The Prince Chapter Summaries

Richelieu’s section regarding the power of the prince was particularly reminiscent of 15th century Italian political strategist Niccoló Machiavelli’s seminal work, The Prince. The Prince also deals with the management of one’s people, and argued

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.

Machiavelli believes that the foundation of a strong Nation State is a strong army. According to The prince the most important part of being a leader is studying the art of war. Staying in power is a main point in the prince and to stay in power a Prince must conduct a strong army. The Prince proclaims not only do you need a strong army but also you need to be in total control of that army. “Prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables

As the Prince is described as demanding his character proves that he understands the level of power and control he has. The prince also understands how much respect he expects from his subjects.

A prince must have a valid reason before punishing a citizen. When inducing fear, a prince must be careful to avoid inducing hatred. A prince must make sure that any executions are properly justified. Above all, a prince should never confiscate the property of his subjects or take their women, since these actions are most likely to breed hatred. If a prince must confiscate property, he must make sure he has a convincing reason.

He speaks of both bad and good human nature and how man possesses both. A man is a “fickle creature”, as Machiavelli puts it, and will always lean towards his own self-interest when all things are equal. He also writes that, “...man has qualities that will bring him either blame or praise.” But because The Prince is also a man, he possesses these qualities as well. A prince should always know how to balance out these qualities.

The Prince contains twenty-six Chapters in which Machiavelli attempts to gained favor from the Medici family. Chapters one and two contains subject matter focuses on New Princedoms. In the first sentence, Machiavelli effectively uses the word “state” in order to set the tone for the chapters to follow. Machiavelli explains that the “state” covers “all forms of organizations of power, whether republican or princely.” Machiavelli nots in Chapter one that it is much easier to rule over hereditary state rather than new principalities for two reasons. One, in the hereditary state citizens are accustom to the prince’s family’s rule and that the new prince only needs to keep such successful institutions intact. The second reason is that the prince

According to Machiavelli, a prince learns such virtue by particular kinds of study: first, and most importantly, the study of warfare. He should spend lots of time strategizing, exercising, and preparing himself for battle. Such training makes a man more likely to achieve power through conquest, and less likely to succumb to laziness once he achieves it. In addition, any prince who wishes to be powerful should also study histories of successful princes, to understand what has worked for men in the past and model his behavior on them. In a sense, The Prince itself is a kind of history book, compiling short examples of good (and bad) rulers throughout history for the edification of its princely readers.

Machiavelli’s The Prince was written during the early years of the sixteenth century and was one of the most profound and controversial pieces of literature to emerge from the Renaissance. The political treatise was written for Lorenzo de Medici in hopes that he would use the principles taught in it to rule in Italy. Machiavelli planned for the piece of literature to impress Medici and hopefully persuade him to give Machiavelli a position within the Italian government, a position that he longed to go back to. The Medici family ultimately never implemented any of Machiavelli’s recommendations, but one could find examples of famous rulers from the past that exemplify Machiavelli’s ideal ruler. The Prince is a timeless piece of literature

Everything creatively made, be it a painting or a piece of music or, in this case, a novel, is inevitably going to become dated over time. While the logic behind it and human traits exhibited inside are timeless, many of the examples of leadership given in The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli simply cannot translate to modern-day, in which lives move lightning-fast, governments vary, and war is more often avoided than it is encouraged. While the traits of a Machiavellian leader are still often exhibited in today’s best leaders, most of the advice he gives is for a world so primitive and slow in comparison to modern society. For example, Winston Churchill, famous for his leadership in Britain cannot be described as a prince, and war was thrown at him as a necessity, although he already had a war-like iron will. While his rise to power was not by any method depicted in The Prince, working his way up an already-established system, it could be attributed to the traits he displayed similar to those described by Machiavelli, so

He states that when attacked, a prince has to be prepared to defend and should never be afraid to defend his territory or people he believes. In the last chapter he explains how to take Italy and staying on the line between luck and God saying that leaders must adapt to the times in which they live, to stay in power longer. The book portrays Machiavelli’s experience in the analysis of governance structures, giving the Prince Lorenzo de 'Medici a way to stay

The Prince is a political treatise written in 1513 by Niccolò Machiavelli. The treatise was not published, however until 1532, after Machiavelli’s death. The Prince was written and dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici; Machiavelli believed Medici was Italy’s only hope to restore Italy to its former greatness. The Prince details the characteristics a Prince must have in order to rule. The Prince is broken up into parts. Part one consists of chapters one through three, and discusses the many types of principalities and princes, along with how to rule newly established principalities. This part also sets up the main parts that Machiavelli will be discussing throughout the book. Part two of The Prince consists of chapters four through fourteen,

Chapter 17 in The Prince is very explanatory in a fine lined sense. The author explains that, a prince must walk a fine line of mercy and cruelty. With one route, loyalty and trust can be established, but to much of it, and the population will desert their ruler. The other direction gives people a easy life and love for their ruler, but in times of struggle and strife, since their is no fear of punishment or not accountability, the congregation cuts ties and moves on. Therefore, the entirety of the chapter reflects that, after analyzing the people, the Prince must walk the fine line that he chooses to set forth, of the congregation, will be

Being kind will leave you with the reputation for being kind, which is not necessarily bad, unless people start to take advantage of your weakness. There is no way that I could be a prince because this would be my biggest fall. I care too much for people. This problem has two sides to it; if a prince is too feared things will get bad, which means that people will begin to rebel and cause riots. At this point a prince can be overthrown by the people. If the military does not fear him, they could also rebel. So, a prince must be somewhat tough on the military so they will not attempt to overthrow

The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli in 1513 in his native Italian language, was a book dedicated to Florence’s then leader Lorenzo de’Medici in an effort for Machiavelli to gain a position in Florence’s new government. The book was intended to help guide Lorenzo and other present and future leaders in gaining and maintaining power, more specifically to aid Lorenzo in unifying Italy under one ruler. Machiavelli lived during a time of great political strife in Italy as the small city-states of Italy, the Papal States, and the powerful states of Spain and