Everyone knows Machiavelli, or at least everyone is familiar with his ideas, even if they have not read his work. This is because the ideas of Machiavelli are pervasive and entrenched in our society, one only needs to look at the way our government works to see this. In The Prince Machiavelli presents his readers a cynical view of the true nature of man, recognizing that humans are not ruled by selflessness – which philosophers such as Aristotle hoped for -- but rather by the immoral nature of self-interest. The Prince is basically a guide on how to achieve stability and run a principality. Although Shakespeare did not have the opportunity to read Machiavelli before he died (as The Prince wasn’t had not been translated into English yet), the