Machiavelli's Essay 'The Prince'

Throughout history, many rulers have been overthrown, conspired against, and assassinated. Many would argue that this was due to these rulers not knowing how to control their people, but upon reading the short essay, “The Prince” by Niccoló Machiavelli, one would realize that rulers have been ruined only due to their inability to rule. A ruler could have commendable, honorable qualities that people want their ruler to possess, but these exact qualities would led to their ruin. Thus a good ruler must have both good and bad qualities. They must show off their good in public, but display their bad only when no one’s looking, otherwise they’ll be taken advantage of, and thrown out of power. One such ruler who had a great ability to rule was Catherine …show more content…
People like to see certain qualities in their rulers like generosity, humane, trustworthy, loyal, merciful, honorable, and conscientiousness (Machiavelli, 83). A good ruler should jump at any opportunity to display these qualities the people like to see in their rulers, but they should hide their bad qualities at all cost. This short essay, however, didn’t suggest that rulers had to get rid of their bad qualities, but rather hide them. A good ruler needs bad qualities to survive otherwise they’d be taken advantage of. Someone could overthrow the ruler with their cunningness the current ruler can’t beat him with or be defeated by an opposing enemy. He needs to be cruel, controlling, and inhumane if he wants to keep his kingdom under his power. The people, however, don’t need to know he has those qualities. He needs the people to be on his side, so he could preserve his authority. If he has majority of the population on his side, no one could take over. No one would believe any conspiracies going around, and if someone tries to harm the ruler, his subjects would protect him. In concluding words, a good …show more content…
A decent ruler must understand that it’s better to be feared than loved. With fear comes control, and rulers can use the fear they installed into their subjects to keep them in order. Just like how Robespierre terrorized the French to keep them under his control, a ruler must be feared, so he’ll have his subjects dreading the punishment to come after committing a crime. Cesare Borgia, for instance, was seen as a cruel ruler, but this cruelty united the people of Romagna to make the kingdom more peaceful and orderly (Machiavelli, 77). Being loved by the people should be a ruler’s last concern because then he’ll find himself being seen as a friend rather than a ruler. Like Machiavelli said, it truly is for the best that a ruler is feared instead of loved for their own safety (Machiavelli, 78). However, at all costs, a ruler should avoid being hated. Hatred is a strong emotion, and it gets the best of everyone. If a ruler is hated, he’ll find himself thrown out of a power, and even assassinated like the French people did to Louis XVI. Simply put, a ruler must realize the manner he must take upon while ruling to keep his