Editing Niccolò Machiavelli (section)

===In popular culture===
{{main|Machiavelli in popular culture}}

Due to Machiavelli's popularity, he has been featured in various ways in cultural depictions. In [[English Renaissance theatre]] (Elizabethan and Jacobian), the term "[[:wikt:Machiavel|Machiavel]]" (from 'Nicholas Machiavel', an "anglicization" of Machiavelli's name based on French) was used for a stock antagonist that resorted to ruthless means to preserve the power of the state, and is now considered a synonym of "Machiavellian".<ref>Kahn, V. (1994). Machiavellian rhetoric: From the counter-reformation to Milton. Princeton University Press.</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=31 December 2021|title=Machiavel|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100122752|website=Oxford Reference}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=31 December 2021|title=MACHIAVEL English Definition and Meaning {{!}} Lexico.com|url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/machiavel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516180221/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/machiavel|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 May 2021|website=Lexico Dictionaries }}</ref>

[[Christopher Marlowe]]'s play ''[[The Jew of Malta]]'' (ca. 1589) contains a prologue by a character called Machiavel, a [[Seneca the Younger|Senecan]] ghost based on Machiavelli.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://player.fm/series/jew-of-malta-the-by-marlowe-christopher |title=Jew of Malta, The by MARLOWE, Christopher |work=Player FM |year=2016 |access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> Machiavel expresses the cynical view that power is amoral, saying:
{{blockquote|<poem> 
   "I count religion but a childish toy, 
   And hold there is no sin but ignorance."
</poem>}}

Shakespeares titular character, ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', refers to Machiavelli in ''[[Henry VI, Part III]]'', as the "murderous Machiavel".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/henry-vi-part-3/read/ | title=Henry VI, Part 3 - Entire Play &#124; Folger Shakespeare Library }}</ref>