Machiavelli The Prince Rhetorical Analysis
In this excerpt of The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli argues that a good prince should be more concerned with maintaining the security of the state than with morality and ethics, pointing out that, although an ideal prince would be perfect in every way, ideal princes don’t exist. So a prince must therefore choose which qualities to regard in higher terms. Machiavelli uses as an example of this the quandary of whether ‘tis better to be feared or loved, saying that being feared is better (though not unto the point of hatred), because people are inherently bad, and fear of punishment is a stronger motivator than desire to be good. A prince, he says, must master the arts of deception and cunning; not only should he have a lion’s courage but a fox’s