Comparing Machiavelli's The Prince According To The Prince

In the play “Hamlet”, written by the well-known English writer, William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet, the prince of Denmark seeks revenge to the new king -Claudius, who murdered his father, married his mother and take over his kingdom. In the play, Hamlet’s decision making is driven by his emotional thinking, which leads him to the tragedy ending. Especially, his failure to maintain his position as a prince can be seen as a result of overwhelmed by emotions and the lack of essential qualities of a politician. The Prince, a highly controversial piece of work written by Niccolo Machiavelli (1460-1527), an Italian writer of political philosophy, both compares and contrasts Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. The Prince summarizes the qualities a prince

Specifically, Machiavelli believes that a Prince should not be religious, instead, he should practically use religion as a psychological strategy to achieve the goal—to gain respect from his subject or to receive forgiveness from the people. Some may argue this controversial concept of righteousness that emphasizes in the Prince; however, it has been proven through the character Claudius in Shakespeare’s

In this case, Hamlet’s goal is to revenge Claudius—to have Claudius admit his sin and justify his crime with death; however, Hamlet is being overthinking of the importance of justification in a religious way and he gives up the best opportunity to kill Claudius that happens in this scene. “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying and now I’ll do’s; and so he goes to heaven; and so am I revenged.” (Lines 74-75) He is considering not killing Claudius at this moment because he may fail to achieve his revenge by sending Claudius to heaven instead of hell. Apparently, religion plays an important role in this play--Hamlet was affected by his belief of salvation at almost every moment of decision making and made emotional decisions that push him in a dangerous situation. What’s worse, he never realizes the truth that it is rather important to maintain his power as a prince than to revenge Claudius in order to protect himself. On the contrast, Claudius’ only intention is to pursuit power and he is willing to take any risk in order to maintain his