Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

In the story "The Prince", the author, Niccolo Machiavelli illustrates plenty of key points in what it takes to become a successful Prince. Machiavelli illustrates a true image of the unsympathetic reputation he has carried throughout the years. He explains his ideas on taking over a "free" state and how to take control and rule while still having the peoples respect. In chapter 5, Machiavelli claims that the key to taking over a free state is to destroy it at first.

Machiavelli’s opinion is that being feared is better than being loved since individuals can more easily break the bond of love whereas fear “is supported by the dread of pain”

In Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, Machiavelli redefines what it means to be a “good prince.” Prior to the Renaissance, the notion of “good” implied one who was morally righteous and virtuous. However, Machiavelli’s concern lies with appearances rather than reality. In this way, he believes a prince must only seem good, but not truly be good.

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

Machiavelli has many ideas throughout his work. A few of them can definitely translate to current day situations. In Machiavelli’s “the prince” he brings up many key points that people may find very controversial. Some people completely agree and other people think that they're completely irrational and too powerful. Either way you look at it you have a really organized government form that may or may not work in this day and age.

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.

1. In Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince”, declaimed that the best strategy to be a prince is to do best that you can to get what you want even if it is going to be cruel and unmerciful, but make sure that you will have the best strategy to make people like you. Machiavelli supports his claims by using the events and the strategies that successful leaders in the history uses like Cyrus, Hannibal, Julius Ceasar, Alexander and others. His purpose is to let the people know what is the nastiest most unpleasant activities leaders in his era uses to get the god, gold and glory that they want to achieve. He seems to be an inappropriate person to ask for leadership advice for people who is living in the present time.

Machiavelli's The Prince is written on the premise that an individual is led by their own free will, as oppose to those who sought after religious or supernatural help. He tried to illustrate that individuals were responsible for their own actions, it was a belief that broke away from the catholic church whom believed that God, in all his magnificence was author and finisher of one's fait. According to Machiavelli, a ruling prince's purpose was to be the sole influence over a state, issuing policies that would ultimately serve to his own benefit. These policies revolved around the maintenance and the expansion of his empire. He insisted that princes could only benefit from their subjects by holding a firm grip on them through deceit and manipulation

Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince discusses the ideal characteristics of an imperial ruler. I chose this particular book because many of Machiavelli’s recommendations tend to reflect political values from which today’s society would benefit. Writing to his king, Machiavelli implores his ruler never to lose the trust and support of his people, a principle that currently appears to be lacking in present-day leadership across the globe.

Machiavelli’s, book the prince has been the centre of debate since its inception. There has been a prevalent stand-point among the philosophers of political science that there ought to be an interplay between morality and legitimate control/ authority. Many philosophers during the course of middle ages leaned towards believing that the authority held by the rural/ leaders was only legitimate, if he was righteous. Thus for the rulers who wanted a long reigns and aimed their heir to acquire the office had no option but to make sure that they behaved well in accordance to normative understanding

Niccolò Machiavelli “The Prince”. Using bad or immoral methods to achieve something good by using them. At least once in everyone’s life, at one point they’ve made a dishonest decision. Some of us have even tried to explain our actions by bending the truth. Being dishonest is not the best, but at times it is the best answer. It may not seem to be the faithful thing to do, but the outcome will always be judged as honorable. It doesn’t matter how people reach what they want as long as the outcome is what they had hoped. The end goal doesn’t necessarily have to be good and noble. It is acceptable to go to any extent to obtain something that is for a good cause.

John McCormick, the author of this article states that Machiavelli’s belief of violence and brutality in politics with the disregard of morals are radical. McCormick also talks about how major examples of princes in Machiavelli’s works were deemed criminals by historians and are disreputable compared to greater princes such as Romulus, Moses, and Cyrus. He then goes further discussing the effects of brutal politics that Machiavelli proposes, criticizing their lack of morals and their increase in oppression of the people. McCormick provides convincing arguments against Machiavelli’s works and discusses other issues throughout Machiavelli’s works. This source is published by Johns Hopkins University Press, which is an extremely reputable source and is part of Project MUSE, a project that collects papers from academic journals, university presses, and leading scholarly societies, all of which are from reputable sources. John McCormick is also a highly reputable author and has many books in the field of political science. This helps the reader grasp the negative aspects of The Prince as this article clearly discusses issues in Machiavelli’s book. The issue and theme of how a ruler should rule are described effectively in this article and provides the reader with even more insight on Machiavelli’s examples and how credible members of the scholarly community think of examples that Machiavelli uses, examples such as Cesare Borgia. McCormick describes what Machiavelli did not describe, the issue of the people who will be subject to a harsh pursuit of power; which is a criticism the reader must face in order to understand The Prince and what problems arise from Machiavelli’s proposals of

The Prince is a novel written in 1513 by Niccolo Machiavelli. This book contains 26 chapters, focusing on acquiring and maintaining political power. In other words, it could be seen as the “do’s and don’ts” of the political world. In Chapters One through Eleven, the author discusses the different

More advice given to the prince by Machiavelli was on general good governance, meaning how to rule, all supported by historical examples. He writes, "…the prince will avail himself of the occasion… to secure himself, with less consideration for

Niccolo Machiavelli’s abstract work of The Prince discusses politics and government and focuses in not only acquiring power, but also how to maintain it. Throughout his work, one of the most prevalent yet disputed themes is between the acquirement of states between principalities and republics. The Prince shows a predominant and constant debate on which group will excel in acquiring power. However, despite Machiavelli’s harsh criticisms on principalities, his work does not solely praise or focus on the excellence of republics. In fact, as Machiavelli continues to speak and provide examples about the successes and failures of both republics and principalities, it becomes clearer that the lone purpose of The Prince is to merely provide tactics in political governance, instruction on how to maintain power once it is acquired, and most importantly, advice on how to become a great leader.