Theprince By Machiavelli Chap :: essays research papers

The Prince Chapter Analysis The Prince, by Machiavelli, was written for the Italian deMedici family and intended to be used as a guidebook for retaining political power. In the chapter entitled "That We Must Avoid Being Despised and Hated," Machiavelli describes the traits that a leader should avoid. He also describes the traits a leader must have in order to have the respect and loyalty of his subjects. Machiavelli writes, "He is rendered despicable by being thought changeable, frivolous, effeminate, timid, and irresolute." Machiavelli believes the leader should never vacillate. The leader's words would become meaningless for he cannot gain anything by constantly changing his goals and his decisions. An example of this would be a manager wishes to complete a task and he orders his workers to begin this task. The manager later decides to change this task abandoning his first task, and he instructs his workers to begin the new task. The manager instructs his workers to return to the first task. The workers begin to become frustrated, and the manager has yet to accomplish a task. Thus, a leader must not vacillate in order to accomplish any goal. A leader must always accomplish the goals he sets out to accomplish, for if he chooses to attain a goal which he has no hope of gaining, then he is a frivolous ruler, and according to Machiavelli, deserves to become despised. A t imid ruler would be too weak and too scared to rule his people, and he would never get a task done. An effeminate ruler is thought to have feminine qualities. In those times, someone who was feminine could not be taken seriously. A leader must always resolve a problem for all problems allowed to "get out of hand" tend to become large problems, and this will show the leader's inability to resolve things. An example of this would be a king becomes aware that his crops were not as productive one year. The king decides nothing on it. Later that winter, his people begin to starve, but the king has done nothing to help. The starving people begin to revolt against this irresolute king. Therefore, a king must not be irresolute. Machiavelli describes these traits so the traits may be avoided by the leader. The leader would become despised and not respected by his citizens and fellow rulers if he is thought to be changeable, frivolous, effeminate, timid, and irresolute.