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.
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.
“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.
In The Prince they talked about how a king doesn’t want to be hatred by his people but have them respect him so he can’t be to nice. So a king in this book they should be stingy, cruel, breaking promises, and having a great staff of people. Stingy would be better than being nice to your people shows them that you are the king and they need to respect you and your decision. Cruel is better than being nice also if someone takes sometime from you there has to be something done about it! Morality and ethics are not a big deal to break in The Prince breaking promises so it will benefits the king is okay to do!
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.
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.
General Critique, Analysis & Synthesis with Class Materials According to SparkNotes Editors (2002), „The Prince“ was created by Machiavelli in Florence, betweern 1513 and 1514, and only published after his death in 1532 (Key Facts section, para.1). During this period Italy was dusiunited and plagued by constant power struggle and wars among numerous Italian city-states and even the Roman Catholic Church. These conflicts were supported and sometimes initiated by foreign powers (Spain, France and Holy Roman Empire), which seeked to further their own interests and weaken each other. It is during these tough and dangerous times that Machiavelli decided to write a kind of a manual for rulers (princes) of Italy, which will help them to restore
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.
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.
Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy, on May 3 1469. In order to fully understand Machiavelli, one needs to understand he was born during a time of upheaval and social unrest. His father was a lawyer, and he received extensive education as a child. During this time, the Medici family, who ruled Florence at that time and many more centuries to come, temporary fell and lost political power. Machiavelli became a diplomat for the Republic of Florence while the Medici family was exiled.
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.
While Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli may not have been the best diplomat, however his suggestions on leading written in his book, The Prince, should be taken to the hearts of current politicians. His argument that a leader is better off feared than loved is truthful, as a good leader must be harsh in order to be obeyed. One such example of this can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Othello, exemplified by the angry Iago and his partner in crime Roderigo. Othello is perceived as an endearing, thoughtful leader by his subjects, including Iago. As seen in the first scene of the first act of the play, Iago had previously desired to be Othello’s lieutenant, only to be disappointed that he had lost to well educated Michael Cassio.
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.
