Use Of Machiavellian Principles In The Emperor's Club

Could it ever be possible to run a society with morality based on doing what needs to be done in order to achieve an end goal by any means necessary? The Emperor’s Club is an interesting film about Sedgewick Bell, a boy who follows Machiavellian principles throughout his life. The film demonstrates the effects of his lifestyle on himself and the people around him. It demonstrates how his actions create conflicts with his peers and elders. When creating conflicts with others, he often finds himself in worse positions than he was in to begin with. Moreover, others lose faith in Bell as he continuously uses his Machiavellian principles. Throughout the film, it is demonstrated that the collapse of Machiavellian ethics is a necessary effect of the …show more content…
When everyone is out for themselves, attempting to gain the largest quantity of a limited resource or attempting to achieve an opposing goal, conflict is created. For example, in the Mr. Julius Cesar contest, all of the boys were competing for one award, creating conflict. In this situation, there is a conflict because each boy is out for himself in order to gain the title of Mr. Julius Cesar (Hoffman 2002). This is not necessarily an issue as it occurs in a controlled environment. However, when one boy, Sedgewick Bell, chooses to cheat in the competition in order to get ahead, a more prominent conflict is created. This conflict was between Bell and Mr. Hundert. The conflict is between Mr. Hundert’s wish to punish Bell so that he does not feel guilty for changing his grade to let him into the competition and Sedgewick’s wish to win the title of Mr. Julius Cesar (Hoffman 2002). These conflicting intentions are caused by both people trying to improve their own degree of satisfaction. At least one party will be unhappy with the outcome. According to conflict theory, in a society with one class that has power over another will lead to conflict between the classes and eventually to revolt. This occurs because the class in power wishes to remain in power and treat the other class as unfairly as possible so that resources are distributed as unequally as possible, while the other class wishes to gain …show more content…
These situations can be applied to non-cooperative game theory. Analysis based on game theory demonstrates how acting in one’s own best interest leads to a default where both parties are making the best decision for themselves yet, the default decision is rarely optimal. Rather than using resources to cooperate and maximize overall well-being, the parties use their resources in order to keep themselves safe. A famous example of this phenomenon is the prisoner’s dilemma. It involves two prisoners, each of whom are given the option to either confess to a crime or not to confess. If neither confesses, each prisoner will be sent to prison for one year. If one confesses and the other stays silent, the prisoner who confessed is set free and the other is sent to jail for three years. If both confess, then they are both sent to prison for two years. The dilemma in this situation is that from either perspective it is always advantageous to confess to the crime. However, if both prisoners confess, they are serving the greatest possible number of years in prison. Machiavellian ethics may be advantageous to each individual in every situation, however in the long run, the outcome is worse for each individual than if they had chosen to cooperate. These principles lead to lose-lose situations. In The Emperor’s Club, Bell and Mr. Hundert both act in