An Analysis Of Niccolo Machiavelli 's ' The Prince '

Author: The speaker of the excerpt is Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli is considered to be the first political philosopher. Employed as a diplomat of the state, Machiavelli wrote Histories, a book about the decline of prestige of Italian city-states. The Medici family had a grudge against Machiavelli, and therefore exiled him from Florence. After the powerful Medici family exiled him to his house in the countryside, Machiavelli wrote The Prince in attempt to make his political ideology known, and in hope to be reemployed by the state.

The political situation that prompted Machiavelli to write The Prince was that Italy wasn’t a unified country yet. It was a bunch of city states.

In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses ways in which a ruler should obtain power and maintain power, emphasizing the concept of gaining power through virtue versus fortune. Virtue, or virtu in the original Italian, is defined as the masculine quality of power, and not necessarily tied to ideas of morality as it is in the English definition.

As you stare down the barrel of a gun, you may find yourself encompassed by fear and unable to move. Niccolo Machiavelli believed that fear and manipulation were key to dominate men. In Machiavelli’s paper, “The Morals of the Prince”, he educates the reader on what it means to be an effective position of authority- a leader. In light of Machiavelli’s beliefs, this paper will argue that love is more useful than being feared in positions of power, using examples from the educational system, parents, and the law enforcement.

Niccolò Machiavelli was an activist of analyzing power. He believed firmly in his theories and he wanted to persuade everyone else of them as well. To comment on the common relationship that was seen between moral goodness and legitimate authority of those who held power, Machiavelli said that authority and power were essentially coequal.9 He believed that whomever had power obtained the right to command; but goodness does not ensure power. This implied that the only genuine apprehension of the administrative power was the attainment and preservation of powers which indirectly guided the maintenance of the state. That, to him, should have been the objective of all leaders. Machiavelli believed that one should do whatever it took, during the given circumstance, to keep his people in favor of him and to maintain the state. Thus, all leaders should have both a sly fox and ravenous wolf inside of him prepared to release when necessary.10

Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince was met with much criticism after its publication over five hundred years ago. It was written to guide leaders for a republican form of government. The latter chapters describe the qualities of the ideal leader, or prince, particularly those concerning morals and perception by the public. Machiavelli prioritizes the upholding and maintaining of the government and sacrifices traditional morals. Because of his theory of the qualities a prince should exhibit, he was condemned as evil by many. Machiavelli’s theory that a prince should be stingy, feared, and deceitful is fitting for a modern republican government.

Machiavelli claims to possess deep knowledge on how one acquires power, sustains power, and employs power. Throughout his life, he observed patterns in history on the rise and fall of certain rulers, and the reasons of their demise. Using his knowledge, Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a philosophical political-science book. At the time of the book’s writing, Lorenzo de Medici held a leading role in the state. Machiavelli addressed The Prince to Lorenzo de Medici in hoping that he would utilize its contents in becoming an effective and competent ruler.

Niccolo Machiavelli’s most famous book, The Prince, contains the most valid information for a prince, a president, and even a king, to keep hold of their own power. Machiavelli tells about the importance and power of political action, his opinions, and most of all philosophy at it’s finest. Throughout the twenty-six chapters of this book he describes the bold, brave, practical, and powerful prince and how the prince’s life should be lived. Machiavelli’s view of human nature is used as justification for his political advice to princes. Niccolo Machiavelli was very intelligent, motivated, and dedicated while writing this book, he attempts to inform princes how to come to power by being powerful; he determines if nature and the environment a prince lives in is the cause of their failure and success.

Niccolo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy. The Prince was written in 1513 but was published five years after Machiavelli’s death in 1527. Machiavelli wrote the Prince as advice to Lorenzo de’ Medici and as a plea for his position back in the Medici Florentine government. Machiavelli gives great advice on what a Prince should do in order to keep a country under his rule, but his main ideas are that a Prince should not be liked or loved by his people but feared and never hated and that a ruler should be willing to do everything in his powers to keep his kingdom stable, even if that means he needs to lie and get a little violent. When reading The Prince readers can see the ways it is reflected in today’s modern society.

“The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.” Thus being said by Machiavelli, in his book The Prince, as he gives some general guidelines on how to govern a country. Although some may seem irrational many of his views, like war on terror, seem to make practical sense. Ever since the attacks on 9/11, American politicians have struggled with Machiavellian principles, mainly weather or not to use them in their dealings with foreign affairs. When terrorists attack using unconventional methods of warfare that result in the death of innocent civilians, the rules of war change. Suddenly, the elimination of those terrorist organizations becomes the first priority, and

Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince” provides guidelines for how the leader of a state should conduct himself, and the actions he should take to consolidate and maintain power. While Socrates does not explicitly discuss what he believes a good leader should do and how he should act in either “Apology” or ”Crito”, he presents his opinion on how men in general should conduct themselves, and how a government should be run. Based on the accounts given, Socrates would vehemently disagree with Machiavelli’s concept of an ideal prince. The values that Machiavelli believes a prince should have and the courses of action he should take as a leader are inconsistent with how Socrates believes men should conduct themselves. In turn, the type of political

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince examines the nature of power and his views of power are still somewhat in existence today. I'll discuss this in this essay, emphasizing the following theses. Machiavelli discusses power over the people, dictatorial power, and power with people, shared power. While it is possible for power with to attain greater prevalence in society, it will not completely eliminate power over. In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses two distinct groups of people, the political elite, including nobles and other princes, and the general public. Today in the United States, the first group, the political elite, includes political leaders, religious leaders, business leaders and the leaders of

In our world, most societies support governments that work in a righteous way, but how can acting righteously be effective in a chaotic world full of crime and war? In the novel “ The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli, who defines a dystopian society as an illusion of a perfect government which is maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, and totalitarian control. This illusion, however, fades once one recognizes how these actions beneficially impact a society by uniting and protecting the people and country. Throughout the novel, Machiavelli preaches about various political principles and new ways to acquire and maintain political power. Niccolo also suggests many strategies and new classifications that a good prince should follow in order to maintain a successful reign. The ideal prince must be a fierce individual who must be capable of executing harsh, yet fair decisions among the people in order to ensure effective rule. Those who follow the guidance of Niccolo in the novel are not evil because in order to be a good and powerful leader one is required to show strong leadership, maintain domination for the benefit of citizens, and at times be feared rather than be loved.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli presents a detailed analysis of how to acquire political power and maintain it. The author discusses how great men should conduct themselves and the desired principles of a princely government. Utopia by Sir Thomas More illustrates what the character Raphael Hythloday, its narrator, suggests to be the perfect human society found in the island of Utopia. This essay looks at why Machiavelli thinks a prince needs to have virtù in order to rule well, and whether Fortuna can actually foster the prince’s virtù. It will also look at the extent to which Utopia provides an argument that a leader has to have virtù in order to govern well. The essay will explore if there is any proof in Utopia that Fortuna plays a role in fostering virtù.

In order to prove Machiavelli’s opinion, it is first necessary to understand what he defines as success. Machiavelli believes that for a prince to be successful he must maintain rule over his