By having a very intriguing and different position on politics, Niccoló Machiavelli’s, The Prince, highlights key points of Machivelli’s structure of how princes/ and or pundits should govern their land. His political philosophy explains that an ideal prince is not a generous and kind representative of his people; rather he is one who will do anything in order to achieve his goals.
As a fifteenth century historian, diplomat and humanist, Niccoló Machiavelli believed that religion should not be added to the political spectrum. His ideals revolve around human nature and how it causes people to be merciless, selfish and foolish and hopes that a prince does not follow the lead of these negative traits.There are two different sides that a prince should have; he must be able to maintain and punish his people (for those who deserve it) but also to be kind when needed (but to be mostly cruel when necessary). Machiavelli explains that a prince, “must have a mind disposed to adapt itself ...
[and] not deviate from what is good, if possible, but be able to do evil if constrained" (Machiavelli 4). His cruel and unusual punishment should be the last idea of options for the prince. However, he must be prepared to use these tactics against people if that is the only way to succeed. The Prince has many different ways to adhere to the way a prince should be while still being heartless and peaceful.Although many people may disagree with Machiavelli’s concepts, his sense of political conception is brilliant.
The very famous quote, “ From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved…” (Machiavelli 2). Some do not understand that love is something one feels internally, something one chooses to feel by turning it on and off easily.Love is capricious, it comes and goes; but fear, is something one feels externally, by wincing and feeling the scary emotions of fright. Machiavelli states something very open and obvious. Although a ruler should try to be loved by having happy citizens, the moral of his scheme is that the first task is to enforce the law by using fear to help supplement this.
It is imperative to highlight that this is one of Machiavelli’s most praised concepts within his whole book.Another theory posed is that princes are either lauded or blamed based on how their personalities are, “…one is considered liberal, another miserly; one a free giver, another rapacious…” (Machiavelli 2). Although some of these traits may be rendered as good characteristics, it is simply impossible for a prince to express all of these traits. To not succumb to vulgarity and cruelness would not show weakness. It is important for a prince to have a good balance.A prince must show that he has good intentions but a weakness would be shown when he shows evil.
A good and strong ruler would know that although some of his decisions may not be ethical, he supports his own decisions. Retrospectively, Niccoló Machiavelli’s concepts and ideas definitely set a standard during his period of time and had shown the Church what a real prince should behave like in order to successfully sustain an economically and culturally healthy land.
