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Machiavelli And Fear

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Concerning The Prince: Love and Fear In The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, he discusses and describes several pieces of advice on how to be a successful prince. While there is plenty of advice to look at in The Prince, this paper will just focus on Machiavelli’s advice and thoughts on being a prince in chapter 17. In chapter 17 he discusses the question of which is better for a prince; to be loved or to be feared. Machiavelli believes both should be the answer, but since it is difficult for one person to achieve both, it is a better choice to be a feared prince because of the connections one would have with his people and less chance of betrayal, but being feared should not be misused as cruelty and hate should be avoided. First and foremost Machiavelli …show more content…

If a prince is cruel just for the sake being cruel he will only cause people to hate him and hatred towards a prince will not end well for him. To avoid hate he should avoid unnecessary cruelty. He must stay away from his subjects ' property and avoid interfering and messing with married women. He can be a feared and an admired leader without being overly cruel. Machiavelli expresses that, “…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…” (79). Though this is not to say that a prince cannot be cruel when it is needed; like the Duke of Valentinois, Cesare Borgia. Machiavelli notes that Borgia was seen as a cruel leader and that his cruelty helped in restored peace and loyalty to the Romagna, so being cruel can be used for a good cause and being known as cruel prince is not necessarily an unacceptable thing, but a prince must be careful in his actions and only be cruel when it is necessary to avoid being hated by his

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