying ( Puchner et al., 2019) . Instead, the Tupinamba community upheld virtues, such as "valor towards their enemies and love towards their wives" (de Montaigne, 1508). After all, even the Bible supports de Montaigne’s advice concerning human service by noting in Mathew 7:1,” Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (New International Version).
References
Alighieri, D. (1892). The divine comedy .
De Montaigne, M. (1580). Of Cannibals .
Machiavelli, N. (2015). The prince .
Puchner, M., Akbari, S. C., Denecke, W., Fuchs, B., Levine, C., Lewis, P., & Wilson, E. R. (2019). The Norton anthology of world literature (Shorter 4th ed., Vol. 1). W. W. Norton and Company. ISBN: 978-0393602876
Shakespeare, W. (1877). Hamlet .
