Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

In The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli’s guidelines for being an efficient ruler differ from Petrarch's in that they emphasize fear over love; moreover, Machiavelli upends Petrarch’s arguments by insisting that generosity only leads to hatred. In the 17th chapter of Machiavelli’s iconic text, he emphasizes the importance of fear over love. He writes, “From this a dispute arises, whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse...because it is difficult to put them together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one has to lack one of the two” (Machiavelli 66). Machiavelli argues a ruler should strive to be both feared and loved, but due to the difficultness of doing so, he concludes that being feared is safer than being loved -- that is, in terms of being a powerful ruler. It also mentioned that being feared does not coincide to being hated, as one should attempt to be feared but not hated. Machiavelli’s support for his maxim lies in what belongs to the prince and what belongs to the people. For the people of the prince love at their own convenience and fear at the convenience of the prince (Machiavelli 68). With this knowledge, the ruler should take what at his own convenience, for then he has the power to the rule people efficiently. …show more content…
Petrarch notes in Letters of Old Age, “But nothing is more foolish, nothing more removed from the stability of principality, than to wish to be feared by everyone” (Petrarch 526). The Italian humanist believed that to serve a powerful princehood, being loved should be the main objective as it leads to the people wanting to serve you, and wanting to uphold the regulations of society. As mentioned earlier, Machiavelli would disagree with this view because he believed people love at their own sake, and can choose when to do