Machiavelli The Prince Essay
In The Prince, Machiavelli writes about the ways in which a prince should rule and serve up to his expectations. Many rulers look towards The Prince as a guidebook that enables them to experience the ruling systems of the past and incorporating these principles to their period of time. Even though Machiavelli wrote The Prince primarily due to the situation that his city of Florence was currently in, his advice and suggestions reach distances far apart from Florence, rather, it reaches the entire world as seen by the situations of rulers in Rome and in Western Europe. However, despite all of these differences in ruling, there are universal principles in which a prince must follow in order to form the true qualities of a successful leadership
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This has been used by princes as an advantage to keep people united and loyal to him while still following the laws because of the fear of being punished. In The Prince, Machiavelli constantly uses the successful prince, Cesare Borgia in countless examples and even in the case of whether it is better to be loved or feared when you cannot be both. According to Borgia, it is better to be feared than loved for the reasoning being that fear was what kept order and control in the his hands. Borgia punished those that broke the law in a cruel manner that obviously made people hate Borgia; however, this hatred was not minded by Borgia because being hated with people following his regulations was better than being soft towards those that broke laws which would encourage more law breakers. Machiavelli writes, “Thus, no prince should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and loyal; he may make examples of a very few, but he will be more merciful in reality than those who, in their tenderheartedness, allow disorder to occur, with their attendant murders and lootings” (45). Machiavelli also writes that a prince cannot avoid cruelty because to avoid cruelty is to allow people to break laws without punishment. Overall, being feared is a quality of human nature for princes to establish law and order and to ensure respect to the law and himself for control
This has been used by princes as an advantage to keep people united and loyal to him while still following the laws because of the fear of being punished. In The Prince, Machiavelli constantly uses the successful prince, Cesare Borgia in countless examples and even in the case of whether it is better to be loved or feared when you cannot be both. According to Borgia, it is better to be feared than loved for the reasoning being that fear was what kept order and control in the his hands. Borgia punished those that broke the law in a cruel manner that obviously made people hate Borgia; however, this hatred was not minded by Borgia because being hated with people following his regulations was better than being soft towards those that broke laws which would encourage more law breakers. Machiavelli writes, “Thus, no prince should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and loyal; he may make examples of a very few, but he will be more merciful in reality than those who, in their tenderheartedness, allow disorder to occur, with their attendant murders and lootings” (45). Machiavelli also writes that a prince cannot avoid cruelty because to avoid cruelty is to allow people to break laws without punishment. Overall, being feared is a quality of human nature for princes to establish law and order and to ensure respect to the law and himself for control