Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince Analysis

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.

Machiavelli also stakes his point on a ruler been versatile with his analogy of the fox and lion. A fox due to its cunningness and cautiousness and a lion for its brawn and courage. Hamlet shows the tendency of the fox as he employs deceit and cunning to great effect, even outsmarting his rivals many times. This is seen when he pretends to be insane to make the royal court believe grief has made him run mad. Hamlet further shows his strategic and cautious side when he uses a play to show Claudius ' role in his father 's

In the novel Golding used Jack’s method of control to represent Machiavelli’s ideas of how people should rule. Machiavelli believes that if you are a politician than it doesn’t matter how nice you are, what citizens need most is effectiveness so then you can create overall stability. One of Machiavelli’s biggest believes was that the most effective way to rule is by using necessary cruelty. This is shown effective by Roger when he tortures Sam in Eric until they agree to join Jack’s tribe (Pages 188-189). Although it is wrong torturing Sam and Eric it was an effective way to gain control because now Jack is able to get inside information about

For when lenity and cruelty play for kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner.” (King Henry V 3.6 113-20) Even though Henry seeks to unite the kingdoms of France and England to enlarge his domain, he also wants the people of France to like him. In addition, with a larger and stronger kingdom, neighboring countries will be less likely to attack. “We must not only arm t ' invade the French, But lay down our proportions to defend against Scotland, who will make road upon us with all advantages.” (King Henry V 1.2

Ralph’s display of intellect and leadership, as well as the ability to maintain order, deem him as the Good wolf. Ralph presents the idea of building a signal for potential rescuers and sets rules: “if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting.

In Machiavelli’s The Prince, Machiavelli explains to Lorenzo De Medici that a ruler must have the characteristics of a lion or a fox, and must be willing to break their word when it suits their purpose in order to be effective. I believe that Machiavelli is correct, a leader must be beast-like to be effective, and willing to break their word for the greater good. In the next few paragraphs I will discuss how a Prince must have traits that resemble a lion in order to be effective. Then I will relate this to Lorenzo De Medici, resembling the characteristics he has to that of a lion. After that, I will explain why a leader needs to break their word through advice that Machiavelli gives to Lorenzo De Medici from The Prince.

Machiavelli say in regards to a prince being either feared or loved, in chapter 17, Machiavelli states “ is much safer to be feared than loved,” . In Machiavelli’s opinion, be feared is more important since it is safer. Even though, it is best to answer that a prince should be both, feared and loved, however it is still very difficult or near impossible to unite them in one person, especially a ruler. Either one must be dispensed with due to be asserted in general of men. In regards to the concept of a ruler being feared and loved, explain Machiavelli’s discussion of the Carthaginian General Hannibal or the Roman General Scipio Africanus.

Early on it is alluded to that creon is not merely feared but he strikes terror into his subjects. As a sentinel enters Creon's Presence to announce that one of Creon's decrees has been broken he implies that he is in danger rambling “I come, playing a nimble foot… I had many sticking points of thought… For my heart whispered Poor wretch why go to meet your sentence” (Sophocles 10). This implies that the guard is afraid that he will be struck against because he is informing creon of an infraction. It is an almost universal taboo to shoot the messenger and a deep level of contempt is reserved for those who do. Contempt Machiavelli argues is something to be avoided.

Through examination of Lord of the Flies, Golding seems to share this point of view. When left in an environment lacking authority, the boys attempt to follow the fundamental rule of nature, electing Ralph as their leader and for a time, following his rules. However, when another boy desired the same position, competition arose and Ralph was revealed to be less powerful and disrespected by the group. Jack found his power in feeding off the other boys’ fears, and using violent, animalistic techniques, which proved to be what they truly desired. War broke out between the two, as Hobbes predicted would happen in such circumstances, and morality was only restored when a powerful figure of authority finally arrived on the island.

Particularly starting in Florence during the Renaissance and political enlightenment. Locke ideas came before the American Revolution and were the foundation for the U.S Constitution and partly reasons for the revolution. Though these men were not able to live through or the start of their notions, the people took a hold of them impacting government systems. Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian statesman and writer for the Florentine Republic. He upheld as a senior official there as well in the 13th century.