Cabeza De Vaca Quote Analysis

Niccolò Machiavelli and Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca went through different experiences that led them to have their own perspectives in human nature and create their ideals for good governance. The simple fact that Cabeza de Vaca was unfortunate enough to have a hard time throughout the expedition made him more open minded about human nature, while Machiavelli had a set idea of what human nature was and how it ties to good governance. Machiavelli's view on human nature is the same as what is a good governance a good leader and a good human being is someone who knows how to be respected and feared without being hated and how that leads to have the people the Prince governs happy and on his side. Cabeza de Vaca has a more down to earth view on human nature but that differs …show more content…
The words he uses to describe men do not have the most positive meaning, he sees men as people who are not easy to control or govern, people who are not trustworthy and do not deserve to be treated nicely. Machiavelli only focuses on men and princes throughout the book and therefore his view on human nature is based only in men. He has a very harsh view of them as he also mentions “which men, wretched creatures they are”, this quote adds to the view of machiavelli in which men are bad and not worth much.
This view on human nature that Machiavelli has, specifically about men leads him to come up with how a prince should govern his territory and the proper way to govern them, he bases his opinion on they way he sees men. He gives a couple of characteristic that any prince should follow which include being stingy, being cruel, being feared, break promises, and choosing wise advisors. Machiavelli argues that a prince or anyone in the path of becoming a prince should know that a good governance comes from prince that will be able to maintain his power above anyone else without running the risk of being hated by his citizens. One of Machiavelli's most important point is that if the prince had