The Prince And Utopia
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The Prince and Utopia
The Prince and Utopia are honored as masterpieces that show two differing styles of government. Both books have many similarities and differences in the governments that are in the their respective stories. Many ideas from the governments they portray have profound impacts on our modern government such as various political principles like the military, economy, and religion. The Prince and Utopia are both interesting novels that show creative styles of government.
The Prince could be described as a guide to obtain and keep your power as a ruler while Utopia is describes itself as the most suitable style of rule and government. The Prince talks about how a ruler should always be on top of everything when it comes to ruling their subjects. This entire book shows how to take advantage of people and making sure that they are under your control. In Utopia, More provides an example of an ideal form of government from his perspective. In another way, its his example of a perfect society. The Prince and Utopia both talk about ruling, but are different in their form of government.
A big difference in Utopia and the Prince is that Machiavelli believes that the ruler should be evil under all its intent and More wants a ruler who does not always need to strike fear into their citizens. Machiavelli explains that “people are by nature changeable.” (The Prince) This quote shows that he believes it is easy to control people and provides his reasoning to write a book on what to do to look and be powerful. Machiavelli makes it important the regular human can be easily swayed when you are being seen as a powerful being. Mores world may not be perfect, but it is the closest to an ideal society. The people in the world always act for the benefit of the whole society. They do not think of themselves but rather for the good of all the people so their world may progress.
Another difference between the books is how both books treat gender roles. In Utopia, women are practically just as equal as men in status. The women are allowed to do mostly everything such work, vote, and actually have an influence in foreign affairs. Still, women are not completely equal to men in the book. Men are still considered as more “pure”. (Utopia) In the Prince, the man is known to be over the women. He has much control in her actions. These two different roles are fitting with their respective books. Since Utopia advertises a peaceful society, it is easy to see why the believe women can have more equality in their society. For the Prince, the woman is seen inferior to the man for it has been always seen as in past history that man always be control over the woman.
A similarity between Utopia and The Prince is that they both stress the importance of smart rulers. In Utopia, “nations will be happy, when either philosophers become kings, or kings become philosophers.” (Utopia) The people in this Utopian nation will only be happy unless their kings are just as wise as philosophers or unless the philosophers would become kings. Only wise rulers can lead their land and bring prosperity. In the Prince, Machiavelli believes that the ruler needs to be smart when it comes to controlling the minds of the people and playing out battles. The ruler needs to know when to keep people happy but all put fear into their minds so that they would not rebel.
Unlike Utopia, Machiavelli also tends to use a more evil and conniving way to rise to power. In the book, it is easily noticed how he is always wanting to expect the worst. He makes examples of how a bordering country may come to seize it or how people may get angry and start to rebel. Machiavelli makes it a point that you should always do anything you can to get on top. You should do anything from lying to your subjects or in some ways actually stealing from them. Machiavelli is definitely wrong in his thinking that only a very evil leader can get their country to progress and grow. A caring leader and somebody that can be trusted can do just as a good of a job or even better.
In the Prince, Machiavelli writes that it is “better to be both loved and feared.” (The Prince) Machiavelli describes how it is important to be seen as powerful to your subjects, but you should not be so evil that your subjects may actually want to rebel. In Utopia, More wants a government where the leaders try to do their best to bring happiness to all of the country. The Prince comes from the notion that you must have complete psychological control over your people to really be able to have power. In Utopia, the leaders important goal is for everybody to be happy and satisfied. Only this would bring a peaceful and prosperous society.
Another big difference between the two books is both of the governments have different views on war. In Utopia, “nothing is more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war.” (Utopia) The Utopians obviously hate war very much. The only time they want to fight is if their country is in danger of attack. The Utopians may even hire mercenaries to help them fight their battle. The world described in the Prince bases their success in war and battle. The world is very violent as the ruler can do anything to show their power from killing anybody suspected of being rebellious. The ruler, of course, must also engage in many battles to acquire new lands or to protect from invaders. Utopia and the Prince are different because the Utopia shows a world who strives for peace and no fighting while the world in the Prince is heavily violent and talks about killing as a necessary way to get on top.
Utopia and the Prince also differ on how the king should treat their subjects. The king “should love his people, and be beloved by them” in Utopia. (Utopia) This world strives for the people to not be at all in fear at the government. The king should find ways to improve his country and the deeds that he does will make his subjects happy. His number one goal should be to make sure that others are rich and prosperous first before himself. The Prince is whole different idea because the ruler is too control his subjects, but at the same time, he is to make sure that his subjects are satisfied and happy with what they have. The reason to satisfy their subjects is so that they will not rebel. No ruler should not “base their power at all on words.” (The Prince) The ruler cannot say that he is powerful but must find ways to demonstrate his strength. The ruler cannot satisfy too much for he will be giving his power away and this will eventually show that he is weak and can lead to his downfall.
Another difference between the two books is how they use their riches. In Utopia, the people