Florencia Maccarone

Culture III - Morning shift

November 17th
How does the frontispiece of Leviathan reflect Hobbes views on politics?
Illustrate your points with your reading of Chapter XXVII.
The frontispiece to the first edition of Leviathan, which Hobbes helped design, portrays
the commonwealth as a gigantic human form built out of the bodies of its citizens and
the sovereign as its head. Hobbes calls this figure the "Leviathan," a word derived from
the Hebrew for "sea monster" and the name of a monstrous sea creature appearing in
the Bible. The image constitutes the definitive metaphor for Hobbes's perfect
government, which was an absolute monarchy. His text attempts to prove the necessity
of the Leviathan for preserving peace and preventing civil war. This essay attempts to
show in what ways Hobbes justifies the power of the crown in a more logical way, as he
was one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment.
In chapter XVII of the Leviathan, Hobbes speaks of a form of artificial man established
through a covenant. This covenant is a social contract which establishes that people
agree to surrender their freedom, give it to the head and live organised by the
commonwealth to be protected and to avoid chaos. In order for a covenant to be valid a
common power or a sovereign authority must enforce the terms of the contract, for
"covenants without the sword, are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at
all. Such an authority is then established when a group of men say: "I authorise and
give up myself to this man, or to his assembly of men, on this condition; that thou give
up, thy right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner. Thus, these men
agree to be governed and therefore protection is assured to them.
The sovereign is the ruling force behind the contract. This artificial person is a
metaphor for the state in total, and Hobbes names this artificial person "Leviathan."
Hobbess description of the construction of the Leviathan is based on the idea that a
commonwealth is necessary to escape the state of nature and to provide peace and
the common defense of the people: The only way to erect such a common power, as
may be able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one
another, and thereby to secure them in such sort as that by their own industry and by
the fruits of the earth they may nourish themselves and live contentedly, is to confer all
their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may
reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will: which is as much as to say, to
appoint one man, or assembly of men, to bear their person; and every one to own and

acknowledge himself to be author of whatsoever he that so beareth their person shall

act, or cause to be acted, in those things which concern the common peace and
safety; and therein to submit their wills, every one to his will, and their judgements to
his judgement. This sovereign is filled with the powers of all who agree to the
covenant, and all the actions of this sovereign are the actions of its subjects. The
subjects are then the authors of any and all actions undertaken by the sovereign. All
the liberties that man once enjoyed in the state of nature are transferred to the
sovereign, whose duty is to ensure the preservation of itself, and hence, of its subjects,
by any means necessary. The only exception is the right to self-preservation, since that
can never be given up completely, and it was the initial reason for establishing the
commonwealth.
To conclude, chapter VII of the Leviathan depicts how Hobbes was much in favour of an
absolute monarchy, having the sovereign at the top of all society. However, he introduces

the concept of representation, and in the modern world where states are too large to
function as direct democracies, this idea is a key component of any functioning
democracy. Even the Leviathan that Hobbes describes, with its absolute power over all
its subjects, is a representative of all the people in the commonwealth who have
chosen and accepted to be governed by him.