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Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince Analysis

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Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, is a gift to Lorenzo de Medici, the future prince at the time. Machiavelli spent a very long time compiling information about the decisions rulers have made in the past to determine the best way to rule a kingdom. He took many examples from leaders like King Ferdinand, King Charles VIII, and Emperor Maximilian II. He used these examples to determine how a prince should act and what qualities they should have. According to Machiavelli's The Prince, the qualities a prince should possess are deception, military knowledge, and wisdom. According to Machiavelli’s The Prince, one quality a prince should possess is deception. His statement, “Every one sees what you seem, but few know what you are,” (47) is the basis of his whole discussion on deception. It means that a prince’s subjects judge the prince on how he acts in public, but only a few people know how he …show more content…

Throughout The Prince, Machiavelli described the decisions a wise prince would make in many situations. He stated that a wise prince would surround himself with intelligent advisors, and listen to them carefully, but make his own decisions and stick to them. A wise prince would win the goodwill of the people, and keep his citizens dependent on him and on the state. This is imperative because the citizen's goodwill is the best defense against both domestic and foreign threats. When he stated, “He must therefore be a fox to discern toils, and a lion to drive off wolves,” (46) he expresses that a prince should be able to discern whether to use force or deceit when dealing with different situations. Machiavelli also stated that princes that played the fox had more success than those who fully relied on the lion. His most important statement about wisdom is that a prince should know when to exhibit good conduct to preserve his rule, but also is able to use evil methods when he has

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