An Analysis Of Machiavelli's The Prince

What does it mean to be Machiavellian? This could be defined in a number of ways but to begin I will start out with a simple definition. According to the Oxford English dictionary Machiavellian is defined as: Cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics or in advancing one’s career. Another site (dictionary.com) defines it as being or acting in accordance with the principles of government analyzed in Machiavelli 's “The Prince”, in which political expediency is placed above morality. From these definitions you can see clearly the being “Machiavellian” is by no means a good thing. These definitions describe Machiavellian as something evil and deceitful. While there are some people who believe in Machiavelli’s principles most people think that his philosophies are immoral and would not help a ruler with their political undertakings. One of the main goals for Machiavelli in writing this document was to gain favor with Lorenzo de’ Medici, this can be seen in the beginning …show more content…
Creon is an old king who is weary of ruling but knows what must be done to rule correctly. Creon thinks very logically and only cares about keeping his kingdom in control. In the play it is shown that Creon truly does care about his kingdom’s order over everything. This is shown by the way that he handles Antigone and tries to convince her to let go of her feelings and marry Haemon, he repeatedly tries to save Antigone from herself so that the kingdom can go on. In the end his attempts fail Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice kill themselves, leaving Creon alone. While this is seen as a tragedy Antigone was the problem and Creon was just trying to maintain stability in his kingdom. I believe that Machiavelli would have approved of the way Creon handled the situation because it falls under when Machiavelli talks about how sometimes the prince must do hard things for the greater