Michelangelo's Agony

There was a wise man who once said, “do it with passion or not at all,” because anything worth acting upon will ignite a spark within that is so insatiable that one cannot help but burn to act upon this desire. Passion can be defined as desire, and almost necessity, for something, whether it manifests through love, happiness, work, or simply life.
In Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy, it is quickly evident what could essentially be Michelangelo’s most defining trait: he is passionate. Some might say he is too much so. Even at such a young age, he saw “life is to be enjoyed,” and “life is to work” as one and the same (Stone 107). He channels this intense desire into his art, flowing like blood through his veins as he hammers and shapes
His childhood consisted of helping produce brick and carve stone, leading him to believe it to be God’s art. When brought up, Michelangelo professes to his acquaintances at the Duomo that “God was the first sculptor,” and his first sculptures were man (19). Since then, man has created numerous masterpieces, including the ten commandments, using the same tools as their creator: sculpture. Michelangelo longs to do the same and create pieces as God had created Adam, raw and naked, pure and untouched. However, everyone else perceives sculpture in art as they do Latin in language; it is dying quickly, not even worth pursuing. Nevertheless, “Michelangelo refused to compromise,” and countless mornings and nights were consumed with sculpting, away from his family (39). Although family is still important to him, they are important for the most part due to the Buonarotti name and bloodline, while the Medicis become like a second family because they recognize his talents and encourage his desires, all while providing for him much of the things his own father could not, such as materials for his art, advice for improvement, and inspiration for his
He is one to believe that unsatisfactory things occur and failures happen owing to the fact that whoever “did not try hard enough,” even though there are times when Michelangelo devotes every second of his time and every ounce of his labor to something, only for it to fail (588). In a sense, he is naive, even blinded by his unrealistic passion and need for success. Humans are flawed and Michelangelo’s understanding of that seems to be something he learns much later in life than most people. He puts people, such as Lorenzo Medici, whom he calls “il magnifico,” on a pedestal and imagines they can make no mistakes, when he grew up with a father who proved the exact opposite of that (101). Michelangelo himself is a good example of someone who is flawed; he is a bit progressive for the time he lives in, but the people around him see him as a mad