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Similarities Between Julius Caesar And The Prince

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A comparative study of The Prince (1513), a political treatise by Machiavelli and Julius Caesar (1599), a historical tragedy by Shakespeare facilitates the intertwined values of political stability and loyalty, honour and virtue in spite of their differing contexts. Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince reflects the Renaissance Humanist ideals transposing from a conventional form by exploring the struggles of maintaining power and moral principles. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar embraces the nuances of Elizabethan England by disguising it as a Roman history play fictionalising aspects of history, delving into humanity’s hubristic ambition for power which inevitably entails the sacrifice of moral principles. Both Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Machiavelli’s …show more content…

Influenced by his disjointed milieu on the Italian Peninsula and his exile from Florence, the treatise composed as a speculum principis employs a didactic tone voicing humanist ideals of Renaissance Italy, directed at Lorenzo de Medici in order to impress and gain his favour. Machiavelli reflects society’s desire for unity through the didactic tone and high modality language of “even with the most powerful army … you need the support of the people” exemplifying Machiavelli’s belief that the people hold the ability to provide state stability and therefore, the need for the prince to maintain loyalty to the people. Machiavelli comments on the importance of people as they harbour the foundations for state stability through the metaphor “the best fortress…is to be loved by his people” but “being hated by them ... all fortress will not save him”, portraying the people as a cornerstone for the success or downfall for the prince. Nonetheless, the populace also provides authority for the leader emphasised by the historical allusion of “Prince Nabis of Sparta…overcome the danger…that would have failed the populace been against him” demonstrating Machiavelli’s patriotic appeals for the ruler to rid Italy of foreign oppressors. Thus, through logical structuring, Machiavelli provides a perspective on the necessity for the populace’s favour in order …show more content…

This unsympathetic, didactic tone reinforces Machiavelli’s faith in malice as a foundation for gaining power, abandoning moral righteousness. Machiavelli advocates a leader does not have to virtuous but rather, manipulative and astute, creating a defined separation between ethics and politics. The paradox “it is necessary for a prince who wishes to maintain his position to learn how not to be good” serves as an anomaly of the ethical conduct of the 1500s, reinforcing his disregard for moral norms, like Shakespeare, focusing on a more pragmatic approach to the maintenance of power. This is achieved through Machiavelli’s didactic teachings suggesting a leader “should take on the traits of the fox and the lion… you have to play the fox to see the snares and the lion to scare off the wolves”. The extended metaphor underpins the necessity for leaders to have the strength and intelligence of a lion and fox to outmatch the opponents upholding Machiavelli’s self-interested unscrupulous approach to politics and power. Consequently, both Machiavelli and Shakespeare voice a leader must commit immoral behaviour to gain power in spite of sacrificing their honour and

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The Prince: A Decidedly unMedieval Piece of Work The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli, was a secular handbook that dealt with modern statecraft and leadership. In fact, this was the first modern book that discussed political science. This book has influenced many well-known leaders, such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. This essay will discuss the past behaviours of Machiavelli to prove that this book, The Prince, is a decidedly unMedieval piece of work which does not follow the idea of living life so that it is worthy of respect and honour, as stated in the Medieval Code of Chivalry.

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676 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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Machiavelli argues the perfect prince will be both feared and loved by his people, and if unable to be both he will make himself feared and not hated. Machiavelli believes it is much safer to be feared than to be loved because people are less likely to offend and stand up against strong characters, also people are less concerned in offending a prince who has made himself loved. Accordingly, Machiavelli believes generosity is harmful to your reputation and the choice between being generous or stingy, merciful or cruel, honest or deceitful, should only be important if it aids the prince in political power. All in all, Machiavelli believes the ruler must be a great deceiver and do what is essential to uphold power over the

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Machiavelli insists that living a life deprived of sin is unsustainable given the corrupt nature of our peers, which justified immoral and unethical actions: “Because they [men, author’s note] are bad and do not keep their promises to you, you likewise do not have to keep yours to them” (65). Machiavelli thus advises princes to favor cruelty over mercy when balancing the two is not possible, since mercy will be abused and lead to the demise of the prince: ”men have less hesitation in injuring one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself hated” (62). Indeed, Hannibal and Scipio both possessed remarkable qualities with regards to military strategy. Yet, while Hannibal is remembered as a great leader, Scipio is not for the former gained unwavering respect through fear while the former failed to successfully establish his

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When you hear the name Machiavelli what do you think of? Malevolence, dictatorship, or Tupac Shakur? What you should think about is cunning or unscrupulousness, “The ends justify the means.” The father of modern political theory, Niccolo Machiavelli was a 15th century political theorist and advisor who insisted we shouldn’t think that politicians are bad or unelectable for manipulating people. In Machiavelli’s distinct view a worthy politician isn’t honest and moral.

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930 Words | 4 Pages

Machiavelli wrote about a fictitious prince, describing how he is a terrible being who has no respect for people who have a lower status than him. He is described as being selfish and untrustworthy. His writing about this prince was supposed to replicate princes and kings that were ruling and open he reader’s eyes to real issues occuring. In Document 1 there is an excerpt from The Prince, written by Machiavelli, telling about how terrible the Prince of England. Document 1 states, “For all men in general this observation may be made: they are ungrateful, fickle, and deceitful, eager to avoid dangers, and avid for gain, and while you are useful to them they are all with you, but when it [danger] approaches they turn on you”.

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A Horrible Man When you become a doctor you take an oath to help people, but Dr. Mengele wasn’t like other doctors, he was the opposite. He was the one who picked out the people to go to the gas chambers. He also did horrible experiments on his “patients.” They usually died from then and if they didn’t die then he would kill them. Joseph Mengele did many terrible things.

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The Prince wrote by Machiavelli also instruct on how to gain and use the political power. He mentioned that a ruler must do to ensure his own survival and it is better to be feared than loved, as long as one is hated. It shows that politics has completely transformed during the renaissance compare to the Middle Ages. Machiavelli believed that a ruler must know how to gain and use his power and as long as people don’t hate their ruler its better for both the ruler and his followers.

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Machiavelli’s logical reasoning exhibits self-interest and preservation which is a habitual characteristic of human nature. Machiavelli states, “And let it here be noted

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One aspect of Machiavelli’s theory which significantly contributes to his reputation as the “philosopher of evil,” is his advice to the prince on keeping their word to the public. In chapter eighteen, Machiavelli states, “a wise ruler cannot, and should not, keep his word when doing so is to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that led him to promise to do so no longer apply” (pg. 37). To simplify, Machiavelli says princes are obligated to lie in certain circumstances. He also states that while it is unnecessary for the prince to have positive qualities, such as honesty, trustworthiness, sympathy, compassion, or be religious, it is essential for the prince to be viewed so by the public (pg. 37). While many people argue that Machiavelli’s legitimization of lying and deception in politics is immoral, I argue the opposite.

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Machiavelli states rulers should gain and maintain power by whatever means possible, even brutality and manipulation. Machiavelli also believed that commoners were only loyal to their leaders when their needs were met. He thought manipulation should be used to convince the commoners that their needs and interest were met. Overall, Machiavelli viewed the commoners as an essential source of power for leaders, felt they were somewhat challenging to control, and must be carefully governed to gain stability in the state and avoid insurrection (Machiavelli, 1532/2003).

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2328 Words | 10 Pages

The reputation of Niccolo Machiavelli has reigned infamous for centuries, not least as a result of his most noted work ‘The Prince’ (1532) resulting in the term "Machiavellian’ being used today for anyone who is seen slyly to manipulate a given situation to their own advantage by means of shrewd political insight" (Barnett, 2006). Although Machiavelli is often regarded as a pioneer, of sorts, of political thought by contemporaries and historians alike, the direction and content of his work on ‘The Prince’ was not without contextual historical motivation. A growing trend around the sixteenth century was the ‘Principis’ genre of literature, translating literally as “mirror of the prince”. This essay will explore the contextual setting for Machiavelli’s development of ‘The Prince’ and evaluate whether a knowledge of Machiavelli’s life and times is really necessary to understand and interpret the text for either what many believe to be it’s intended purpose or solely the purpose of political guidance. The intention behind Machiavelli 's 'The Prince ' was to provide an advice text, true to the ‘Principis’ style of the time, detailing how to a Prince might go about appearing learned and legitimate of his position in the event that he may not actually be so (Bobbitt;2013).

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2023 Words | 9 Pages

Machiavelli relies on his knowledge of history to conclude that Princes who abide by a standard moral code rarely succeed. He stands by his argument that the end justifies the means for the prince. For the prince, the means is whatever is in his best interests, not necessarily the interests of his people. Sometimes, a Prince must create his new standard of morality, and sometimes change it, to meet his new means and maintain power. He believed that morality is a fluid concept, changing as the interests and the challenges of the Prince evolve.

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1284 Words | 6 Pages

In Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, he maintains a harsh perspective on reality. His advice on how to maintain power leaves no room for compassion or generousity. While some may believe that these are qualities of a good person, Machiavelli believes these qualities lead to the downfall of rulers. He acknowledges that, in reality, it is impossible for someone to have qualities of a good person and simultaneously a good ruler. Machiavelli’s realistic outlook causes him to emphasize that it is better to maintain power through fear, rather than compassion.

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There are many on going discussions on whether or not college is a good investment. Some say that college is a waste of time and money or as Dale Stephens writes in College is A Waste of Time, “I believe higher education is broken” (Stephens 38). Others believe that college can be beneficial to one’s future and worth every penny. Considering both sides and weighing the possible outcomes, it can be proven that college is worth the risk. Investing in a college education can lead to a better job with better pay that will create a stable future, expand knowledge while investing economically in the country, and help to create a positive lifestyle.

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