All leaders, whether a king, prince, or president of a nation or kingdom should be beast-like to a certain extent. In a fantasy world, a prince would possess all the qualities deemed “good” by other men and women, but this expectation is unrealistic. In chapter 15 and 18 of The Prince by: Niccolo Machiavelli explains that there is a difference between how a prince should live and how he lives, but he (the prince) must learn not to be virtuous (also known as Christian virtues). However, at the same time he must put the state’s interest above anything else, but when it puts him at a disadvantage, he can break his word. Therefore, a prince puts on a mask before the citizens giving the appearance of trust, loyalty, and fairness which can fool people
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Furthermore, Machiavelli elaborates on the idea that a prince must learn from the fox and the lion. The qualities of the fox are that they are strategic, crafty, take the offense side when it comes to the wolves (which is the allegorical symbol of the aristocrats within Florence, Italy) and the prince can learn from the fox how to identify the traps. Though on the other hand the lion is brash, lazy, and defenseless against the traps but can learn from the lion to scare off the wolves. The prince should be equally beast like when it is necessary, but also remain humane towards the citizens because too much aggression can cause citizens to revolt and for citizens’ mentality to change. For example, the prominent character in the book The Iliad by: Homer is Achilles, a Greek hero who fought in the Trojan War, but was taught by two centaurs which were Phoenix and Chiron. This is an allegorical lesson of the balance between being humane towards citizens to a certain extent and beast-like when necessary for the …show more content…
This book also gives us the harsh, realistic, and broader picture of an effective leader that they are not pictured as “good” but that they only appeal good in front of the citizens. However, behind closed doors it’s a completely different story. Many aspects of the book can be related not only to the early fifteenth and late sixteenth century, when it was written (when Italy was broken to it’s own city states rather than as a whole country), but that it can be applied to our society in the twenty-first century that an effective leader is a leader that is build on their own virtu (which creates Fortuna: luck) and is idolized by all the citizens, but also bear in mind that there is a balance between being humane in front of the citizens, then beast like when it comes to protecting their state, and power from being taken from
Furthermore, Machiavelli elaborates on the idea that a prince must learn from the fox and the lion. The qualities of the fox are that they are strategic, crafty, take the offense side when it comes to the wolves (which is the allegorical symbol of the aristocrats within Florence, Italy) and the prince can learn from the fox how to identify the traps. Though on the other hand the lion is brash, lazy, and defenseless against the traps but can learn from the lion to scare off the wolves. The prince should be equally beast like when it is necessary, but also remain humane towards the citizens because too much aggression can cause citizens to revolt and for citizens’ mentality to change. For example, the prominent character in the book The Iliad by: Homer is Achilles, a Greek hero who fought in the Trojan War, but was taught by two centaurs which were Phoenix and Chiron. This is an allegorical lesson of the balance between being humane towards citizens to a certain extent and beast-like when necessary for the …show more content…
This book also gives us the harsh, realistic, and broader picture of an effective leader that they are not pictured as “good” but that they only appeal good in front of the citizens. However, behind closed doors it’s a completely different story. Many aspects of the book can be related not only to the early fifteenth and late sixteenth century, when it was written (when Italy was broken to it’s own city states rather than as a whole country), but that it can be applied to our society in the twenty-first century that an effective leader is a leader that is build on their own virtu (which creates Fortuna: luck) and is idolized by all the citizens, but also bear in mind that there is a balance between being humane in front of the citizens, then beast like when it comes to protecting their state, and power from being taken from