Machiavellis the Prince: By Any Means Necessary :: essays research papers

Machiavellis "The Prince" By Any Means Necessary     Part 15 of Machiavellis The Prince, entitled Of the Things for WhichMen, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed, states that, in tell for aman to maintain control of a g everywherenment and better that territory, he mustengage in certain actions that may be deemed felonious by the public he serves.Machiavelli argues a valid point, that the nature of man is twofold,encompassing good and darkness, right and wrong. The effectiveness of his argument,however, relies on the fact that the person knowledge his essay is an objectiveobserver of human nature. Not leaving this to chance, Machiavelli plays apsychological game with the lecturer in order to convince them of his argument.     Machiavelli prefaces his thesis with translation that attempts to placethe reader in a subordinate state-of-mind. He confesses to the reader that hefears sounding presumptuous for writing about a s ubject cover many timesbefore by others and differing from their opinion in the matter. This statementplaces the author at the mercy of the reader and prepares them to hear an ideathat may non be popular. Having been asked forgiveness for the pride of theauthor, the reader drops barriers that he may have against arguments driven byego and opens his mind to Machiavelli on a personal, sincere level. By placinghimself at the feet of the reader, Machiavelli puts himself and his argument ina position of power. He wastes no time in using this power to gain more controlover the reader. In the next sentence he states that his intention is to createan outline for behavior in public office of use to those who understand. Thisstatement compels the reader to agree with the points that the trustworthy,forthright Machiavelli argues, or be relegated the ranks of those ignorantdullards that do not understand. Machiavelli then presents his thesis, that aruler must use both good and evil in order t o maintain his power over the state.The reader has almost no choice but to accept this idea before any certainty hasbeen given. With the reader in the palm of his hand, Machiavelli needs only tomake a very general argument of his point to convince the reader of its validity.     The author states that on that point are actions for which a prince is eitherpraised or blamed. He lists many examples of good qualities and their opposingattitudes. Instead of labeling them good and evil, however, Machiavelli titlesthem imaginary and real. By calling the good traits and the draw who possesses