Machiavellli's The Prince

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is the book that was based on examples of princes and other rulers of Spain, Italy, and other European countries at the time of Renaissance. It is a very interesting work that describes quite a few concepts on how to be a great ruler. To be a great ruler one must in a first place be a good person and according to Machiavelli to be a good person one should have these five qualities: compassion, honor, humanity, integrity, and religion. However, the following question arises, if a prince possesses all those fine qualities that make him a good person how can he be a great ruler who must be mortal and cruel, and according to Machiavelli, “… no prince should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and loyal.”

To help to answer this question I will look at the following passage:

"In actual fact, a prince may not have all the admirable qualities listed above, but it is very necessary that he should seem to have them. Indeed, I will venture to say that when you have them and exercise them all the time, they are harmful to you; when you just seem to have them, they are useful. It is good to appear merciful,

In conclusion, I must say that it is very important for a person to possess the following five qualities: compassion, honor, humanity, integrity, and religion. Having these qualities makes one a good person, but for a true prince whose role is to be a great ruler and leader who will bring the glory and happiness to his people it would be better to only pretend to have all those qualities rather have and exercise them because then he will have no problems in doing the total opposite of them when such action needs to be performed. Machiavelli says, “Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are; and those few do not dare to take a stand against the general opinion…” This clearly illustrates that if you only pretend to have all those qualities people will think that you really have them and will believe you, love you, and follow you realizing that you are that leader whom they need.

Machiavelly, in the first sentence of this passage shows how important it is for a prince not to have all those qualities that make him a great person but rather to seem like he has them. If prince was to have all those qualities that make him a good person he could not be a great ruler because a great ruler can not be merciful, human, sincere, etc…there as he must be cruel, tough, strong as a “Lion”, and unwilling to stop in front of any barriers that arise on his way of fulfilling his goal and the right to b

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