Machiavellian Rulers Are Focused on War in Machiavelli’s The Prince

Machiavelli’s “The Prince” brought up some controversial characteristics on what a Machiavellian ruler is. The characteristic that was most stressed was that “A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war.”(Machiavelli 37). With a main focus on the art of war a ruler can protect the state he governs from attacks against him and his state. Machiavelli offers us an analogy to prove the importance of war. He speaks of two men: one armed and one unarmed. He tells us how it would be unrealistic to believe that the armed man would obey the unarmed man. It would also be unreasonable to expect that the unarmed man would feel safe and secure if is servant held a weapon that could cause death. The unarmed man would feel suspicious of the armed man and the armed man would feel contempt for the unarmed man ruling him, so cooperation would be unattainable. He brings the analogy at an end when he speaks of a prince who does not understand the art of war is like an unarmed man attempting to lead the armed man. Another important characteristic of a prince is to be feared rather than loved. This is because with fear comes respect and less chance for a revolt. Anyone who does not agree with the ruling style of the prince will stand idly by because they fear the wrath of the prince should they be caught before they succeed. Though fear is a great emotion to invoke in the people, one must be sure not to go so far as to be hated because that could cause severe implications. Love is a great tool in ruling a state, but in times of war people are likely to go against their prince because they are angered by the effects of the war. Since the prince is not feared they are susceptible to an attack becaus...

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...husband. Elizabeth I made it seem like this on purpose to postpone her marriage and then when push came to shove the suitor was let go. This was sneaky and sage to do. Also, if she did marry it was not because she was in love with the man it was because she knew the military was vulnerable to attacks and she needed to build a strong alias. One way to do that was to marry a man that ruled a strong military based land. The lion in her is that she is willing to go to war if needed to. She once sent 20,000 troops into battle in order to protect her state. Although Elizabeth I was a Machiavellian ruler she did not encompass all of the traits of the ruler. For example she did not focus primarily on war, but she did when it was needed. Machiavellian rulers are nearly impossible to duplicate, but Elizabeth I came very close to being the definition of a Machiavellian ruler.