The Prince by Machiavelli

The Prince by Machiavelli

In The Prince, written by Machiavelli, may be a book but it is overall a letter written by Machiavelli to Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence, to help in his “understanding of the deeds of great men” and a guide to “How to be a Ruler.” It is a very straightforward piece of work where advice is just handed over one by one with no impediments or obscurities. He writes in a very humble style where he actually states that it is completely unworthy of his audience (Lorenzo). Using this very humble and straightforward style in his work, The Prince, Machiavelli begins to give advice to the Ruler.
Machiavelli first shows Lorenzo his analogy of how he could be a more effective ruler. He uses an analogy where “a person standing on a mountain is best positioned to survey the landscape below, and a person standing below is best positioned to survey the mountain.” Through this analogy, Machiavelli states a sort of a ironic conclusion where...