Custom essays: Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince (or About Principalities) was written in 1513. At that time it was new to heat not teleological, but pragmatic purposes. The views expressed here sounded rather extreme. On the whole it was a set of instructions for a prince on how to gain power and be a successful leader. It is written in a satiric style, through which though we can discover a lot referring to Machiavelli’s philosophic and political views being inspired by the problems of his state and calamities of his own lifetime. It is stated that the main purpose is to keep the state strong and stable, so for that the ruler may be cruel and dishonest, and that would be justified (Spiering & Leerssen, 1996). He uses satire when makes an example of Lorenzo de Medici as one to follow to be a successful leader.
The virtues a Prince must possess are only those which bring good to the state. On this matter it is stated: “Men have imagined republics and principalities that never really existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what is, for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation; for a man who strives after goodness in all his acts is sure to come to ruin, since there are so many men who are not good.”
In this work Machiavelli provides a view of governing a principality that is radically different from that of humanists at that historical period. According to the work, the Prince should defend his own interests and those referring achieving, maintaining, and raising his political authority. His view of human nature was an absolute contradiction to what humanists actively acting at that time, believed and defended. The reason for such understanding is found in the very nature of each citizen: “An individual only grows to maturity – both intellectually and morally – through participation in the life of the state”; moreover, “in time of adversity, when the state is in need of it’s citizens there are few to be found” . Besides, humans are never faithful indeed, they cannot keep their word, but the only way for the ruler is to keep his word to them.
Going further on human nature, he says that all of us are unthankful, inconsistent, liars, and betrayers, afraid of danger and avoiding it, greedy and therefore easy to buy. At the same time each person thinks only of him or herself, paying no attention to the affairs of the community and the state. But they can be encouraged as all of them have vanity and interests a clever ruler can engage in the interests of the state.
Another famous work, the Discourses on Livy (or Discorsi) has much in common with the first one, being devoted to the structure of a good republic, the system of regulations and so on making up lessons based on the works of Titus Livy. Machiavelli showed a secular regime to be a more practical one. Machiavelli’s judgment was that Italy needed a principal who could gain absolute control over citizens and branches. One method of gaining power was to introduce a secular regime which would let the prince rule without being morally restricted. His understanding of human nature didn’t coincide with those of humanists who believed that an individual could to a great extent donate to the welfare of the state (Mansfield, 1981). Still, in the Discorsi Machiavelli shoes that it is not an easy thing to be a ruler, and the main though is that “In fact, when there is combined under the same constitution a prince, a nobility, and the power of the people, then these three powers will watch and keep each other reciprocally in check.”
Meanwhile, as we have already stated, Machiavelli’s satiric talent was greatly applied in literary works, mostly dramaturgic by genre, though he was a good novelist and poet too. The Mandrake (or La Mandragola) was written between 1504 and 1518. It is devoted to the dissolution of morals in the Italian society. The focus is made on the beast nature of human, following their instincts and seeing no moral obstacles while achieving their goals. Callimaco, the central character, desires to share the bed with a young and fair heroine Lucrezia who is the wife of Nicia, an elderly and not very bright man. The latter wants to get an heir, but has no success in the bedroom of his wife. Sly Callimaco, under the costume of a doctor, proposes his assistance: he persuades Nicia to drug wife with mandrake. This remedy was, by his words, to awake Lucrezia’s fertility. But he also warns the fool, that the first man to sleep with the woman under the action of the mandrake will be killed without a doubt. Being so helpful, he promises to find man of straw to take all the fire on himself. And so, disguised himself, he comes to poor Lucrezia and becomes her lover. What is persuasive, she no more resists him further – the female nature is a subject too.
Marvelous is the comedy Clizia about love that develops into a great scandalous. At the same time we find a grim lesson on controlling passions which is only a part of Machiavelli’s doctrine on reforms in public and private life.
Further, vanity and squander become the subject of a novella Belfagor (between 1518 and 1527). It tells how the devil has married a woman and as a result returned to hell and cursed the institute of marriage. By far, the tale is a satire on the social institutions and marital traditions working in the society.
In this way Niccolo Machiavelli is brilliant at both, reasoning on most burning issues of social and political life, and at fascinating the public with light and humorous literary works which have been age-tested and appreciated by so many generations running. It is really amazing how relevant his works are nowadays. And though political works differ from plays and poems in style, seize more large-scale problems, and seem to be more dedicating, they are still the same witty, rebellious and controversial.

References
Anglo, S. (2005). Machiavelli – the First Century: Studies in Enthusiasm, Hostility, and Irrelevance. Oxford University Press.
Baron, H. (1953). The Composition and Structure of Machiavelli’s Discorsi. Journal of the History of Ideas, 14 (1), 136–156.
Hoenselaars, A. J. (1998). The Politics of Prose and Drama: The Case of Machiavelli’s Belfagor. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press.
Machiavelli, N. (1988). The Prince. Edited by Quentin Skinner, Russell Price. Cambridge University Press.
Machiavelli, N. (1531). The Discourses. Translated by Leslie J. Walker, S.J, revisions by Brian Richardson (2003). London: Penguin Books.
Mansfield, H. C. (1981). Machiavelli’s Political Science. The American Political Science Review, 75 (2), 293–305.
Pocock, J. G. A. (1981). The Machiavellian Moment Revisited: a Study in History and Ideology. Journal of Modern History, 53(1), 49-72.
Spiering, M., & Leerssen, J. (1996). Machiavelli: Figure-Reputation. Yearbook of European Studies, 8.
Strauss, L. (1978). Thoughts on Machiavelli. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Viroli, M. (2000). Niccolò’s Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.