Doing Whatever it Takes

A detailed Summary of Doing Whatever it Takes


In the excerpt "Of the Things for Which Men, and

Especially Princes, are Praised and Blamed" taken from

The Prince, Machiavelli begins examining the

principles and manners a prince should follow in

relations with his friends, subjects and the people in

order to achieve and retain a good and secure overall

status. Princes and also men high in society are

known for their character and doing what ever it takes

to withhold a worthy standing is important.

In the section of Liberality versus Niggardliness he

suggests that there is an impression of benevolence

given when being generous and a not so good impression

when being prudent. Sometimes it appears that the

prince may be a miser when in fact he's just being

wise and rational. He states, "...a prince must care

little for the reputation of being a miser, if he

wishes to avoid robbing his subjects, if he wishes to

be able to defend himself, to avoid becoming poor and

contemptible...". (P. 81) In the end it's better to have

gone the route of being miserly and frugal because the


which Machiavelli illustrates that a prince must try

became insubordinate toward him in Spain, resulting

be harsh at times when his country's integrity and

is considerably safer to be feared than loved and a

when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to

think there is great insight here with this particular

element. Of course, the people will praise the prince

good example in the case of Scipio, whose troops

miser, that will all change in time when his people

stake. I think Machiavelli did an excellent job of

considering that the ties of love are broken easier

fails."(P.83) I think this makes extremely good sense,

almost impossible for the two to go hand in hand. It

He adds that a prince needs to seem merciful,



Some common words found in the essay are:
Prince Machiavelli, feared loved, , reputation miser,

Approximate Word count = 715
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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