Machiavelli's The Prince

The time of the Renaissance consisted in growth of intellect, beauty of nature, the dignity of mankind, and the rising of artists. The Renaissance represents the move from scholasticism, a devotion specifically for the theological and philosophical teachings of the Church, to humanism, a devotion to the humanities of rhetoric, arithmetic, and other subjects. An example of this movement can be seen in Machiavelli’s The Prince, which describes Niccolo Machiavelli’s ideal ruler and how to obtain stability, as it was lacking during the time he was writing this, due to a power shift from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe. While Machiavelli promotes the stability of Italy, he has a disordered love towards his country as he promotes to defend …show more content…
This signifies that the prince’s mind must always be on the subject of war and that the best of princes will look to a historical figure, for example, Alexander the Great, on how one should lead a country. Machiavelli shows this when he says “Above all, he should do as great men have done before him, and take as a model for his conduct some great historical figure who achieved the highest praise and glory by constantly holding before himself the deeds and achievements of his predecessors” (Machiavelli 42). When Machiavelli signifies that the prince’s mind must always be on the subject of war , he is saying that as war goes on, he needs to figure out the best battle tactics, while in time of peace the prince always needs to know where his enemies are and what they are up …show more content…
The Prince, urged by Machiavelli to go to any lengths to obtain stability and the allegiance of the people, as he says “if he wants to keep a name for generosity, he will have to load people with exorbitant taxes and squeeze money out of them in every way he can” (Machiavelli 43). This contradicts what Machiavelli is trying to do as he desires to obtain stability and order, but will break all the rules and give up his morality to do so. Moreover, while Machiavelli is right that vices are inevitable this does not signify that the prince should not act virtuously to the best of his

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