Machiavelli’s The Prince

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Niccolo Machiavelli lived in Florence, Italy in the 1400’s. The country of Italy was divided into city-states that had their own leaders, but all pledged alliance to their king. In time in which great leaders were needed in order to help the development of a city-state and country, Machiavelli had a theory that man needed a leader to control them. In his book The Prince, he speaks of the perfect leader.

I believe that man, by nature, is neither good nor evil. When a child comes out of its mother, one cannot tell whether or not that child will be a serial killer or win the Nobel Peace prize. A child’s environment is what forms it to be the adult that it will be one day. I believe that it also what one believes that makes him or her what that person will be one day. Machiavelli believed however that man was naturally an evil being, one that needed control (Prince).

The idea of man being an evil being, by nature, is expressed in Machiavelli’s book The Prince. He has written that a Prince should break his promises to his subjects because man is evil and will break their promises to their prince (Prince). I do not agree with this theory because I think that man will make his own decision based on whether or not he is good in character. I believe that a leader should tell the truth and win the support of the public by being known as doing this. Machiavelli seems to have the idea of preparing for the worst and thinking in terms of the worst. This is a preventative measure that will benefit anybody who has evil intentions.

Only a person who thinks that man is evil would think of such ways to run a government in the way that Machiavelli thought a government should be operated. Machiavelli felt that “crafty and deceitful princes have historically defeated the faithful princes”(Prince). What happened to the idea of a caring leader, one who could be trusted to make decisions that the majority of the people agreed with? I do not agree with Machiavelli that a leader should be deceitful in order to for his country to succeed or grow. I think that what a leader is depends on what type of man you are good or evil.

The leader that Machiavelli describes as being the ideal one is evil.

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