TOPIC: What advice found in the excerpt of The Prince (pp. 36-40) can you apply to your life in the 21st C.?
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"I say that every Prince should desire to be accounted merciful and not cruel."
ReplyDeleteMany things have changed in the world since The Prince was written. However some things will always be the same. The idea that a Prince should want to be merciful and not cruel applies even today. You wouldn't want a ruler to be a cruel person. Imagine how disastrous it would be if a high powered official in the modern government was a cruel ruler. He or she wouldn't treat all citizens fairly, nor will he care for them. According to the Encarta Dictionary,being merciful means welcome because of putting an end to something unpleasant or distressing or showing compassion towards somebody. Having a ruler who shows compassion towards his subjects is extremely important. If a ruler does not show compassion, his or her people may never get what they want or need. It's a rulers job to put an end to something unpleasant, to protect his or her subjects. There have been many changes since the time of The Prince, however, a few things will always be the same.
"For the friend we by with a price, and do not gain by greatness and nobility of good character, though fairly earned are not made good but fail us when we need them the most."(pg.37) Friends are one of a kind. They friends that we cherish and keep forever are the ones that we make based on personality and common interest. When we choose our friends it's because there is something trustworthy about them. We know that no matter what happens they will always be there and never bail. Those who bail are the ones who have been given something in return for their “friendship” and don’t feel need to stick around once they have gotten what they needed. Machiavelli is warning his readers to watch out for those types of “friends.” The ones that say they will stick around and always be there but in reality once they get what they want they are gone.
ReplyDeleteBeing resistant to change is another thing that Machiavelli is warning us about. The fact that when people become resistant to change they start to become less successful. For example, the crystal merchant in The Alchemist. Until Santiago started working for him he had never changed the way that he sold his crystal. Year after year it was the same thing and soon enough he was getting no business at all. The only way to continue success is to be able to change it up when needed. When Santiago started working for the merchant he started selling tea along with the crystal and instantly business started to increase. Machiavelli is telling us that if we just stick to our old ways and change nothing about who we are or what we do we are destined to fail but if we go with the flow and allow for change to happen then there’s got to be something good that is going to come out of it. If it wasn’t for change and newer and brighter technology then the world would be a lot different then it is today. If humanists and scientists refused to study our land and history then there would be no knowledge of the way things work and why people are the way they are and why the world spins. Resistance to change will do nothing but harm us and to change that we have to adapt to the new ways of the world.
Machiavelli had many pieces of advice to give to his readers. The Prince allowed for that advice to get recognized throughout the world. The fact that people who are resistant to change are bound to fail at some point in their lives and those people that we have that we call our friends shouldn't be people that we have to bribe they should be people that we choose to be our friends based on personality, trust, and common interest. They are not the people that stick around just long enough to get what they want.
The excerpt from The Prince that I found can that I can apply to my life is that “it is better to be impetuous then cautious”. Sometimes that being impulsive is the best thing you can do. We can use it every day in school in the 21st century if you are debating with yourself whether to ask a question. It is better to ask then let it go unasked and you left wondering.
ReplyDeleteMachiavelli also states that it is safer to be feared that loved. In the 21st century people do not really fear people but respect them. Like babysitting little kids is an example. Being nice to them is a big part of why they would like you. But they could start abusing that mercy and forget about respecting you. If there are rules are consequences just the right amount of fear is gain in order to be respected. “His being loved depends upon his subjects while his being fear depends upon himself a wise prince should build on what is his own and not on what rests with other” If you want to be successful it is not someone else’s job the burden is on us. It is our choice what to do with life and we should rely on some to pull the weight. Also you can make people respect you but, it is their choice whether to love you or not.
When I read “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli the idea that stuck with me the most was “Passing to the other qualities above mentioned, I say that every Prince should desire to be accounted merciful and not cruel. Nevertheless, he should be careful not to abuse this quality of mercy.” To be both merciful and cruel, being careful not to be too much of one or the other or face being seen as a feeble king while being too merciful or a ruthless king while being too cruel. The points he made afterward made his previous statement seem obsolete. He was saying as though, that a prince, if faced with the decision to be kind or unmerciful, to be unmerciful. Most of the well known world leaders of today are known as merciful men and women, who have not resorted to cruelty in order to assert their rule so I don’t think that that thought process might do any good in today’s world. In the age of the renaissance people weren’t as secure and protected as they are today so it’s a wonder why instead of becoming crueler, our leaders have become kinder (but that’s getting off the subject).
ReplyDeleteIf I was in a position of power, I doubt I would be either too cruel or too kind. I would be in-between being a totalitarian and a liberal. Not too mean, not to nice.
The quote that most stood out to me in the excerpts of "The Prince" was "Fortune is the mistress of half of our actions, and [it] leaves the control of the other half, or a little less to ourselves." This is significant to me because I believe that we do not have control over a lot of what happens to us, but we do have control of how we handle what is dealt to us, so one should not let fortune take complete control because like "the prince who rests wholly on Fortune is ruined when she changes."
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, one must realize that they do not have control over everything, and just because you may do something the same way as someone else, you may very well have different outcomes due to fortune. Machiavelli says that fortune favors the bolder man because he more easily handles his fortune and deals with it better, I definately agree with this, and it makes me want to make sure to live life impetuosly and not timidly.