Write a 7 pages paper on machiavellis the prince: gift or trick. The term “Machiavellian” certainly contains negative connotations. This is because “Machiavelli does not pretend to discuss right and w

Write a 7 pages paper on machiavellis the prince: gift or trick. The term “Machiavellian” certainly contains negative connotations. This is because “Machiavelli does not pretend to discuss right and wrong from the standpoint of the moralist. he simply states that a certain line of action succeeds and a different one fails” (Thayer 477).&nbsp. For this, he has been called a cynic.

However, there has been further controversy concerning this work as of late. Recently, the idea has been put forth that “Machiavelli’s ethical stance was unrealistic and, since he was in a position to know better, irrational” (39). The idea is that Machiavelli knew that he was sending Lorenzo de Medici a document that would help him to take control of his state or one that would lead him to throw his subjects into open rebellion.

Whatever case, the dedication, the only part that directly addresses Lorenzo de Medici, can be viewed as either sycophantic or duplicitous. By analyzing the dedication, we can see that either possibility could be true. Whatever the case, it was definitely effective in its goal.

Machiavelli first needed to ingratiate himself to the prince, which he did so in the dedication. He had been tortured and exiled by this same family that he was sending this to for traitorous activity. This being the case, he needed to approach this subject with extreme humbleness. In the dedication, he directly addresses the prince as “magnificent” (3). Furthermore, whenever he refers to him in the body of the text, he calls him “your Magnificence” (3-4), which comes to a total of four times. While to a modern audience, this sort of praise might seem overly sycophantic, this was the sort of deference that royalty of this time would have expected. We must remember that this is rather dated, and the ideas of royalty are not something that modern readers would have much experience with. It was basically expected when addressing royalty to use this kind of language. With this being the case, this was less a rhetorical technique than merely following the with the customs of these specific times.&nbsp.