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Niccole Machiavelli's The Prince

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In the story of "The Prince" written by Niccole Machiavelli takes place in the sixteenth century, around the time when Italy was not a unified country. Rather, it was more of a collection of city-states, each with its own court and ruler, all aiming to gain power over one another. On top of the commotion from the toggle war of power between the city states, Italy became a battleground for the French, the Spanish, the Germans, and as well as the Catholic Church under the Popes. At the time the Popes had so much power, that they were practically equal to a secular king during that time period. Prior of when Italy became a battle ground the major Italian city-state, the republic of Florence, had established ties as an alliance with the French. …show more content…

He was unfortunately unsuccessful in returning in those 14 years and died in 1527. Despite his end this was how Machiavelli was able to write "The Prince" while he was in exile. I think that 's why the composition of Machiavelli 's treatise in The Prince might have been so direct on how to manage as a ruler. Also, the fact he wanted to return to Florence so bad is probably why Machiavelli mentioned the specifics of a ruler whose aim is to establish and retain control of a new state or to seize and control an existing one. In addition, Machiavelli didn 't take the traditional route for supporting his argument of advice. He didn 't bother using any ethical or philosophical principles as the base for his advice he was trying to give. Instead, he used his own political program on real-life examples as his foundation to his treatise. Which is probably one of the reasons why "The Prince" got so much negative criticism. Machiavelli is practically stepping out of line by explaining what a prince should or should not do in pursuit of his …show more content…

A president comes to mind Harry S Truman, while he was viewed as someone who is confident, bold, a leader. His decision making for his people really resembles Machiavelli, especially when he gave the green light to bomb the japanese with the newly invented atomic bomb. Once he made a decision, he forgot about it and went on to bomb then again in the city of Nagasaki. Moreover, he knew presidency wasn 't an easy job so there was a saying he stuck by which is as blunt as Machiavelli 's The Prince, "If you can 't stand the heat, stay out of the

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President Obama echo a leadership of both Niccolo Machiavelli "The Qualities of the Prince" and Martin Luther King Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Machiavelli point of view to become a successful prince was that you must lead your people. He talks about how a prince should appear to his people for authority. There are different types of principles such as war and is it better to be loved or feared.

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In Niccolo Machiavelli's book, The Prince (1513), he evaluates on how a prince can be a successful leader. Machiavelli’s purpose of this guidebook was to construct his argument to the rising ruler Giuliano de Medici for when he comes to power in Florence. He adopts a casual but authoritative tone in order to convince the prince that Machiavelli’s evaluation on how to be the best prince, is the right thing for the prince to do without coming off as he knows more than the prince or is trying to intimidate him.. Machiavelli’s reference to previous rulers and whether their tactics failed or succeeded helps to benefit his credibility along with his allusion to historic text. He appeals to our logic by simply stating a prince can only do what is within his power to control, and his use of an analogy furthers his argument.

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The Prince and the Catholic Church The Prince is considered a “handbook” on how to acquire and maintain power. Machiavelli does this by addressing what characteristics he believes a ruler should possess in order to be a successful ruler. With that being said, during the time in which Machiavelli wrote The Prince, some may have viewed his book as being immoral, as it did not follow the beliefs a Christian would uphold. It went against all aspects a good Christian would live by, ultimately leading up to an event that would forever change Machiavelli and his works in the views of Catholic believers.

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Machiavelli claimed a prince “should make himself feared in such a way that, though he does not gain love, he escapes hatred” (Machiavelli 66). By doing so, the prince establishes a foundation of authority and reverence from his people, thus enabling being taken advantage of. Regardless of his own praised achievements in government, Machiavelli “remained loyal to it [the Florentine Republic] and served his superiors with tireless energy” (Donno 1), therefore making him a vulnerable subject which can be easily manipulated. He noted this as a disadvantage in his treatise because although this did not lead to his downfall, his possession of this trait could have been damaging to his career.

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Niccolo Machiavelli and his influence on the Enlightenment Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, also known as the father of “Modern Political Theory” was a well-known Italian diplomat, politician, humanist, historian, philosopher and writer from the era of renaissance philosophy. He belonged to several schools of thought, namely: Renaissance humanism, Political realism, Classical republicanism. His claim to fame was his popular book, “The Prince”, which was a handbook for politicians on the use of ruthless, self-serving, cunning inspiring the term “Machiavellian.” Before he wrote his book, Machiavelli was a diplomat for 14 years in Italy’s Florence Republic during the Medici family’s exile.

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Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, written for Lorenzo de’ Medici, demonstrates several different aspects of governance with various historical examples in order to portray the essential attributes of a prince. The Prince depicts different forms of governmental structures by describing the many types of principalities that can be present within a state. Throughout the book, Machiavelli specifically discusses many thematic subjects such as power, virtue, ethics, and human nature in order to depict the manner in which a prince should behave towards his citizens, especially as it pertains to effectively maintaining order within his jurisdiction. Human nature is a prominent thematic idea presented in the The Prince as Machiavelli describes numerous

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The Prince, written by Machiavelli, is a candid outline of how he believes leaders gain and keep power. Machiavelli uses examples of past leaders to determine traits that are necessary to rule successfully. Leaders such as the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan lacked military power, made their subjects hate them, or did not know how to protect themselves from the elite, causing them to lose power. He says that these rulers should blame laziness, not luck, for their failures. By looking at these historical successes and failures, Machiavelli is able to develop his own thoughts on how politics and leaders should be in the future.

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In the book The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, he writes to the new ruler of Italy, Lorenzo the Magnificent, on how he should rule his country. Machiavelli introduces his idea on how leaders should use their intelligence to see negativity in order to achieve growth. Additionally, Machiavelli writes to Lorenzo on how he as a leader should view positive and negative circumstances when faced with them in order to accomplish his goal. Machiavelli develops his idea by providing examples on how other leaders took advantage of their circumstances and witnessed growth in their country. For example, he talks about how Romulus, who was abandoned at his birth, faced adversity and became King of Rome.

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He believed that princes must use violence to maintain power within their princedoms, which shows that Machiavelli saw political power and leaders as weak and unstable. He saw this as the Italian city-states fought for control over land. He also witnessed this as the Medici family lost power in Florence and the new ruler, Girolamo Savonarola, took over. Savonarola, a Dominican monk, was incredibly pious. He hosted the Bonfire of the Vanities and burned art, fashion, jewels, and other secular objects.

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Up until 1532 leaders in Italy were supposed to rule according to traditional ethic norms (Niccolo). This was until The Prince. The Prince is an essay that Niccolò Machiavelli wrote during a time of political conflict in Italy. This essay was his attempt to end the conflict and bring resolution to the peninsula (Niccolo). However; it did quite the opposite, instead it brought more conflict and uneasiness to the people.

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Both of these highly influential authors had different opinions on ruling that would shape how people would rule during their time and for rulers to come. One of Machiavelli’s major points in The Prince was that it was better to be feared than to be loved. He said this was because while both ways can be useful tools to help one rule, men are less likely to turn a ruler if they were afraid of punishment. Machiavelli had little faith in the common man and had this to say about them, “They are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive and deceiving, avoiders of dangers, eager to gain”(pg.353).

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According to Machiavelli, a successful leader should to exhibit a certain character which is key to their success. He highlights five key qualities that a leader should possess A leader should be feared by the people. According to Machiavelli, it is better to be feared than loved. He believed that the people were less likely to revolt if they feared the leader

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I. Machiavelli In his famous work the Prince Niccolo Machiavelli exposes what it takes to be a good prince and how only this good price and keep control over his state. There are many different qualities that make a man a good ruler but there are some that are more essential than others. In this work Machiavelli stresses the importance of being a warrior prince, a wise prince, and knowing how to navigate the duality of virtù and vices. Without these attributes there was no way that a prince could hold together their state and their people.

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1134 Words | 5 Pages

John Webster, the great Elizabethan dramatist was little admired during his life time. The Elizabethans failed to appraise his genius as a dramatist and after his death he fell for nearly two hundred years into the lap of oblivion to be brought back into the limelight by the criticism of such distinguished critics as Lamb, Swinburne, Rupert Brooke, who popularised his works and establised his claim to be recognised as a great dramatist of Elizabethan age. But now the tide has turned in Webster 's favour and he is recognised today not as a dramatist who carried forward the revenge theme in drama but as a great poet, and above all, a great moralist, who held aloft the moral vision of life at a time when the dramatists of the age were piling horror and glorifying murder into a fine art. This tragedy THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, the revenge is further degraded and the moral motive of the dramatist come to the forefront. There are some influences of other Elizabethan authors.

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Machiavelli states “Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women. (837). There is no pampering from the Prince, but yet his punishments and rewards are fair based on the actions of an individual. If Machiavelli’s Prince adopted Confucius’ teachings, he would be set up for failure as most would’ve seen those characteristics as weakness, thus leading to a weaker

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