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Essay on The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

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The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli was written in the year 1513 A.C.E. in Italy during a time in which his views were greatly detested by others. They were so hated that he was exiled from his own country for writing them. When hearing this, one must ask oneself, what kinds of views did Machiavelli have so that his own country would cast him out? His ideas, though written very complexly, were very simple. One must gain success and to do so, any means were justifiable. He wrote his ideas in a lengthy letter to prince of Italy, Lorenzo de’ Medici. He gave him advice that was supported by history and what he thought were the precise makings of an excellent leader. That advice was both excellent and awful. …show more content…

Meaning that he must be aware of his enemies and terrifying to them as well. According to Machiavelli, these are the qualities that build a great prince or leader. In this document, Machiavelli also conveys the idea that by doing these things, one must gain success and if success is gained, then any means taken to get it our justified. This is conveyed by his giving methods to simply gain power; and crimes and evil along the way are okay, as long as one indeed does gain power (Machiavelli, 279). The ideas that are portrayed by Machiavelli in The Prince can be thought of as the perfect ways to gain success. Machiavelli even supports all of his given qualities with a great leader in history who has become great due to that characteristic. When Machiavelli explains how a prince must know how to wage war, he gives a great example of a military leader who overthrew the government of Milan in 1450 and went on to become its duke (Machiavelli, 280). Machiavelli also explains that is very wise to follow great leaders of the past. He points out that it is said that Alexander the Great followed the path of Achilles, Caesar followed Alexander, and Scipio followed Cyrus. According to Machiavelli, “ . . . A wise prince ought to do likewise . . .” (Machiavelli, 281) Though

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