Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect. Machiavelli strongly believes that a prince should be involved in the military and understand all military matters. A prince must always be concentrated on war. Whether his country is at war or not, he must always be prepared. He must continuously be training, mentally and physically, and know the terrain around him. Machiavelli believes that a prince who does not attain these military related qualities will fail as a leader. In addition, during times of war, a successful prince should always question all outcomes of possible battles and prepare himself for the future by studying past wars. Studying the …show more content…
princes of the past will also help to imitate their successful actions and learn from their mistakes. In conclusion, in Machiavelli’s opinion, a prince must always be training and preparing for military matters in order to be considered a good leader. Machiavelli knows that his idea of a prince might not be the most beloved prince for his personality and friendship. He explains the ugly truth of how a prince has to be, not “ought” to be in order to maintain his power and lead his people successfully. Machiavelli believes that you cannot be good all the time and maintain power. A strong prince with leadership qualities does not worry about his reputation and virtues; A prince should “pursue vices” by all means, when he finds necessary, to preserve his and the people’s safety. A prince should, of course, give back to his people and not only protect them, but provide for them. However, Machiavelli states that this should only be when is necessary and it is more wise to distribute the money of the wealthy to the poor in order to be generous without losing your own wealth and, therefore, maintaining power and leadership. Furthermore, a prince should not be consistently generous because this will lead to him being poor, hated, and no longer a strong leader of the people or country. Machiavelli believes that there is a difference between a strong leader and a cruel leader.
A prince should still not worry about his reputation, and be cruel when necessary to others versus showing mercy to everyone. For example, if you let a few bad citizens go without punishment, they will continue to hurt the rest of the people in one way or another. If you choose to punish one or a small group of people who do harm to the community, less people will be hurt in the long run. Furthermore, every prince should be somewhat feared by his people. If you are not feared, as well as show too much compassion, then you will not be
respected. Some may or may not think that a prince should be trustworthy. In Machiavelli’s opinion, history has shown that successful princes and leaders have not always kept their word and had often “manipulated” others to accomplish goals that needed to be done for his country or people. In addition, it is acceptable that a prince is dishonest with others who are dishonest with him. Machiavelli’s main point is that a prince must do what he needs to do for the sake of his people. In his essay, Machiavelli goes into great detail and provides examples to follow up with all of his reasonings on how a prince should be. A prince should always be prepared for war, never worry about his reputation, know when to be generous and when to not be, be cruel to few when needed, and not always be trustworthy. Not everyone can be trusted, and you should not try to strive for acceptance as a successful prince. In conclusion, Machiavelli believes his views will lead to a respected and powerful prince.
They were all very true and I certainly agree with most of it. It reminds me of the phrase, “with great power comes great responsibilities”, and while I do not condone violence nor the obsession of one, to remain in a position of power, I certainly do no object to the idea that many inhumane things need to be done in order for power to be kept. Crude power as presented in The Prince, requires that one be vicious, merciless, feared and respected. We are often told that, in life, we must do whatever is necessary to reach our goals. Why should the attention of power be any
Although Machiavelli gives numerous points on what it takes to excel as a prince, he also shows some raw examples of how he feels a prince should act in order to achieve maximum supremacy. First, when he says, "ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern" proves Machiavelli feels mighty adamant about his view that being mean will help a prince achieve success (332). It is absurd to imagine the meanest prince as the most successful. Also, when Machiavelli states, "our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft" revealing his attitude to manipulate people into fearing and respecting the prince (335). Also, Machiavelli shows that for a prince to be successful, he must not think about good faith.
The most astounding aspect of The Prince is Machiavelli’s view that princes may indeed, be cruel and dishonest if their ultimate aim is for the good of the state. It is not only acceptable but necessary to lie, to use torture, and to walk over other states and cities. Machiavellianism is defined as “A political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power (Def.)” This implies that in the conquest for power, the ends justify the means. This is the basis of Machiavellianism. The priority for the power holder is to keep the security of the state regardless of the morality of the means. He accepts that these things are in and of themselves morally wrong, but he points out that the consequences of failure, the ruin of states and the destruction of cities, can be far worse. Machiavelli strongly emphasizes that princes should not hesitate to use immoral methods to achieve power, if power is necessary for security and survival.
To begin with, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” laid out the foundation of what absolute rulers should be. Machiavelli thought that princes should be well educated in war since he would then have the power to stop uprisings. “The quickest way to lose a state is to neglect this art [war]; the quickest way to get one is to study it. Thus a prince who knows noth...
Greatness from a hereditary prince is more than offering from the people of the land. “A prince, first of all, should have no other object or thought in mind than a war and how to wage it” (279). First rule, Machiavelli says nobody else should take lead of wars except the prince. It show who’s supposed to be in power from birth and, “helps men of humble origin to rise to high rank” (279). Also, if the prince pays attention to wealth more than war, he will lose his power as arising leader. Machiavelli used Military leaders and a prince as examples of being a power military leader. “Francesco Sforza, because he had his own army, rose from private citizen to duke of Milan…The prince ought to read history and study the actions of distinguished men to see how they conducted themselves in war” (280-281). Machiavelli used Francesco Sforza (military leader who over threw a weak government and became their duke) as an example to explain how to conduct an army. Sforza b...
Machiavelli discusses assertive and bold ideas in “The Prince,” revealing his radical and courageous nature. His treatise is deceptively self-soliciting, because he disguises his extreme notions behind a veil of feigned expertise. His frank approach makes him appear confident and deserving of the utmost respect; however, he cautiously humbles himself by pouring immense flattery for the ruling prince into his work and, in doing so, assures protection for himself and his notorious ideas.
“The Prince” has become the realist approach to politics. In the book “The Prince”, Niccolò Machiavelli impress upon the reader guidelines and tactics a prince needs to live by in order to be successful and obtain and maintain their thrones. Recurring topics prominent throughout the book is this idea of virtue, which means being manly, having the strength, intelligence, and wisdom of a ruler and fortune, being chance or luck. Machiavelli explains to the reader skills that a successful prince should possess. He referred to these skills as a virtue. Most people would concur that virtue is desirable behavior or qualities that display high moral standards, but Machiavelli 's approach to virtue is much more amoral. Machiavelli’s idea of virtue can
In this book “The Prince” written by Niccolo` Machiavelli attempts to persuade the readers how princes should act in order to keep their thrones, or how to capture a throne and uphold it. He also illustrates to us how by not following this system can lead to death or becoming overthrown. I was amazed at how well his compositional skills were and in my attempt to show you how skillful of a writer and persuader he is we will look at chapter XVIII. By introducing the chapter with politics, coming up with clear and logical main points, and laying out all possibilities and consequences of those points I believed that this chapter made a very impressive persuasive argument.
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.
Machiavelli has long been required reading for everyone intrested in politics and power. In The Prince Niccolo M
Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince. Robert M. Adams, trans., ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1977. pp. vii.-75.
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.
The whole book centers around what principalities are, what are the different types of them, how to acquire and maintain them and why they are lost. The first three chapters set the scope of the whole book and provide a preview of the main concerns in the book. Then Chapter VI and Chapter V are used to present several practical methods to dealing with different matters for rulers. These matters include the acquiring and maintaining of a new state, forming alliance, internal insurrections and so on. In the following two chapters, the book turns to the topic of different qualities of good rulers. Machiavelli puts forward the discussion about virtue and good will in this section. He maintains that sometimes rulers should have vicious actions without the accordance with real virtue for the good of the states and ruling. In the last chapter, the book focuses specifically on the disunity of Italy. In this chapter, Machiavelli gives his own understanding and explanation for the failure of past Italian rulers and pleas for an eligible ruler in the future. He asserts that only Lorenzo de’ Medici, can restore Italy’s honor and pride. This chapter somehow reveals Machiavelli’s intention and purpose of writing The Prince.
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.
Machiavelli’s The Prince was written more than 500 years ago and it is “one of the most influential and controversial books published in Western literature.” (Article A) It was about Machiavelli’s political philosophies and the basic principles of what he believes a politician or “prince” should be. The three main ideas of the Prince were “Liberality and Stinginess”, “Cruelty and Mercy: Is It Better to Be Loved Than Feared, or the Reverse?”, and “How a Prince Should Keep Their Promises” and for the most part many of his concepts should or are already instilled in our government.