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Summary essay on the prince by machiavelli
Summary essay on the prince by machiavelli
Summary essay on the prince by machiavelli
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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.
“Although one should not reason about Moses, as he was a mere executor of things that had been ordered for him by God, nonetheless he should be admired if only for that grace which made him so deserving of speaking with God” (22). In the context of The Prince, this statement proves to be duplicitous because Machiavelli claims that he will not reason about Moses, but then uses the following pages to do precisely that. Furthermore, Machiavelli draws extensively from the actions of Moses and the Old Testament God, although Machiavelli is often regarded as an antagonist of the Church. Machiavelli’s handbook for princes consists of concrete advice for rulers that directly reflect the more abstracted stories in Exodus. For instance, Machiavelli’s description of human nature in The Prince mirrors Moses’ experiences as the leader of the Israelites in Exodus.
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” (Brainy Quotes) The Odyssey by Homer is an epic poem where Odysseus faces many challenges and learns to push past them to his destination throughout the story. The Journey by Mary Oliver, is a poem about a girl listening to everyone else's opinions but her own, she learns she needs to be true to herself and stop being a follower and find her destination to discovering herself. Odysseus is challenged by an evil monster named the Cyclop. The speaker in the Journey is defying the voices in her head and, is crying for help.
In the book he looks at the historical aspects of what has happened and uses them to establish his main points. After going through what we were assigned to read, I gathered that the two most important aspects that a prince should have is knowledge and flexibility in the area of morality. Knowledge allows him to be smarter than his populace, knowing when not to be good, and the ability to combat certain cases. Being morally flexible allows him to be able to handle the ends justifying the means. It also should be noted that he believed that power is the only thing that matters and how to hold that power.
The word Machiavellian implies the negative meaning of a man’s intentions and mind. The word was derived from an Italian renaissance thinker Niccolo Machiavelli, a philosopher, historian and most notably a political thinker. He wrote one of the most influential books which shaped the game of politics and has a massive impact on contemporary politics, the book called the prince which is practically a manual on how to obtain and maintain the power by any means necessary. What makes the book distinguishable is that it was written during the 15th century Italian renaissance time in which during that time the western world was overshadowed by the ideal dogma of Christianity. Any ideas that contradict the church’s view will immediately be excluded
Essentially the prince was Machiavelli’s take on how to rule a government or kingdom properly, while his ideology is very radical in modern day society it is still hailed as one of the greatest pieces of literature written during the renaissance. Machiavelli begins by talking about the different kinds of states particularly principalities. He then describes the different kinds of principalities both new principalities and hierarchy principalities. He says that you can ether take control by fortune, for instance if the land was passed on to you, or you could take it with force by which he means killing or overthrowing the rulers of the government and establishing your own rule. But do not cause rebellion in the process.
One can begin to see the development of political philosophy and political science through these three texts. Confucius mostly created the realm of political philosophy by studying past rulers and gathering a group of disciples. With the Analects, he told people how they could better themselves and become leaders, and once they became leaders how they should lead through being a role model of sorts for the society to follow. Plato kind of expanded on Confucius ideas when he built his perfect city in The Republic. He further developed the system of specialization where each citizen chose their respective trade to do solely so they could professionalize and supply the city with their product.
In this paragraph of the article, the writer delves into the true purpose behind Machiavelli's "The Prince". There are many different interpretations or theories about the work, one being that it is merely satirical, poking fun at the game of politics and all its corruption behind the scenes. Another theory is Machiavelli's intention for the work was to win back his position in political leadership, by persuading the politicians by things they wanted to hear but that he himself didn't necessarily believe. With Machiavelli, any of the possibilities could have been true, due to his sarcastic and cynical nature.
Renaissance means rebirth. The Renaissance was a time of renewal as well as of chaos in Europe since it was still recovering. More and more ideas of the ideal prince emerged, as there are many different city-states. One of the most noteworthy political philosophers of the sixteenth century was Niccólo Machiavelli whose book, The Prince, a political handbook for rulers, has brought him recognition. It can be seen that his ideas on politics and overall inspiration for the book mainly came from his views of the political problems that were taking place.
According to Machiavelli, a prince who keeps his promises is generally praised. But history demonstrates that most success is achieved when princes are crafty, tricky and able to deceive others. A prince can fight or succeed by using law or by using force. The use of law comes naturally to men and the use of force comes naturally to beasts. Hence, to achieve success, the prince must learn to fight with a balance between both law and force.
Niccolò Machiavelli is definitely a very interesting, and undoubtedly controversial figure in not just philosophy and history over all, but also in reference to political and governmental aspects of society today. The question as to whether The Prince serves an accurate depiction of how politics occurs in modern states appears to me, in a sense, to be a loaded/complex question. I say this based on the notion that from a surface perspective, many of his suggested techniques for government if blatantly applied today would still be viewed as downright tyrannical, villainous, hateful, cruel, diabolical, and treacherous as they have been for over 500 years. However, upon closer inspection and unmasked breakdown of how politics operate in the modern states, his depictions look quite valid, and somewhat accurate, being employed in some form or fashion despite popular belief.
What does it mean to be a Prince? According to Niccolo Machiavelli there is various qualities that are needed to be a Prince. In the chapter, “The Qualities of the Prince,” Machiavelli list qualities a Prince must uphold to be considered a good Prince. In order to be a Prince one must know how to protect his state and people. Some qualities that he mentions are: being feared rather than being loved, being hated, being cruel, being generous, and being deceitful.
Being a prince is not as easy as it may seem. There are good and bad decisions a prince can make. Machiavelli has his own standards on how a prince should behave. According to Machiavelli, a prince could be considered a lion, a fox, or a wolf. The lion is fierce but doesn’t have the smarts, while a fox has the smarts but isn 't fierce.
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.
According to Machiavelli, ideal prince is a risk-taker who puts a military on action, as the people respect the warrior. An ideal prince thinks for himself rather than relying on others, knows how to read characters, and does not surround himself with flatterers. He lives in reality, not fantasy. He works hard, utilizes his own mind, and makes survival of his guide. The ideal leader is neither loved nor hated, but respected.
