Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince

In The Prince, Machiavelli explains what a good and successful prince should be like. He advocates a strong, cutthroat authority figure and encourages the winning of power by any means necessary. The main theme in The Prince is that mob rule is dangerous, for people know only what is good for themselves and not what is good for the whole. The common people, in Machiavelli’s view, “are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well, they are yours”. He believes that these commoners should be

There are many factors that can impact an author's writing which range from ethnical, political climate, social status and current events. Understanding the context behind the piece can help the reader achieve the greater meaning lying within the piece. One such example of this is found within The Prince, an advisory work completed by Niccolo Machiavelli. With the intention of bettering his country, this advisory work provided the high nobility of Italy a take on rule that would allow one to effectively control and gain the respect of his subjects through means that we would claim to be questionable and dictatorial. Another piece that has been affected by setting is Dante’s Inferno. Following the journey of a pilgrim’s descent into the underworld,

The Prince is essentially a guide book on how to acquire and maintain political power. We can think of it as a collection of rules and methods to achieve a level of superior authority. Its main focus is that the ends—no matter how immoral—justify the means for preserving political authority. While some may agree with this mindset of thinking many today dismiss Machiavelli as a cynic. The book shows rulers how it is that they should act to survive in the real world to maintain authority. While Niccolo Machiavelli’s ideas can be radical, they helped to spark a revolution in political philosophy. Although his ideas might have not been completely original, they were very different and unheard of at the time, The Prince, was published. Machiavelli uses many methods to convey his messages including biblical comparisons and of course metaphors. This character can be viewed in several manners. He is almighty and powerful, stopping at nothing to achieve his goals or have his ways. While this quality does qualify him to be a might leader it also raises the question of immorality. How far will one go to maintain order? Would you stop at nothing to achieve this task? Machiavelli shows this by saying, “it is

The Prince is a didactic examination of political power, how to achieve it, maintain it, and expand it. Machiavelli does not take into consideration what is morally right, or amoral, only what is useful and useless. The book is more like a technical manual, and technical manuals only state the facts. The book defines what turns a mere man into a great

Niccolo Machiavelli was a Renaissance statesman and a political figure. He was born in May 3, 1469, Florence, Italy. He wrote many things that brought him popularity as an immoral cynic and a agnostic. Niccolo had always been a very wealthy person. In 1512 the Florentine republic was conquered and the gonfalonier removed by a Spanish army that Julius II had enrolled into his Holy League. The Medici family came back to rule Florence, and Machiavelli was charged with conspiracy, was thrown in jail, tortured, and sent into exile, expelled from a country, in 1513. Machiavelli was a writer. Some of the things he wrote was The prince, Discourses on Livy, and The Art of War. That is some background information on Niccolo Machiavelli

Written in 1513, The Prince gives advice to princes on how to expand and maintain political control. The author, Nicolló Machiavelli, spent a big part of his life studying history and different political situations. He put together a little book and sent it to Lorenzo the Magnificent, the governor of Florence. This gesture was done to grant Machiavelli a position in the Florentine government and get respect from the powerful Medici family. In the treatise, Machiavelli analyzes historical and hypothetical situations in order to demonstrate the correct and incorrect actions. Additionally, he discusses important rulers in history and how they dealt with the population of their land. Machiavelli often mentions human nature and how it can be

During Niccolo Machiavelli’s time, Italy was the epitome of political conflict. Machiavelli witnessed an array political change from the expulsion of the Medici family to the rise of Girolamo Savanorola. He even served as a diplomat to Pope Julius, but when the Medici family regained control of Florence, Machiavelli was dismissed from office and accused of participating in a conspiracy. As a result, he was held in jail for three weeks and was tortured brutally. After his release, Machiavelli began writing The Prince, a book that outlines in a very straightforward and logical manner how a prince should procure and maintain his princedom. Though he is seemingly expressing his thoughts about how men should approach their journey to princedom in his book, The Prince, there is an underlying cynical discernment about the dark shadow of human nature, perhaps a perception that stemmed from Machiavelli’s excruciating time in prison. To Machiavelli, the real truth is that men are simply selfish individuals who are almost animal-like in their actions and will spare no humanity if it means becoming a prince and successfully keeping their princedom. He accepts this truth and proceeds by writing a very systematic and binary how-to manual that describes every decision a prince can make and its outcome. In every chapter, Machiavelli outlines another aspect of ruling a princedom and in every chapter, Machiavelli expresses another cynical attitude toward human nature.

Kaiser Wilhelm II lacked distinct characteristics required of a man in Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Prince”. Kaiser Wilhelm II was a child born from two powerful people of the time. In 1859 the King of Prussia, Prince Frederick Wilhelm and Princess Victoria who was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of England became pregnant with their son Wilhelm II. Although Wilhelm was not very fond of England at the time his ties to the royal monarchy would serve to his benefit later on his political agenda. Kaiser Wilhelm was a large political figure in Europe at the time and commanded the German forces in World War I in 1914.

Niccolò Machiavelli wrote The Prince with the sole purpose of impressing the Medici family and getting on the good side of the new ruler of Florence, Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici. By writing this “handbook to ruling,” Machiavelli hoped to sway the Medici to accept him as an ally and possible political advisor. He was extremely convincing as he used examples from the past as a “political lesson” to further distinguish his ideas as correct.

Niccolo Machiavelli lived during a time where Christian doctrine and consequent conceptions of morality reigned supreme. Thus, in The Prince, he seeks to redefine the most basic human instinct as that of acquisition. This restructures or perhaps reasserts society as comprised of the haves and have nots; the coveted possession is not necessarily wealth but ambition to rule. In this sense, he orients the world around the eponymous Machiavellian prince: someone who, very simply, is willing to do what it takes to uphold his acquisition. By doing so, he rejects the notion of Christian virtue as singular focus on the salvation of the soul. Luther in “Freedom of a Christian,” for example, espouses that a virtuous man should not concern himself with

He drank in the company of peasants, fought in local villages and railed at his fate. At night, he dressed in the old robes of office, sat at his desk, and wrote. He drew on his experiences in government and composed a manifesto for pragmatic leadership (PBS).” Machiavelli used his own personal accounts and experiences in order to write The Prince. In the book, Machiavelli describes how to take and maintain control of foreign lands with any means necessary, regardless of morals. "Because how one ought to live is so far removed from how one lives that he who lets go of what is done for that which one ought to do sooner learns ruin than his own preservation: because a man who might want to make a show of goodness in all things necessarily comes to ruin among so many who are not good. Because of this it is necessary for a prince, wanting to maintain himself, to learn how to be able to be not good and to use this and not use it according to necessity (Machiavelli).” The Prince is different from other books about creating and controlling principalities because it doesn't tell you what an ideal prince or principality is, but Machiavelli explains through examples, which princes are the most successful in obtaining and maintaining power. Machiavelli draws his examples from personal observations made while he was on diplomatic missions for Florence and from his readings in ancient history. His writing has the mark of the Renaissance upon it because he sprinkles his text with Latin phrases and many examples are drawn from Classical

A major part of present day culture focuses on visual appearance. An example of this is in politics and the other is the differing perceptions people have about art and personal experiences. Though there were many influential individuals in the Renaissance period, the ideas of Niccolo Machiavelli and Leonardo Da Vinci are still relevant today for their ideas about politics and people’s visual perception. Niccolo Machiavelli, a political thinker, wrote The Prince during the Renaissance period and analyzed how to acquire and maintain political power as a leader. He is remembered today for his opinion that the means to achieve power, no matter how immoral, are justified if the success of the government prevails. Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the most remembered

The Prince is a practical guide on how to be a proper ruler written by Niccolò Machiavelli in 1513. In it he outlines how to act as a prince. He wrote it for Lorenzo Di Piero De’ Medici, the Duke of Florence, because he wanted him to accept it as a gift in hopes that reading it could make him a better ruler. In the book, Machiavelli describes the traits and actions a prince should take in order to rule effectively. Some themes found recurring within the book are human nature, perception of power, and leadership. He also discusses some controversial topics in regards to the methods a prince should use to maintain control.

"Machiavelli identifies the interests of the prince with the interests of the state." He felt that it was human nature to be selfish, opportunistic, cynical, dishonest, and gullible, which in essence, can be true. The state of nature was one of conflict; but conflict, Machiavelli reasoned, could be beneficial under the organization of a ruler. Machiavelli did not see all men as equal. He felt that some men were better suited to rule than others. I believe that this is true in almost any government. However, man in general, was corrupt -- always in search of more power. He felt that because of this corruptness, an absolute monarch was necessary to insure stability. Machiavelli outlined what characteristics this absolute ruler should have in The Prince. One example of this can be seen in his writings concerning morality. He saw the Judeo-Christian values as faulty in the state's success. "Such visionary expectations, he held, bring the state to ruin, for we do not live in the world of the "ought," the fanciful utopia, but in the world of "is". The prince's role was not to promote virtue, but to insure security. He reasoned that the Judeo-Christian values would make a ruler week if he actually possessed them, but that they could be useful in dealing with the citizens if the prince seemed to have these qualities. Another example of Machiavelli's ideal characteristics of a prince

Relying on the needs of the society of that time, Machiavelli comes to the conclusion that the most important task is the formation of a single Italian state (Machiavelli 15). Developing his thoughts, the author comes to the following inference: only a prince can become a leader capable of leading people and building a unified state. It is not a concrete historical personality but someone abstract, symbolic, possessing such qualities that in the aggregate are inaccessible to any living ruler. That is why Machiavelli devotes most of his research to the issue of what qualities should the prince possess to fulfill the historical task of developing a new state. The written work is constructed strictly logically and objectively. Even though the image of an ideal prince is abstract, Machiavelli argues that he should be ruthless, deceiving, and selfish.