A Feared Ruler?

411 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Interpretations of the prince machiavelli

Machiavelli was a man who was not worried about what was morally correct, but rather, what was politically deserved. He was in fact an honest and religious man, but he has become known for trickery and double-dealing. He thought that princes would have to start tricking his enemies, or even his people for the good of his state. In my opinion, his theory, “It is better to be feared than loved” is saying that when the people fear their ruler, the ruler will most likely get what he wants. When a ruler has control and intimidation over his people, they will most likely do what he says and follow his rules, out of fear. Some people might argue and say that if a ruler is loved than people will respect him and follow his rules. This is true, except, it is harder to get people to love and respect their ruler so much as to do everything they are told, than it is to get them to fear their ruler.
Out of the three monarchs: Louis of France, Henry of England, and Ferdinand of Spain, I think Louis definitely exhibited Machiavelli’s theory the best.
Louis depended on trickery, intimidation and bribery to get what he wanted. These three characteristics are exactly what Machiavelli believes in. Louis wanted to weaken the powers on the great lords in France so that he had all the power. Any noble that resisted Louis’s rule was bribed or threatened until the noble agreed with Louis. Once there was a cardinal who disobeyed Louis. He was locked in a small cage for 11 years. He couldn’t even stand up or sit down. The people under Louis’ rule were very scared of him that they were willing to put up anything to impress and agree with him. Louis was aiming for people to fear him though. I think he felt that it would in fact be easier to get people to fear him rather than respect him.

Show More
Related

  • Criticism In Jose Vasconcelos's La Raza Cosmica

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mixed civilization that would ultimately present itself to the forefront would be known as the fifth universal race, which is an Aztec belief of a “fifth race” or the “Fifth Sun” bringing a renewal of civilization to earth. According to Vasconcelos, white Europeans invaded the new world after becoming industrialized, organized, and considering themselves rulers, but no different than previous civilization that would ultimately would wither away. He further explains that the temporary rule of the white Europeans would serve only as a bridge or as a catalyst where all human ethnicities and cultures in Latin America would be fused together. Because of the bloody history, this fusion or bridge made it difficult for the Latin American Indians to accept their lineage as they refused to accept the reality that they were created by the Spaniards but ultimately would have to accept their past and look to the future or perish. Vasconcelos believed the Europeans and Northern Americans would also have to accept the same faith as the Indians because sooner or later they would have to mix with other races to progress and protect themselves from other sub races as their numbers would

    Read More

  • How Does Castiglione Reflect Renaissance Humanism

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Machiavelli’s advice to a prince who wanted to hold power is that they have to instill fear into the people. He believes fear is important because it restrains men, as they fear being punished. Love will never help you hold power because it attaches people to promises. Machiavelli believes that since humans are wicked, they will break these promises whenever their interests is at stake. Men will devote everything to you if you serve their interests, but as soon as you need help, they turn on you. Therefore, creating fear in them is the perfect strategy. I feel like Machiavelli is being sarcastic and did this to get attention. He knew his way of thinking was different and would get the attention of the people.

    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 and Rousseau's Views on Human Nature and Government

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    Machiavelli’s views were drastically different from other humanists at his time. He strongly promoted a secular society and felt morality was not necessary but stood in the way of a successfully governed state. He stated that people generally tended to work for their own best interests and gave little thought to the well being of the state. He distrusted citizens saying, “In time of adversity, when a state is in need of its citizens, there are few to be found.” In his writings in The Prince, he constantly questioned the citizens’ loyalty and warned for the leaders to be wary in trusting citizens. His radical and distrusting thoughts on human nature were derived out of concern for Italy’s then unstable government. Machiavelli also had a s...

    Read More

  • Thin Tim Case Study Essay

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    In analyzing these diagnoses it appears that one way the DSM distinguishes between the criteria for each disorder is identifying and noting the interaction between particular clinical features associated with behavior, cognition and/or affect. The criteria may consider the presence or absence of certain forms behavior, cognition or affect as warranting the diagnosis of a given disorder. For example, Bulimia Nervosa includes as diagnostic criteria “Eating, in a discrete period of time an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most individuals would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances (p. 345).” This would obviously be a behavior. The disorder also includes as a criterion “A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (affect) (p. 345).” With Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder the behavior, cognition, affect pattern is present in that the absence of “interest in sexual activity” or the lack of “erotic thoughts” among other key criteria, may lead to a diagnosis of the disorder (p. 433). For Anorexia Nervosa criteria include the “Restriction (behavior) of energy intake (in the form of food) and the “fear (affect) of gaining weight or becoming fat (p. 338).” For Tobacco Use Disorder criteria include “Craving” to indulge in

    Read More

  • The Most Successful Absolute Monarch in Europe was Louis XIV of France

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order to gain the power he desired as an absolute monarch, Louis used a few key techniques that were very successful. His first and most necessary step to get all control was to take all of the nobles’ power, and make it so they were completely under his control. He first did this by taking the nobles’ positions of power, and either getting rid of them by doing it himself, or giving the jobs to loyal middleclass or some nobles who were completely loyal and under his control. Louis had very simple reasoning for doing this, which was that if the nobles had any power or control, they would have a better chance of overthrowing him, and that since there can only be so much total power, the more they had, the less ...

    Read More

  • Louis XIV and Absolute Monarchism

    373 Words  | 1 Pages

    Politically, Louis was corrupt because of his greed. He fought costly wars--in the high numbers of casualties and monetary encouragement--at the drop of a hat. His country was the most powerful, and was very populous. His armies were large in size at peacetime, and even larger in wartime. Their strength, though, was no match for the failure Louis faced in wars. His wars left France almost bankrupt. He wanted larger borders, went to any extent to get them, but lost all of the three times he tried.

    Read More

  • Comparing Machiavelli's The Prince and Plato's The Republic

    1784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Machiavelli?s model for his ideal prince was Cesare Borgia, also known as Duke Valentino and son of Pope Alexander VI.  He believed Cesare Borgia possessed all the qualities of a prince destined to rule and maintain power in his state. He believed that politics has a morality of its own.  There is no regard of justness or unjustness, of cruelty or  mercy, of  approval  or  humiliation, which   should   interfere   with  the  decision  of defending the state and preserving its freedom.  Therefore, the ruler/prince's single responsibilit...

    Read More

  • Pearl Harbor Significance

    1418 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” These words were spoken the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bombing of Pearl Harbor cost more than 2,000 lives and nearly destroyed 20 naval vessels. Eight of these ships happened to be battleships, but luckily no aircraft carriers were in the area. On December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt gave his address to the nation. He ended this address with, “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire,” thus beginning the United States role in WWII.

    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

  • Politics Of Memory Essay

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Remembrance is an integral part of our everyday lives. Both pleasant and unpleasant memories shape who we are as human beings. The definition of memory is two fold 1. “the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information” and 2. “Something remembered from the past; a recollection” (Google Definition). The life of memory has three stages in which it is created. An event occurs in ones life it becomes encoded and stored in the brain. Following the encoding, the brain then has full access to retrieve the memory in a response to any current activity or thought. Memories are unique to each person. There are three main types of memories that are studied. An individual memory is one that is formed by his or her personal experiences. An institutional

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay: Growing Up In Memory

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    As I have been reading memoirs about memory for this class, each essay made me recall or even examine my past memory closely. However, the more minutely I tried to recall what happened in the past, the more confused I got because I could not see the clear image and believe I get lost in my own memory, which I thought, I have preserved perfectly in my brain. The loss of the details in each memory has made me a little bit sentimental, feeling like losing something important in my life. But, upon reading those essays, I came to realize that remembering correct the past is not as important as growing up within memory. However, the feelings that were acquired from the past experience tend to linger distinctly. The essay that is related to my experience

    Read More

  • Memory Is Memory Essay

    2156 Words  | 5 Pages

    What is memory and how its work. It is usually link with the ‘thinking of again’ or ‘recalling to the mind’ of a thing learned or memorized before. Definitions of this sort imply conscious awareness in the remembered that they are recollecting something of the past. For instance, we may remember our first day of school or some information like who is the president of the country. Basically, this is just tiny part of our capacity when we check out the full human memory capabilities.

    Read More

  • How Did King Louis Abuse His Power

    256 Words  | 1 Pages

    Over the course of Louis’ rein, he showed that he was a bad monarch because he abused his power. Ultimately, he made the citizens unhappy. Louis believed that Kings “are born to possess all and command all” and their power should not be questioned. This caused him to make impulsive decisions without thinking of the citizens opinions because they were not supposed to question him. If his power was questioned Louis was quickly able to say that God gave him the power to make decisions therefore they were right.

    Read More

  • To be Feared or Loved

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    The quote, derived from Machiavelli’s thoughts; “it is better to be feared than loved,” is supported by Beowulf in Beowulf and by Hrothgar in Grendel through their actions. Leaders have many choices to make; one of the most important choices is to decide if he prefers to be loved or feared by his followers. The main purpose of being a leader is to lead your followers into victory, rule your subjects and have a prosperous kingdom. So the question appears; is it better to be loved or feared.

    Read More

More about A Feared Ruler?

Open Document