Machiavelli The Prince Satire Analysis

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” Machiavelli uses this analogy as an attempt to teach the masses how to embrace their human significance. Machiavelli wrote The Prince at a time where there was political unrest and confusion in Italy, which is why it can be interpreted in many different ways, such as a political satire or epilogue of his political views; however, while the content may be confusing the true meaning of The Prince is to be understood as a satire. Machiavelli is continuously sarcastic through out the course of the novel about the government standings and the changing world. There is also continuous …show more content…
The ideas that Machiavelli displays are the true ideals of the era, however, the irony and satire surrounding how they are presented are not genuine: ““Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires” (Machiavelli). Machiavelli is revealing to the reader that in order for a prince to do a good job, he must lie to his subjects in order to be successful. He continues to be ironic and poke fun at the system in play and proves that these thoughts of the prince are not genuine. The beliefs that correspond with those of the era that are presented in The Prince are a strong ruling body in order to maintain social order:“Machiavelli, in the world we have described, often holds qualities like liberality, affability, generosity, courage, sincerity, gravity, and faith, to be of no more or less political value than their opposites, except in communication”(Moore). This belief is also present in the era due to the fact that in order to break these social classes and strict caste system there must be a government that supports this and keeps the people safe, it may seem as if it is going against humanism, however, it is not, this goes along with the idea that people are taking control of their own lives, in a safe environment. Which is Machiavelli’s point in The Prince, that what the prince is doing to the people is unjust by not allowing them to have their own personal freedoms and to be able to break from their positions Machiavelli’s ideas and beliefs are genuine, however the way he addresses the prince is