Virtuous Hypocrisy Essay

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Virtuous Hypocrisy The Prince is a pragmatic and realistic approach to demonstrating what creates and maintains a Prince’s state/status. A concisely segmented and equally chronological text, state building is explained, but not taught. Nevertheless, Machiavelli’s requirement of successful state building rests on the crux of hypocrisy, an element not necessarily seen in a positive manner. However, Machiavelli builds his case for hypocrisy through historical and, at the time, current events which place prudence as a justification for empty talk and deceit. As Machiavelli further develops his support within the text, the satire grows thicker and leads me to question the validity of: is hypocrisy succinctly defended within the text to justify its use? It is through my interpretation of the text that Machiavelli does create a sustainable argument justifying his use of hypocrisy in developing and/or maintaining one’s state through prudent decisions on when to be virtuous (i.e. the ends justify the means). The oft-divisive text begins with some background information as Machiavelli discusses what shall and shan’t be covered within the piece. In addition, he also introduces the term “state” which he seems to use in place of status. Discussing what aspects shall be included, Machiavelli commences with “princedoms” and the several subcategories associated with them, followed by kingdoms and their associated categories. Throughout this section of the text little mention is made to outright hypocrisy, although the idea is built up and reference is given to “Cyrus and the others” whom are deemed “most admirable,” (likely only through the lenses of Machiavelli’s perception of the good and the bad). Continuing forward through the next several chapters we are introduced to several important examples of success and failure, one of notable mentions was how Cesare Borgia came into
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