Machiavelli The Prince Essay

Niccolo Machiavelli was a unique politician, philosopher, and writer who lived in Florence, Italy during the European Renaissance period of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He is most famously known for writing his ruthless handbook for rulers, The Prince, during his time in exile in 1513. This contentious piece of literature has been fondly referred to as “the guidebook for tyrants and totalitarians,” according to the documentary, Machiavelli: The Prince by director Jett Rink. However, the document has also been credited with positively paving the way for ethnic and religious toleration, individual rights, and modern democracies all throughout history; and it inevitably set the stage for future governments to come. In this way, it is

As the longest lasting Empire in history to date, Machiavelli had great admiration for the Roman Empire and believed that it was virtuous in all things. Machiavelli held a strong belief in the importance of religion to the formation of a republic or any other type of governing power. According to him, no laws were good enough, by themselves, to make people good. Only through religion and religious oaths could a power structure hope to stay secure for extended periods of time. He says, “it is necessary to whoever disposes a republic and orders laws in it to presuppose that all men are bad, and that they always have to use the malignity of their spirit whenever they have a free opportunity for it” (D1 3.1). The Roman religion focused on the glory of the world, and the “strength of the body, and all other things capable of making men very strong” (D2 2.2). He viewed religion solely as a tool to make more ignorant people malleable to the wishes of the great

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.

“The state is the highest achievement of man, a progressive and elaborate creation of his free will. The individual, the leader, the people, cooperate in maintaining it.” This idea of state was put forth by Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince, which was in essence a ruler’s handbook to governing and maintaining his land. Machiavelli conjured his theories for government by basing his ideas in his belief that men, especially men in power, tend to follow the same directions, and therefore by looking at past leaders and their follies we can better determine how to run a state. “Men are always the same and are animated by the same passions that lead them fatally to the same decisions, acts, an results…. That one can foresee the course of

writing. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513. Its original title was in Latin and meant “About Principalities”. Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, as well as a political theorist, and he wrote The Prince as a political treatise. The Prince was never written with the intention of becoming a famous novel. In fact, Machiavelli wrote this book to try to gain a position in the powerful Italian government controlled by the Medici family. The book was even dedicated to

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

¨Every prince ought to desire to be considered compassionate and not cruel.¨ Notice in this quote from Niccolo Machiavelli's ¨The Prince¨ the word ¨considered¨ is used, rather than something more firm or nothing at all. The point Machiavelli is making is that as a ruler, one must only look like a kind person rather than actually being one. Machiavelli expresses multiple times in his writing that when ruling, using fear is safe and easy to maintain while using love can be messy and full of expectations to uphold. To Machiavelli, the goal is for the ruler to show compassion while still keeping his fear factor, which will help him have an easier time maintaining power. That probably worked when a select few held all the power. In the modern world however, there are more rulers than just Machiavelli’s princes and in most cases it is better to show love rather than to incite fear because the power is now in the hands of the people.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a politician and philosopher from Florence, Italy. In his early life Machiavelli was able to witness the various ways countries dealt with affairs. When he retired, he spent his time writing The Prince (1532), a handbook for rulers. He made The Prince to explain how a leader gains and maintains power. His ideas had a very important function in the development of politics during his time.

Niccolò Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, argues that the prince of a country should attempt to evoke a sense of fear in his subjects instead of love while still not being hated by society. Niccolò Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer who is often regarded as the father of modern political science. Machiavelli is best known for writing The Prince, a book that provides various pieces of advice that Machiavelli believes that a ruler should follow. In The Prince, it states, “Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood,

In The Morals of the Prince Machiavelli expresses his presumption on how a prince should act. He expresses that a prince should be feared, merciful, stingy, etc. He is right because if a prince is loved and too generous then people will take advantage of him and that will lead to his down fall. A prince must act appropriately to remain in power. Machiavelli gives his best ideas to keep a prince in power.

Nowadays, it is politically impossible to commit to paper a "training guide" for leaders. There are innumerable detractors to any possible stance or strategy a leader might adopt. As a result of this, all "training" must take place behind closed doors, far from the prying eyes and ears of the news media or the public. But this has not always been the case.

Niccolo Machiavelli and Karl Marx developed theories concerning wealth and poverty in our society, as well as different types of governments. For instance, Machiavelli supported a capitalist economic system, unlike Marx, who embraced socialism in the society. Machiavelli wrote a book "The Prince" that explained how to be an effective leader. The theme of the book is "the end justifies the means." A person could or should do whatever is necessary to achieve the desired goal. According to Machiavelli, there is no concept of a perfect ruler, but only effective or ineffective leaders. Therefore, he claims that there are no fair fighters, but only losers and winners. Contrary, Marx embraced democracy as good practice for the government. This paper will analyze whether Marx would buy Machiavelli 's thought that states "desired ends justify undesirable means" (Weng 1).

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

Niccolò Machiavelli thoroughly discusses the importance of religion in the formation and maintenance of political authority in his famous works, The Prince and The Discourses. In his writing on religion, he states that religion is beneficiary in the formation of political authority and political leaders must support and endorse religion in order to maintain power. However, Machiavelli also critiques corrupt religious institutions that become involved in politics and in turn, cause corruption in the citizenry and divisions among the state. In the following essay, I will examine Machiavelli’s analysis of religion and discuss the relationship between religion and politics in Machiavelli’s thought.

In the book, The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli thoroughly explains the lifestyle a proper prince should uphold and the skills/actions he should keep in his arsenal, if the time ever comes. I’ve chosen chapters 15, 16, and 17 to further my claims on whether or not these ideas should be used in today’s government. Chapter 15 mainly focuses on the things for which men, but mainly princes, are praised or blamed for in an everyday society. Chapter 16 touches on how often one should be generous and liberal. Finally, chapter 17, the most controversial chapter of Machiavelli’s book discussed among many, tells the famous line of whether it is better to be loved