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Machiavelli The Prince Quote Analysis

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In Machiavelli’s famous novel The Prince, several ideals concerning the proper actions of a prince are recorded. These actions are presented to the reader and then justified by Machiavelli’s personal and historical observations. Throughout several chapters, Machiavelli intensely describes the traits of a prince and explains in thorough detail which vices a prince should act on and which virtues he should exhibit.
Machiavelli presents several ideas concerning the behavior of a prince in his novel The Prince. To begin with, Machiavelli believes that a prince should learn attributes that are not typically considered good. In fact, in order to survive as a prince and hold onto a principality, one has to commit actions that are not virtuous. This …show more content…

There are two distinct means of fighting, which includes both laws and force. While a prince must be able to utilize laws, he must also be able to take on more beast-like qualities. However, he will not succeed if he only acts as a ferocious lion or a cunning fox; if a prince is to succeed in all manner of situations, he must utilize both aspects accordingly. In addition to this, Machiavelli concludes that a prince must only keep his word when it suits him; if it harms his position, it does a prince no good to keep an oath. This is one of the aspects of the cunning fox. Ultimately, though, Machiavelli concludes that while a prince may not have all of these qualities, he must seem to have them. He must seem as virtuous as possible to the people, but, as previously stated, due to the inherently evil nature of man, he must also be prepared to work against virtue. However, if a prince has previously had a reputation of goodness, his actions will always be justified by the people and future wrongdoings will be excused. In conclusion, while a prince must strive to be multifaceted in order to succeed, he must also at the very least appear to be multifaceted and have a virtuous

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In addition, Machiavelli didn 't take the traditional route for supporting his argument of advice. He didn 't bother using any ethical or philosophical principles as the base for his advice he was trying to give. Instead, he used his own political program on real-life examples as his foundation to his treatise. Which is probably one of the reasons why "The Prince" got so much negative criticism. Machiavelli is practically stepping out of line by explaining what a prince should or should not do in pursuit of his

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Compare And Contrast Pizan And Machiavelli The Prince

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Then for Machiavelli he talks about how a prince should show no fear instead for him to show that he is the one with power. That a prince's people should fear him. Both authors go on to talk on how their people react based on the prince and princesse act. The authors then go on to explain how they should view and run their people. Both authors also reflect the fact that the way their people are going to act towards them is mainly based off of how they treat them.

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“Ancient writers made subtle note to this fact when they wrote that Achilles and many other princes of antiquity were sent to be reared by Chiron the centaur, who trained them in his discipline. Having a teacher who is half man and half beast can only mean that a prince must know how to use both these two natures, and that one without the other has no lasting effect.” Machiavelli continues with the analogy, “Since a prince must know how to use the character of beasts, he should pick for imitation the fox and the lion. As the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot protect himself from wolves, you have to be a fox in order to be wary of traps, and a lion to overawe the wolves.” Machiavelli’s use of the analogy to help the reader better understand necessary being like a lion and a fox helps his audience visualize his

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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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So, in Machiavelli’s point of view, as a politician, the purpose and intentions of one’s generosity is solely to get to their desired position, in this case the prince. The politicians will say numerous things they will do when they become a prince; however, once they actually become one, they no longer feel obliged to keep their promises, and most of the promises they made were merely to get the votes. This results in only a small fraction of the promises being kept, and these kinds of politicians are not so hard to find even in today’s

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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.

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To conclude the character that had the most influence on the occurrence of the tragedies within Hamlet is Claudius, and his quest to obtain power. The murder of King Hamlet at the hands of Claudius could be pointed to as the most important part of the play Hamlet. If that event did not occur, then a large majority of the play would not have happened, for instance the Ghost would not have appeared, and Hamlet would have no desire to kill Claudius. John W. Draper included this line in his paper which dissected Claudius as a character, “each antagonist seeks the other’s death, Hamlet for revenge, and Claudius to save himself from vengeance” (Draper, 2018, p. 3). Essentially without the murder of King Hamlet there would be no drive for either of

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Machiavelli has clearly started a lot of thought on how the school of Realism operates. Though his view on humans and some of his methods may be extreme, The Prince and the Discourses shows a lot of insight on what do if a prince wants to hold his power and what action should be done to do

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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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Through all these conflicting characteristics, a side of Hamlet is seen in a new light; a Machiavellian prince. This aspect of Hamlet is the ruthless and cunning tactician who is open to using deceit for his own ends. Machiavelli, in his book 'The Prince ', shows a set of guidelines and philosophical arguments for a ruler to embody. He states that a ruler cannot always be virtuous and good as different situations could lead him to evil and inhumane acts as shown in his statement "learn how not to be good"(Machiavelli, Ch. XV). Machiavelli also stakes his point on a ruler been versatile with his analogy of the fox and lion.

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To Machiavelli, there is no morality in politics, only political virtue (Prudence). Prudence means knowing when to exhibit virtue or vice. As long as the Prince understands the role of Prudence, they will be successful. However, Machiavelli made an oversight.

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Both of these highly influential authors had different opinions on ruling that would shape how people would rule during their time and for rulers to come. One of Machiavelli’s major points in The Prince was that it was better to be feared than to be loved. He said this was because while both ways can be useful tools to help one rule, men are less likely to turn a ruler if they were afraid of punishment. Machiavelli had little faith in the common man and had this to say about them, “They are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive and deceiving, avoiders of dangers, eager to gain”(pg.353).

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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.

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