Machiavelli's Princely Power

1616 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the comtemporary relevance of machiavelli the prince

Princely Power

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince contains a very unique section entitled "Princely Virtues" in which Machiavelli takes on a how-to approach in regards to becoming a prince. The instructional qualities of the novel lead its reader to create in themselves an image of not the most virtuous, but in Machiavelli's eyes, the most effective prince. In the selections found in chapters 15-26, Machiavelli teaches his intended princely students the necessary political skills that a prince must possess in order to maintain his position on top. Machiavelli paints the illusionary portrait of the perfect prince. The prince must take great pains to keep up this virtuous front in order to maintain command as well as respect of his people. …show more content…

In fact, Machiavelli points out that a prince is more secure if he is feared than if he is loved: "Men hesitate less to injure a man who makes himself loved than to injure one who makes himself feared, for their love is held by a chain of obligation, which, because of men's wickedness, is broken on every occasion for the sake of selfish profit; but their fear is secured by a dread of punishment which never fails you" (1494). The prince's desire to be feared leads him to be cruel and forceful at times, in order to keep himself in power. However, Machiavelli warns that a prince must not be too severe, for in the end, he must escape hatred. Although most would find it despicable for a prince to take one of his citizen's lives, if in doing so he maintains power and control over his subjects, the prince is justified in doing so, as long as he has sufficient reason for his actions. By Machiavelli's logic, for a prince to continue to lead with power and control, his methods must be carefully thought out and employed with …show more content…

Machiavelli reasons that the most effective princes of the past "are the ones who have taken little account of their promises and who have known how to addle the brains of men with craft," in the end, these princes have won out over the more honest ones (1495). Although it may seem better to have a multitude of good faith-like qualities, these qualities tend to bring princes to their downfall. Therefore, Machiavelli argues that a prince must have the ability to manipulate his people into believing that he is all that they want in a prince: "I mean that he should seem compassionate, trustworthy, humane, honest, and religious, and actually be so; but yet he should have his mind trained that, when it is necessary not to practice these virtues, he can change to the opposite and do it skillfully" (1496). A prince may have in his mind the best of intentions, yet if he is smart, he will most often be obliged to act in a way that is totally against all of his praiseworthy virtues so as to maintain control of public affairs. However, even while deceiving his people, he must still keep their faith by seeming to be all that in actuality he is not. Again, Machiavelli argues for the acceptability of a prince's deception in order to keep himself esteemed among the

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Machiavelli's The Prince And Leviathan

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    The bravery and strength of the lion will not be enough to empower the ruler to escape the snares set by his enemies for and the slyness of the fox is also needed. “The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” (The Prince) It is not possible for the citizens to love and fear a prince, but being feared is much safer than being loved.“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved” (The Prince) Everything a prince says must be filled with these five qualities: being merciful,being trustworthy, religious,kind, honest. Machiavelli defines virtues as qualities that are praised by others, such as generosity, compassion, and piety. He argues that a prince should always try to appear virtuous, but it is more important for the prince to be practical than it is for him to be morally good. The government that is built of this foundation it

    Read More

  • Machiavelli's The Prince

    1266 Words  | 3 Pages

    Machiavelli believes a prince should know how to be a fox. A fox has been known to be deceptive, sly, cunning, sneaky, crafty, and many other adjectives. These are attributes that Machiavelli believes that a good prince would hold within himself to be able to rule, and in addition to, keeping his reigning power. Machiavelli explains within the text of, The Prince, that rulers have to seem as if they have the best intentions for the people, but secretly the highest priority is to keep himself in power and to protect his dominion. This being the priority of the prince, he has to deceive his subjects into believing he is best fit to rule. To keep up with this deception that the prince uses, morality cannot be a priority that the prince carries.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Machiavelli's Moral Life

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.” While he argues that politicians who try to be good in defiance of the good of the state are not successful politicians, he also acknowledges the importance of necessity in immoral actions. He never argues that immoral actions can ever be considered right, only that they may be required as a politician. Machiavelli states that the ends can justify the means, however he never encourages violence. He also argues against excessive or prolonged violence, emphasizing necessity. He argues against excessive violence in that it can be detrimental to the state. Machiavelli advises that a prince should carefully calculate all the wicked deeds he needs to do to secure his power, and then execute them all in one stroke, such that he need not commit any more wickedness for the rest of his reign. In this way, his subjects will slowly forget his cruel deeds and his reputation can recover. Princes who fail to do this, who hesitate in their ruthlessness, find that their problems mushroom over time and they are forced to commit wicked deeds throughout their reign. Thus they continuously mar their reputations and alienate their people. He states that it is better to be feared than loved, but not at the price of the politician’s reputations or relationship with their people. He also refers to violence as criminal virtue and stresses the need to utilize it only when necessary. While he advocates for the use of violence rather than a course of nonviolence, he specifies that it is for the greater good. If violence is withheld, then the politician is forced to do more wicked deeds. Even though he acknowledges the necessity to commit bad deeds, he is in consensus Plato that ideally the politician should be

    Read More

  • Machiavelli's The Prince: Still Relevant after All These Years

    2155 Words  | 5 Pages

    Machiavelli, Niccolò, and Robert Martin Adams. "Chapter 18." The Prince: A Revised Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations, Marginalia. New York: Norton, 1992. 49. Print.

    Read More

  • Morals and Ethics in The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Prince, Machiavelli attempts to completely decouple the actions of a good ruler from personal ethics. Machiavelli begins to do this by first establishing what he believes human nature to be Machiavelli argues that numerous traits that are innate among humans. Among these, Machiavelli argues that people are generally self-interested, but that their affections for others can be won and lost. They tend to remain happy so long they avoid affliction or oppression. He also argues that they might be trustworthy in prosperous times, but they can turn selfish, deceitful, and profit-driven in adverse times. They admire honor, generosity, courage, and piety in others, but most do not pursue these virtues in their own life. Finally, Machiavelli argues that ambition is found in those who have achieved some power, but most common people are satisfied with the way things are and therefore do not yearn to improve on the status quo. People will naturally feel obligated after receiving a favor or service, and this bond is usually not broken capriciously. Nevertheless, loyalties are won and lost, and goodwil...

    Read More

  • Machiavelli vs. Lao-Tzu

    284 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Machiavelli?s View Of Human Nature

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    Machiavelli has long been required reading for everyone intrested in politics and power. In The Prince Niccolo M

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Machiavelli's The Prince

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout The Prince Machiavelli gives definite instructions as to how a prince should and should not behave which often conforms to the traditional image of men as being tough

    Read More

  • Niccoló Machiavelli's The Qualities Of The Prince

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Machiavelli's Leadership

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    It shows us that he is a realist who believes that we cannot be good all the time and if we try to study the ideal instead of focusing on reality, it will ruin us as he says “A great many men have imagined states and princedoms such as nobody ever saw or knew in the real world, and there’s such a difference between the way we ought to live and the man who neglects the real to study the ideal will learn how to accomplish his ruin” (Machiavelli 42). He is saying the prince cannot let his emotions get in the way or he will be ruined and not do his job of protecting his country well, however, he says that being bad is inevitable and that the prince ought to use this to gain authority as he says “ a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn not to be good, and use that knowledge, …, as necessity requires” (Machiavelli 42). Machiavelli tells us that he prince should steer clear of vices to the best of his ability and to practice virtue, but knows that practicing all these virtues is not possible due to the human condition, and that it is still acceptable to practice

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast John Locke And Machiavelli

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Human Nature In Plato's The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Machiavelli’s advice to princes directly correlated to his view on human nature. He believed that every common man was born evil and selfish. That did not stop him, however, from saying that humans many show instances when they exhibit generosity and wholeheartedness. He does tell princes, however, not to count on the few occurrences that may happen, and he says, “It is necessary to be a prince to know thoroughly the nature of the people, and one of the populace to know the nature of princes”. He is saying is that it is imperative that a prince knows the natural human nature, that each and every human will become more self-interested than interested in the good of the state. If he is ignorant to that fact, his kingdom/area of rule will deteriorate simply because he believes in the citizens that occupy it. He does believe, however, that with the right training, a human being can be molded (with the help of the state, of course) and he says, “Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many.” Although he believes that people cannot change themselves for the good, he does think that the state and military can shape humans for the better, but there will always be

    Read More

  • Machiavelli's list of virtues

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through his many years of experience with Italian politics Machiavelli wrote “The Prince”; a how-to guide for new rulers. We are given descriptions of what a leader should do to effectively lead his country. A leader should be the only authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect a policy to serve his best interests. These interests are gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power. Machiavelli’s idea is that a ruler should use a variety of strategies (virtues) to secure his power. Machiavelli lists five virtues that a ruler should appear to have; being compassionate, trustworthy, generous, honest and religious. A ruler should possess all the qualities considered good by other people.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Concepts of Seeming and Being in Relation to Political Power and Leadership in The Prince and The Republic

    2993 Words  | 6 Pages

    Both Niccolò Machiavelli and Plato, in their works The Prince and The Republic (respectively), address the concepts of seeming and being in relation to political power and leadership, however they do so in two distinct manners. In the Republic, Socrates insists that seeming is bad, and being is good. Using a parable of people in a cave, he states that the only way to know the difference between what seems and what actually is reality is to experience it in its purest form, instead of through images. Machiavelli, on the other hand outlines the different ways that a prince could rise to power, and justifies any and all means that a prince could take. He states that a prince only has to seem good when it fits his purposes, not actually be good. He encourages an aspiring prince to be deceitful and conniving in order to gain and maintain power. Before concluding which political theorist is correct, it is interesting to examine whether it would be better to remain in the cave with Machiavelli or see the light with Socrates.

    Read More

  • Machiavellian Character Analysis

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    In section 18 of The Prince, Machiavelli wrote this: “And so he needs to have a spirit disposed to change as the winds of fortune and variations of things command him, and as I said above, not depart from good, when possible, but know how to enter into evil, when forced by necessity.”(Pg. 56) In this quote, Machiavelli is simply saying that rulers or princes need to be able to adapt as the times and circumstances changes. A prince must be able to evaluate his circumstances and decide how to react to his best advantage. He should do good, but understand how to do evil when necessary.

    Read More

More about Machiavelli's Princely Power

Open Document