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Machiavelli The Prince Research Paper

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Machiavelli The Prince Research Paper
Machiavelli intended The Prince to serve as a guide to creating and holding on to a principality. In it, he also characterizes a "good" society and the necessary tools for building one. Although Machiavelli conceives the republic as being the most practical form of government, he reasons that it is still possible to create a good society under a monarchy, as long as the leader of the monarchy follows the stipulated guidelines. Machiavelli realized that humans are predisposed to act perniciously and therefore it is the responsibility of the prince to exploit that nature in a way that will benefit society as a whole. In this way, Machiavelli's prince is an ideal crafted from the actual, rather than an actual crafted from the ideal.

Machiavelli …show more content…
The all-encompassing term Machiavelli uses for the prince's various necessary traits is "virtu." A ruler in possession of "virtu," while not completely free from the possible negative effects of fortune, is in far better position to deal with whatever circumstances may …show more content…
While Machiavelli believes that the higher road should be taken whenever possible, there are situations that may require that a leader set aside traditional morality in favor of cunning and trickery. As a pragmatist, he sees morality as a barrier to success in certain cases: "…it is necessary for a prince who wishes to maintain his position to learn how not to be good." (Machiavelli, 127) Machiavelli's prince must learn how not to be good, because "…it is not necessary for a prince to have all of the above-mentioned qualities, but it is very necessary for him to appear to have them." (Machiavelli, 135) As a leader, the prince is subject to specific standards by the people and must always have a favorable and consistent public
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