Preview

Machiavelli

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
673 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Machiavelli
Machiavelli Essay. Machiavelli attempted to gain the favor of a local leader by advising the prince through the use of tactful deductive reasoning, vivid perspective, and plentiful historical references, to convey the important skills required to be an effective prince. The way Machiavelli used deductive reasoning was to portray the importance of doing a certain task and doing it properly, to have the correct effect. “He must, therefore, never raise his thought from his exercise of war, and in peace time he must train himself more than in time of war…” This statement Machiavelli made was a general principle to the specific case to always be prepared by action and by mind. Also stated “A prince, therefore, unable to use this virtue of generosity in a manner which will not harm himself if he is known for it, should, if he is wise, not worry about being called a miser…” is a general purpose to the specific case that being generous will have a negative more than a positive look on you in the long run. “ A prince, therefore, must be very careful to never let anything slip from his lips which is not full of the five qualities mentioned…he should appear upon seeing and hearing him, to be all mercy, all faithfulness, all integrity, all kindness, all religion. “This meant that what comes out of the princes mouth need to follow his persona; as if a constant acting was to be followed. The effectiveness the deductive reasoning was to make the reader understand that all of what Machiavelli was handing out to the prince was for his own benefit. Machiavelli had an extraordinarily way of showing his perspective. “…I know that everyone will admit that it would be a very praiseworthy thing to find a prince, of the qualities mentioned above, those that are held to be good…” This meant that in Machiavelli’s perspective, it would’ve been the best thing for the prince, to be all of the qualities he had mentioned. “…I say that it would be good to be considered

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli was a risk-taker, he believed that people should choose leaders who were able to live with the risks that they took. Machiavelli stumbled upon conclusions through his observations of how individuals actually behaved rather than the way they should behave in a theoretical…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lao-Tzu Vs Machiavelli

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Next, one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised.” (207) Machiavelli insists that though to be both loved and feared would be best, being the two at once is impossible, thus “it is much safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.” (227) On the subject of being despised, Machiavelli fest strongly that a Prince should avoid being considered that at all costs. “A prince must guard himself against being despised and hated[...]”…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Best Paper Evvver

    • 1893 Words
    • 8 Pages

    4) Why does Machiavelli say that it is better for a prince “to be both loved and feared”? Is it possible for a prince to be both? Explain.…

    • 1893 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli asserts, “... of men generally; they are ungrateful, fickle, feigners and dissemblers, avoiders of danger, eager for gain” and that men are “treacherous and would not keep their promises to you.” Do you agree with his assessment of people? Explain.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Machiavelli’s use of virtú holds that a prince will act in accordance to the situation presented regardless of whether it is morally correct or not. The word virtú means energy, strength, merit, talent, skill, power, abilities, etc. It requires that the prince be able to alternate between behavior that is good and behavior that is bad. Mastering such behavior means the prince can effectively carry out his power over his state. Virtú cannot act on its own without Fortuna, which means chance. He believes that fortuna is out of our control, but can be controlled to some extent by preparing through virtú. Fortuna is described as “a woman, and a man who wants to hold her down must beat and bully her” (Machiavelli 69). The meaning of virtú and fortuna do not deal with moral goodness, but instead deal with the cruelty of a society like Machiavelli’s in which such behavior must be elicited for control and power. There are some virtues that are taken into consideration depending on their effectiveness. Good virtues are defined as those that result in the ending to be obtained. For example, the virtue of generosity is said to be beneficial to the prince.…

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli 's, The Prince serves as a handbook to future rulers with their roles and responsibilities. Machiavelli begins his handbook with his view of princely virtues. He argues that in order for a person to be a good leader and stay in rule he must not just be a good person but that “he must learn how to not be good” (Lawall et al, 1951) in order to protect himself from anyone trying to overtake his rule. He must always be prepared and not make himself the “good guy” all the time. Machiavelli shows that being a good person all of the time will only allow for the bad people to overpower the good people, “because anyone who determines to act in all circumstances the part of a good man must come to ruin among so many who are not good” (Lawall et al, 1951).…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli claims to possess the knowledge of the “actions of great men”. What Machiavelli really means by this is that he knows much of how leaders of great nations handle their power. However, he also knows much of how these great leaders should handle their power, which is essentially what he is trying to explain to Lorenzo de Medici throughout the text. Through a large number of examples involving past leaders and their successes and failures, as well as a large amount of knowledge on the topic of political affairs accumulated over many years of study, Machiavelli explains to Lorenzo de Medici how he should go about attaining the greatness Machiavelli knows he can attain. This “greatness” that Machiavelli refers to is Lorenzo de Medici’s…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Examples Of Machiavelli

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page

    To be esteemed Machiavelli says that a prince should carry great enterprises, he should make himself look good and talented, and in time of war he should pick side.…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “For, since men always walk in paths beaten by others, and they proceed by means of imitation in their actions, and since one cannot completely hold to the paths of others, nor arrive at the virtue of those whom you imitate, a prudent man should always enter by paths beaten by great men and imitate those who have been the most excellent, so that if his virtue does not arrive there, at least it gives off some scent of it. And he should do as the prudent archers do when the place they wish to strike appears to them too far off. Since the archers know just how far the virtue of their bow reaches, they place their aim much higher than the intended place, not in order to reach a place so high with their arrow, but to be able, with the help of so high an aim, to achieve their goal” (55). Machiavelli first defines virtue simply as the ability to transform fortune into opportunity and finally into success; however, Machiavelli amplifies virtue to be the ability to persuade others that one is capable of ruling, when in reality, the ruler may be lacking in ability to rule as prince. Machiavelli compares a ruler to an archer, as an archer gauges how much strength he must put into the shot and the height of his aim.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare Vs Machiavelli

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Machiavelli emphasizes that it is impossible for the prince to satisfy everybody's expectations in society and therefore it is inevitable that he will disappoint some of his people. In order for a prince not to be virtuous, he must have the notion of the greater good for the people in mind. Machiavelli offers a perspective on the realities and not the ideals of political manipulation and morality. “I have thought it proper to represent things as they are in real truth, rather than as they are imagined…the fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among many who are not virtuous.…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, its never that simple. Although we would like to keep our word, it’s never a sure thing. Obstacles get in the way or we may have chewed off more than we can handle. Machiavelli understands these circumstances and notes them in his advice to his prince on not keeping his word. “…one sees from the experience of our times that the princes who have accomplished great deeds are those who have cared little for keeping their promises and who have known how to manipulate the minds of men by shrewdness…” (229). Much like todays politicians, Machiavelli suggests for his prince to never keep his word because there are many circumstances in which he will have to break them for the better. Nonetheless, breaking a promise without disturbing the peace takes great skill that a prince should learn. For example, Alexander VI, religiously broke his promises; however, he mastered the aspects of man and how to deceive them without causing chaos. Machiavelli uses an analogy to bring his point to perspective by using the two alpha beasts, the fox and lion. “…a prince must know how to use wisely the nature of the beast…it is necessary to be a fox in order to recognize the traps and a lion in order to frighten the wolves. Those who play only the lion do not understand matters” (230). Learning to be slick is important so that a prince will always be liked even if he is feared. However, Machiavelli warns his prince to use this skill wisely and on occasions, but not all the time so to not raise any questions and make him hated amongst his subjects. Hatred is the most powerful emotion, a prince who is despised and hated should be concerned for more than just his position on the…

    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Virtu meaning strength and fortuna meaning fortune, these two were key to Machiavelli’s argument in his writing about what a good leader should do in the instances of trying to control a population. Virtu is meant to indicate that someone has a certain talent or ability to get something done. Machiavelli argues that if a prince could always apply his virtu to present circumstances, that he’d almost always be successful in his endeavours. Machiavelli is also quick to point out that while fortuna does in fact exist, it cannot be controlled. In that sense, Machiavelli argues that one can only act according to their natures, which in the end we can't alter. These two things were what revolved around his main argument, tying it into decisions of current events of the time and utilizing it to implore the leaders of Florence not to fall into the traps of money and wealth when they can govern fairly with virtu and some fortuna mixed…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Machiavelli in his book “The Prince” seems to sap the very foundations of morality and stops at nothing short of capsizing the entire edifice of religion. His thoughts resonate with a loathing of true virtue and propagate corrupted politics. Actually, today the term Machiavellianism is used to refer to the use of deceitfulness to advance one’s goals or desires. In ‘The Prince”, Machiavelli breaks from the classical view of virtue as represented by his philosophic predecessors Plato and Aristotle. Whereas his predecessors held virtue in an ideal environment (idealism), Machiavelli defined virtue in a real environment where one is judged by his actions and not by the way his actions ought to be (realism). [pic][pic]…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    While other texts in the wisdom tradition – Plato’s Republic and Aurelius’ Meditation, for example – emphasize the importance of a ruler being “good” and “just”, Machiavelli concerns himself solely with practicality, dismissing the philosophical tradition of holding rulers to moral perfection. Under the light of comparison then, it is easy to dismiss The Prince as an aberration in the history of classical philosophy; after all, it never came to be read by a ruler and Machiavelli himself saw little political success in his life after writing it (Machiavelli, p. 9).…

    • 1988 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A wise prince must always be conscious of this erratic and ungrateful behavior of his constituents. Machiavelli views power as a relationship between the government and the people. Power is a state of compromise between things the ruler can and cannot control. The prince is able to decide how he wishes to be perceived by his people yet he is unable to completely control the actions of his citizens. He is, however, able to deter them from doing things that threaten his power through the use of punishment and force. Due to the fickle nature of humans, “affairs should be managed in such a way that…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays