The five central characters in The Counselor, presents us with a plethora of Machiavellian characters to examine. You must be a fine liar, in this story of greed, sex, and murder with shocking and irreversible consequences to all those involved so prepare for a change in fortunes. The infamous Mexican drug cartels can strike fear in the hearts of all those who cross them, but nothing could prepare them for Cameron Diaz as Malkina in the Counselor. She is a pathological liar, who is now living the
From Stalin to the founding fathers of the United States, Machiavellian influenced motives and ideals can be seen throughout modern history. Socrates is often referred to as the founder of Western philosophy, and his teachings have been passed on to leaders over the centuries. This paper will state both the Machiavelli’s concept of a ‘Prince’, and present Socrates’ perspective on the ‘ideal’ prince. It will then evaluate Machiavelli’s concept of prince from Socrates’ perspective, and decide as to whether
Machiavelli’s “The Prince” brought up some controversial characteristics on what a Machiavellian ruler is. The characteristic that was most stressed was that “A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war.”(Machiavelli 37). With a main focus on the art of war a ruler can protect the state he governs from attacks against him and his state. Machiavelli offers us an analogy to prove the importance of war. He speaks of two men: one armed and one unarmed
Stalin: A Machiavellian Prince Victoria McAlister Professor Innes Enlightenment and Liberal Democracy 1 October 2015 How does a leader gain and maintain the love of his people when he is killing them in mass numbers? Joseph Stalin was successful in this by following the political tactic of using fear to gain love. A tactic that was highly valued by Nicolo Machiavelli in his work The Prince. “In Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, the main character, and Old Bolshevik, Nikolaiz Rubashov
Prospero made a Tempest which he said to come from the use of witchcraft or magic to manipulate certain things just like the storm that hit the ship of the King of Naples. We might have seen The Tempest as a supernatural literary piece but almost all of the characters on the play are just part of Prospero's political experiment. Prospero was once a philosopher in Milan but after he was overthrown, he started to realize the meaning of Machiavellian politics. Prospero is shown to act according to his
Machiavelli writes The Prince centuries after Plato documents Socrates in Crito and The Apology. Despite the different time periods, both Machiavelli and Socrates experience times of turmoil where the concept of democracy was questioned. However, the different time periods cause the views and purposes of Machiavelli’s writing to largely differ from Socrates. Machiavelli writes in a time of turmoil where Italy was a bunch of small, fragmented states and when the Medici’s struggled to regain power
Afghanistan and Iraq. The Prince, a book written by Niccolo Machiavelli, was seen as a text about its coherent perspectives and noble concepts of Leadership. There is a term called “Machiavellian”. This term refers to “the belief that a ruler is justified in using any means necessary to stay in power”. Many people can point out many corrupt scandalous government officials that use deception and dishonesty to maintain their power or title. This
A Machiavellian ruler is a cunning ruler. This is a ruler who uses anything and anyone that is within his power to get into power and to keep the power. This is not all that entails a Machiavellian ruler. Other characteristics such as good fortunes, wisdom and bravery all come into play. Nonetheless, it is the wickedness in a Machiavellian ruler that is reflected in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet through King Claudius. King Claudius, is a classic example of the type of ruler Machiavelli discusses in
When looking into the ideas of political theorists it is important to the use of political concepts that may play an important role in what the theorists are suggesting and also how they may affect the relationship between to state and the individuals living within a state. The concepts that will be looked at within this essay are: power, authority and also accountability. Power in politics is a person who has the ability to influence a person in terms of their behaviour; however they possess no
individual prioritizes in terms of political necessities. Machiavelli’s concept is to describe the means in obtaining power in order to define a political structure that maintains strength in a society. He maintains this power through any means necessary including violence and presumably deceitful acts while instilling fear among his inferiors. On the contrast, through The Apology and Crito, a reader can infer