Vincent Barnett's The Prince

In the article written by Vincent Barnett, he explains the different reasons that Machiavelli might have written “The Prince”. He also mentions the lasting effects of” The prince” and also mentioned how Machiavelli was ridiculed and judged for his brutally honest writing. Barnett mentioned that Machiavelli had lost his job as the secretary to the chancery in Florence. After losing his job he was arrested, tortured, and became extremely bitter. One of the possible motives for writing “The Prince” was that Machiavelli was trying to get reinstated back into his old job. Machiavelli could have also intended” The Prince” to hit the audience as satirical. Possibly to poke fun at all the failures of the political leaders and to make them look unintelligent.

Before Machiavelli wrote The Prince, he was a respected Florentine diplomat. When Machiavelli lost his title, he wrote this work for Lorenzo de’ Medici, the governor of Florence at the time in hopes of obtaining his stature again. Machiavelli’s sole purpose was for Lorenzo de’ Medici to accept his ‘offering’ and give him back his title. Machiavelli says, “I have not sought to adorn my work with long phrases or high-sounding words or any of those superficial attractions and ornaments with which many writers seek to embellish their material, as I desire no honour for my work but such as the novelty and gravity or its subject may justly deserve” (4). Machiavelli clearly states that he in no way was writing this for anyone but Lorenzo nor did he intend on receiving any literary acknowledgment. This proves that The Prince could also have been an informative writing because he was not telling Lorenzo how to run a government or treat his people. However, when he did present the information in his work, he backed up his arguments and had many examples to show that his tactics had been proven to work or would work in future

The Prince had no actual characters, but instead discussed and analyzed the political policies of political leaders, highlighting their faults and strengths. The setting was 1513 Europe. This is the same time when major areas were having power struggles and religious conflict was rampant. His tone is that of the ambitious leader. It conveys the thoughts of one who knows how to gain and maintain power. Though this is true, the thoughts are built upon principalities probably learned by way of many mistakes made by one who will never again be in the position to imply his theorems and strategies. Machiavelli's own ruthless mind probably served as the bases for him knowing the ways of the corrupt. The thesis seems to

This considering colors the model of the Prince as only befitting to the wicked and crooked strategy to keep power. Some of this are accurate to Machiavelli goal. Machiavelli

In my opinion, I think that Machiavelli wrote this book as a guide to help future rulers. In chapter XV he writes, “ My intent is to write something useful to whoever understands it.” For example one of the many pieces of advice that he gives and probably the most important, is that a good prince must have a good foundation. ” In this book Machiavelli provides several examples of characteristics that a prince/ruler should and should not display. Throughout the chapters in the book Machiavelli also provides examples of rulers prior to him writing the book as well as rulers/princes that were present during his time, which display the characteristics that he writes about.

In the article, Vincet Barnett explains and shows how there is more to Machiavelli than we really know. Machiavelli originally was trying to win back favor from the then-current rulers by writing "The Prince;" assuming a bitter attitude would work. "The Prince," had to be a crucial book to understand the meaning of what a leader had to do to succeed.

In 1513, an Italian man named Niccolo Machiavelli, wrote The Prince. Machiavelli was positioned as Second Chancellor of Florence after being a man of letters. He then failed in serving as a diplomat until 1512, but showed strength in wanting to unite the states. After leaving his diplomatic position, Machiavelli was forbidden to face politics and only focused on writing. His writing was suspected of conspiracy. It is also suspected that Machiavelli wrote The Prince to gain office and to have an affect on policy. Generally in his text, Machiavelli discusses several philosophies on how to be a good ruler. The Prince is a classic form of text because it has crossed over time and people have been reading it for thousands of years. It has also provided

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

The Prince is a result of studies of ancient history and of his experience as a secretary of the Florentine Republic. It was written for the ruling Medici family. Machiavelli hoped that by reading and understanding his writings the Medici's would realize that he was the top political analyst of his time and give him a high-ranking position in the government.

In the second half of the twentieth century, Machiavelli's other writings have come to more prominent light. Although many have questioned his motives behind writing the Prince in the past, only recently have his other works been more closely studied. In particular, the letters he wrote to friends and family while he was writing The Prince and those he wrote before and after, which provide details into what he was thinking at the time. Also, The Discourses is another book that talks about how to govern a state. In that book, Machiavelli is far less ruthless than in The Prince. He even goes so far as to say that monarchy is a bad form of government. So, while the term 'Machiavellian' still holds the same meaning, Machiavelli's purposes in writing The Prince have become much more contested than in the first half of the century. As a result, Machiavelli's reputation as a political thinker is improving and he is being compared to politicians who are somewhat more popular, such as the United States' founding fathers and Bill Clinton. Instead of being known

Niccolo Machiavelli was the first to clearly decipher politics from ethics by studying politics in such depth and thought. He created the basis of what politics should be and how they are runned for today. His book The Prince is primarily a handbook for all rulers to follow to be the most successful in their reign. His book is considered political realism which means he speaks about only the truth of politics, so it can be used for the practice of governing. Machiavelli’s book is the handbook for obtaining and maintaining power even for today’s modern politics.

Due to the immorality advocated for in Machiavelli’s writing, along with what is known of Machiavelli’s politics, individuals often succumb to one of two beliefs regarding The Prince. The first is that he wrote The Prince in mockery of the princely states, specifically the Medici family. It was meant as a sort of caricature of their rule. The Medici family had long interfered with the republic of Florence.

In understanding the relationship between The Prince and the Discourses from the perspective of the Prince as a tool of deception, it is important to interpret it through the historical context of which Machiavelli was living in. Machiavelli was born in Florence, which was the heart of the Renaissance. Machiavelli had a long and complex relationship with the rulers, the Medici family. Before the Medici obtained power, Machiavelli had an important role in politics as a high-ranking official in the republic under the Soderini regime. In 1512, Spanish forces defeated the Florentine Republic. As a result, the Soderini rule collapsed, the Medici rose to power, and Machiavelli lost his political status. After the suspicion of plotting against Medici lords, Machiavelli was imprisoned and tortured. He was eventually released from jail on the condition of house arrest, where he wrote The Prince and the Discourses. Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo de Medici, nephew of the de facto administrator of Florence in 1513.

The purpose of Machiavelli’s The Prince, is to create a guide for Lorenzo de Medici, the ruler of Florence in 1492, explaining how a person can successfully rise to power and remain in office afterward. Because at this time Machiavelli was frowned upon by the new regime and removed from office, his goal was to hopefully regain his political reputation with the help of Lorenzo de Medici. Machiavelli emphasizes how important it is for a sovereign to be feared but at the same time liked by the public. He believes that this equilibrium between fear

Niccolo Machiavelli is considered the father of modern political science. Living in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century's, Machiavelli was a citizen of the city-state of Florence where he served as a secretary to the city council and as a diplomatic envoy for 14 years. The Prince was published five years after his death and is regarded as his most famous work. The Prince is an articulate and precise explanation of the way to use the lesson of history in politics as an example to learn and build ideas from. The Prince can be broken up into four parts. Firstly, Machiavelli explains how a prince gets a state. Secondly, he explains how a prince holds on to a state. Thirdly, he