Papers On The Prince

In Machiavelli’s book “The Prince” he discusses methods to achieve a powerful position for those seeking power and how to maintain it, as well as getting people to submit to their authority. According to Machiavelli, a Prince must heed his book’s teachings and present themselves as a man who should be either feared or loved by the citizens of his kingdom with no exceptions if he wishes to rule with no constraints. But what steps must a prince take to be feared or loved and reign successfully? Or perhaps there are other methods a Prince can use to manage the people and his kingdom.
Machiavelli illustrates several key points in what it takes to be a "successful" Prince. Machiavelli argues in page 185 that the key to taking over a province is …show more content…
But is it the only way? He understands how unreasonably difficult it is to earn, or even consider earning the love of a large nation, especially if it is up to the Prince to make laws and rules that not everyone will agree with even though it is for the good of the country. And even though he is aware that a feared leader may cause resentment and a possible uprising, Machiavelli still seems to mainly side with the notion that a prince should aim for an image that emits fear. But if a Prince aims to be feared by the people he will only make himself appear more like a dictator than a leader. That is the same reason the Duke found it necessary to removed Messer from his position in order to prevent unwanted tension from the people: “The Duke decided there was no further need for such boundless power, because he feared it would become a cause for hatred” (pg.185). Instead of only looking to be feared or loved like Machiavelli suggest, a Prince should seek common ground between both and aim to be admirable, respected, reasonably stern, and be acknowledged as competent of his authoritative position by the