Machiavelli's Prince Research Paper

Balance is the pragmatic translation of perfection. It did not take us long to find out that we are unable to reach perfection by its own standards, so we created a way to achieve it. We called that it, balance. The balance was the obsession of the Renaissance men, even today; it is something we look to achieve in our life. It is fascinating to explore what were some of the concepts that Renaissance people had about being a balanced person. As a way to explore this amazing universe of practical perfection, we can use Castiglione’s Courter with all the good spiritual values that the Renaissance hero should have. Moreover, as a way to keep the balance, we should look at Machiavelli’s Prince because it is there where we will find an alternative vision of a hero that aims for real life values.

When we have a look at Castiglione’s Courter, we will find that many of the values suggested for the Renaissance hero are the interior values that will make us feel good in our personal life. For instance, we can see how Castiglione suggests that this new hero should be courageous and modest. These are examples of values that aim

to build a strong personality. A new character that is capable of defending himself or herself from any attack, but at the same time it is capable to fit within the group of regular individuals. We should always keep in mind that the Renaissance was about humans. For that reason, when we see Castiglione suggesting these kinds of values for his hero, we should know that he is looking to build a complete human hero. A hero that you, and I can find realistic. Without any doubt, one of the most intriguing values that Castiglione suggests for this Renaissance hero is nonchalance. By nonchalance, the author means that the Renaissance hero should be someone capable of acting in full possession of any activity that person is doing at that moment. In other words, the Renaissance hero is always in total command of whatever he or she is doing. It is this last value, nonchalance, what makes our hero being in balanced. There is one crucial element that we should always keep in mind, we are talking about a hero, and a hero is always going to have something that will make him or her different. We can have all the other values that I mentioned before, but is nonchalance what makes our hero different. it is what allows him to be like us, but at the same time gives him or her the opportunity to do all we do in a natural and easy way.
Nevertheless, as humans keep their way to a more complex society, so do the values they used to govern that society.

Here is where Machiavelli appears with the Prince. The Prince is the manual of intrusions for those looking to achieve and keep power. Among the values that Machiavelli suggests for this new kind of ruler, we can find, avoiding being too good, and avoiding pity but cultivate cruelty. Machiavelli is not looking for an internal balance; he is looking for the external balance. A balance that portrays a vision of how we want people to see us. He is not aiming for a higher spiritual level; he is looking for a higher level of political stability which translates into power. Machiavelli’s perspective of the Renaissance hero is someone who is capable to keep those around him or her in control even if that person cannot control himself or

herself.
There is only one value in which these two men seem to agree, prudence. The reason for which prudence was a big deal for these people was because prudence is also part of the balance. Prudence is being balanced. You know when to do what you need to do, but you also know how doing that. Prudence is what makes you take wise decisions, so you know when to be modest or when to be courageous. Prudence allows you to achieve power because you know how to conduct yourself. Prudent people know when to act with some level of cruelty, prudent people know how to keep their bad deeds well hidden from public view. As we can see, being prudence is being balanced, and that is why Machiavelli and Castiglione agreed about the importance of it.
Humanity is a very complex subject, for which there will always be different ways to approach to the same solution. As we could see, even the idea of balance can be achieved through a variety of ways and with a lot of different purposes. In the end, it all will come down to our personal choices. What we value the most, and what we want to achieve with our life. The deepest lesson these two works of art teach us is that having a purpose is the first step to achieving a balance in our life.