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The Renaissance Ideals in Machiavelli’s The Prince
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli is one of the chief masterpieces of the
Renaissance period and is a treatise on leadership, daring, and somewhat heretical in
the medieval tradition. This essay will compare the characteristics of the Renaissance
to those of the Middle Ages, discuss the elements of a proper ruler according to
Machiavelli, and place the text within the context of the Florentine political landscape
and the Italy of Machiavelli’s generation. Hence, we would discover how The Prince
properly encapsulates the Renaissance – the age of enlightenment – in its culture and
ideas as well as respond properly to the political conditions of the
The Renaissance presented a revival in almost every aspect of people’s lives in
art, learning, and culture up from the medieval period where there was more of an
emphasis on the focus on religion and feudalism. More so, the aspect of humanism,
which can be seen as determining the attitudes of people in the Renaissance by
espousing the ability for people to determine their destinies by embracing reason,
literature of the classical period, is contrary to what the Middle Ages where people
had to submit to the authority of the Catholic church and feudal systems of
governance. There are certain ways in which The Prince is reminiscent of the
principles of Renaissance humanism. The first of these is that Machiavelli did not
accept the concept of the divine right of kings, or any other religious approach to
governance, as the ideal basis for political power. While Renaissance humanism may
have advocated a return to the classics and a respect for religion, it was not afraid of
applying reason to politics, especially if it meant stabilizing the government.
In this text, Machiavelli’s idea of the effective prince is that of a governor who
can be flexible, realistic, and cunning when it comes to the wielding of power. In
chapters 15-19 of The Prince, he describes of factors that a prince should have. The
most obvious aspect of Machiavelli’s idea of the ideal prince is his capacity to be
decisive and not think twice about whether something is right or wrong. He outright
proclaims that a prince should be feared than loved because fear is more consistent
than love which can be easily gained and easily lost. According to the author, The
Prince should be willing and capable of making decisions that make the state more
secure. For example, he bases an entire chapter, chapter 17, on the need for cruelty if
it helps keep order: a prince may occasionally have to act in ways that are harsh to his
people but are, in reality, beneficial to the realm. He argues that “since our free will
ought not to be destroyed, I think it may well be true that Fortune is the mistress of half of our
actions” (Machiavelli 361). This focus on realism and the maintenance of authority over
the moral side of politics is the hallmark of Machiavelli's politics. By contrast,
kingship of the medieval age had reference to justice and kings were supposed to
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reign according to Christian tenets. In addition, the successful prince according to
Machiavelli must weigh on the horns of dilemma on the issue of alliance and
politicking. In chapter 19 he writes that The Prince should not believe his subjects
since they can be unfaithful. First, he should befriend his enemies and control the
opinion of regular people, and if needed lie. Such a level of strategic planning is
evidence of the heights of political complexity of Renaissance Italy when city-states
changed their allegiances and rulers were able to think and act only one step ahead.
There can be little doubt that The Prince is a document of the Renaissance period and not
of the Middle Ages. As a major aspect of the text, it is crucial to pinpoint the fact which makes
Machiavelli’s political thinking different from medieval political thought, namely the refusal of
divine-ordained power and morality-based legitimacy. Throughout the medieval period, Kings
were often considered to act as Gods' provincial governors, and their grounds were considered
legal based on Christianity. Machiavelli however, postulates that the major task of The Prince is
not just to govern his realm but rather to keep the state intact at the expense of any method. The
admirations of Constantinople move away from religious justification of power to the here-and-
now conventional allurement of force, one of the defining features of the Renaissance political
theory. In addition, The Prince is quite a secular treatise, which corresponds to the trends of the
Renaissance period. While Machiavelli insists on The Prince’s capacity to win over his people
and foes for one’s interest, the middle-aged perception of rulers as just leaders ordained by God
is quite the opposite. By medieval standards, the king was viewed as a moral and religious figure
whose actions were governed by Christianity. In this context, unlike the Renaissance writer,
Machiavelli for example, argued that the success of a ruler cannot be measured based on the laws
of morality or religion.
None of these can be properly considered separately from the historical and political
context of Renaissance Italy if one is seeking to understand Machiavelli’s political ideas
adequately. At the time when Machiavelli was writing this treatise, Italy was in a state of
political disunion and was not even per se a country in the modern usage of the word. This
political system was very unstable and delegated by external powers such as France and Spain
threatening the region. These political constants strongly contributed to the fact that Italian rulers
constantly eliminated each other, which created specific conditions for political survival and
manipulation of power. Machiavelli’s The Prince can emerge as the decision needed to stabilize this
political environment is made. He teaches kings on politikos of Italy where deceit, defection, and
external aggression were the order of the day. His concentration on how the state needs to be a strong,
unified authority can be traced to the political reality of Renaissance Italy, dominated by such city-states
as Florence, Milan, and Venice. These historical events are best captured in Machiavelli’s political piece
more like a successful prince whose actions direct changes in his favor.
In conclusion, The Prince by Machiavelli is a manifestation of the culture of the Renaissance
period considering its intellectual and political outlook. The discursive strategies of the treatise on the
manipulation of power, pragmatism, and secularities resonate with the Renaissance opposition to the
medieval concept of divine right and religious authority. The work of Machiavelli eludes to the humanist
spirit of the Renaissance which lays stress on reason and the rationality of the individual actor.
Moreover, The Prince describes the reality of the fragmented political system of Renaissance Italy,
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where a ruler often had to face quite a challenging environment. Hence, a study of The Prince would
help to understand how Renaissance civil philosophy differed from medieval political philosophy, and
how the former provided the basis for the later development of modern political theory.
