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The prince analysis machiavelli essay
Main points of the Prince by Machiavelli
The prince analysis machiavelli essay
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A Machiavellian is one who follows principles of Machiavelli in preferring expediency to morality, according to OED. Renowned as the author of The Prince, Machiavelli is an advocate of real politics and Machiavellian could also be applied to himself.
Machiavelli showed the weakness in human nature. Humans were born ungrateful, fickle and eager to avoid danger. The princes should disregard the reproach of cruelty to keep his subjects loyalty and faithful to him, rather than abusing his mercy. “For men will sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony”(20). While people were conferred with benefits, they are willing to sacrifice for others, but people would betray others when truly needed. The so-called homage and faithfulness were merely the protection of self-interest and cover of avarice inward.
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For cabal and intrigues were so common in politics, and human nature was evil, if people cannot keep their faith with prince, a prince need not keep faith with them. He thinks that the duplicity of a prince is necessary; it is not essential that a prince should have all the good qualities, but it is essential that a prince appeared to have all of them. It seemed to Machiavelli that as long as the prince could consolidate his authority and territory, any means would be considered fair and
Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect.
There is a sufficient argument that Machiavelli advises leaders to be unscrupulous in The Qualities of the Prince. This is especially arguable when reading Machiavelli’s explanation for why it is better to be feared or to be loved. He claims that cruelty is permissible when it is necessary to maintain order. Machiavelli believes that compassion and mercy have led to the fall of many leaders in the past. He also emphasizes the effectiveness as manipulation. After discussing the necessity for a leader to use force as with animal nature, Machiavelli writes, “…it is necessary to know how to disguise this nature well and to be a great hypocrite and a liar.” When his instructions are riddled with quotes such as this one, it is difficult to argue that he is advising leaders to be anything but immoral. Machiavelli is aware that his writing subjects him to such criticism. He rationalizes his views by explaining that he writes practically rather than ideally. Machiavelli explains, “…it seemed more suitable to me to search after the effectual truth rather than its imagined one.” He also justifies a leader’s use of cruelty
The most astounding aspect of The Prince is Machiavelli’s view that princes may indeed, be cruel and dishonest if their ultimate aim is for the good of the state. It is not only acceptable but necessary to lie, to use torture, and to walk over other states and cities. Machiavellianism is defined as “A political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power (Def.)” This implies that in the conquest for power, the ends justify the means. This is the basis of Machiavellianism. The priority for the power holder is to keep the security of the state regardless of the morality of the means. He accepts that these things are in and of themselves morally wrong, but he points out that the consequences of failure, the ruin of states and the destruction of cities, can be far worse. Machiavelli strongly emphasizes that princes should not hesitate to use immoral methods to achieve power, if power is necessary for security and survival.
Machiavelli believes that a government should be very structured, controlled, and powerful. He makes it known that the only priorities of a prince are war, the institutions, and discipline. His writings describes how it is more important for a prince to be practical than moral. This is shown where he writes, "in order to maintain the state he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity, and against religion" (47). In addition, Machiavelli argues that a prince may have to be cunning and deceitful in order to maintain political power. He takes the stance that it is better for the prince to be feared than loved. His view of how a government should run and his unethical conduct are both early signs of dictatorship.
Machiavelli is “a crystal-clear realist who understands the limits and uses of power.” -- Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jared Diamond (2013)
In The Prince, Machiavelli separates ethics from politics. His approach to politics, as outlined in The Prince, is strictly practical. Machiavelli is less concerned with what is right and just, and instead with what will lead to the fortification of the government and the sustainment of power. Machiavelli believed that a ruler should use any means necessary to obtain and sustain power. He says, “…people judge by outcome. So if a ruler wins wars and holds onto power, the means he has employed will always be judged honorable, and everyone will praise them” (Machiavelli, 55). According to Machiavelli, the ends of an action justify the means (Machiavelli, 55). His motivation for these views in The Prince was the reunification of the Italian city-states (Machiavelli, 78-79). Machiavelli wanted Italy to return to its glory of the Roman Empire (Machiavelli 78-79). Some of the beliefs of Machiavelli could be perceived as evil and cruel, but he found them necessary. Machiavelli was not concerned with making people happy. His purpose was outcome and success, and in his opinion, the only way to be successful was to be realistic. These views of Machiavelli could classify him as one of the earliest modern
Stability in government is the bottom line for every political decision made for that particular government. Regardless of the type of government, or who is in office, everyone desires their position to be secure. Whether or not this equals stability and prosperity for the people is questionable. According to Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince, stability is based upon the ruler alone, and how he gets the people in line does not matter as long as he plays his cards right. Cruelty is acceptable, if he can later divert the outrage to another party, and in so doing make himself look the hero. This totalitarian view of government and authority works for a time, but, when compared with a more republican government, cannot hold ground.
Machiavelli’s book The Prince could be considered a guideline for anyone, who possesses both “virtue” and “fortune”, interested in becoming a ruler over a group of civilians. The Prince acts as guideline by providing both the do’s and don’ts one should act on. If such are executed correctly one will not only gain power over a group of people but also maintain power for as long as one wishes. Machiavelli not only provides a list of steps one must follow in order to successfully maintain power but also same provides examples of those who didn’t do such things and as a result lost their power. In chapter 26 Machiavelli takes a moment to reference Italian princes and why they lost their principalities, something very important since Machiavelli
Machiavelli believed that, ethics and morality were considered in other categories than those generally known. He does not deny the existence of, but did not see how they can be useful in its traditional sense as in politics and in the government of the people. According to Machiavelli, a man is by nature a political angry and fearful. Machiavelli had no high opinion of the people. It is assumed that a person is forced to be good and can get into the number of positive features, such as prudence and courage. The prince can only proceed gently and with love, because that would undermine the naivety of his rule, and hence and the well-being of the state. He thought that, the Lord must act morally as far as possible, immorally to the extent to
(652) and those who do realize what the Prince is, dare not tell, for the Prince has the power of the masses to protect him. Machiavelli, in a sense, describes how to live, successfully and prosperously, by dealing with the human?s nature. He details how one is to manipulate
Although Machiavelli gives numerous points on what it takes to excel as a prince, he also shows some raw examples of how he feels a prince should act in order to achieve maximum supremacy. First, when he says, "ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern" proves Machiavelli feels mighty adamant about his view that being mean will help a prince achieve success (332). It is absurd to imagine the meanest prince as the most successful. Also, when Machiavelli states, "our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft" revealing his attitude to manipulate people into fearing and respecting the prince (335). Also, Machiavelli shows that for a prince to be successful, he must not think about good faith.
Prince teaches leaders how best to acquire and maintain power. Opinion is divided regarding Machiavelli’s real intent. When Machiavelli mentioned "fancies", he was referring to the theories set prior to his own. Theories which recognized men as good, thus able to be controlled by good. But in this quote Machiavelli points out that men do not live in such a fashion. Therefore, those acts which are "other than good" are necessary for acquisition and preservation of power in society. Machiavelli set the precedent for the cold and calculated regardless of the century they live in. He discusses frankly, the necessity of cruel actions to keep power. He was in the business of power preservation not piety. Those who desire power in any situation may
Niccoló Machiavelli claims in “The Qualities of the Prince” that a prince must have certain qualities that will allow him to seize and maintain his power as a ruler. Machiavelli asserts that these qualities will guarantee the ruler to be able to govern his subjects effectively. According to him, a prince must study the art of war, must understand generosity and to what extent he must be generous to be effective, must choose to either be loved or feared, and be able to keep his word to his citizens according to the situation. These qualities can still apply in today’s politics, and will be useful for a modern time politician as long as they are used carefully.
Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher from Florence, Italy. The period that Machiavelli lived in was the "rebirth" of art in Italy and rediscovery of ancient philosophy, literature and science. He wrote The Prince, in which he discusses the proper way of living as a prince. His ideas, which were not viewed as beneficial at the time, were incredibly cynical and took time for the rest of the population to really catch onto the ideas. Machiavelli’s view of human nature was that humans are born evil, and while they can show good traits, and the common man is not to be trusted. Unlike Confucius, Machiavelli believes that human nature cannot be changed, and unlike Plato, where Plato believes in humans as social beings. Each respected view
The first duty of a prince is to maintain power and acquire more. What does this mean? What is duty and what is power? If the princes of Machiavelli’s time followed his advice and searched only for power, what does this mean for the people? The first priority of a prince or ruler should be to better the people and to protect them. Machiavelli stated that ones duty, as a prince is to be as powerful as can be, but as a ruler the first priority should be the people, and as a prince, to be selfless, good, and wise.