Castiglione in the Courier

Agree or disagree with the characteristics expressed by Castiglione in the Courier

Introduction

Castiglione, Baldassare was born and raised in Italy. 'The Courier' was written by Castiglione one year before his death. The court depicted the story of an idealistic court and the courtier. Castiglione used his personal experiences in the Urbino court. The story narrates the attributes and characteristics of a perfect courtier.

Discussion

I agree with the description of the perfect courtier as described by Castiglione. The characteristics of the courtier must be as of a handsome man, with medium and proportional height and weight, and sober colored dressing. According to Castiglione, the factors for success of the courtier were swimming, riding, running and using weapons. The courtier, as per the description of Castiglione, must also be talented in terms of music, playing instruments like flute or lute and must also sing. Importance was also given to dancing without nimble footings (Castiglione, 2003).

The courtier is very important to be an intellectual as well. This is agreed upon because he must be able to have fluency in French, Italian and Spanish languages. The courtier must not indulge in gossiping and provision of confidential information. He must not create any problems for the court. The success of the courtier is mainly determined by his good personality traits. It is agreed that Castiglione rightly described courtier's personality traits. As to being honest along with a right consciousness, able to accept his mistakes and faults and dispositioned. The downfall of the courtier can occur if he is boastful, deceitful, do not respect elders, malicious and rash. The courtier must also successfully organize and administer the court. The courtier must determine within the court which time is for entertainment and fun and which time is for governing and seriousness.

The story of Castiglione ...