Discussing Machiavelli - The Prince at Politics Interview

In all my naivety, after having read half of The Prince (its not exactly long though) i thought that i would mention it in my Personal Statement for Politics courses (and ESPS) - possibly now a bit of a mistake.
Now I realise how dry a text it is, and it draws from italian renaissance politics and classical examples too.. yet i have limited knowledge of the context
anybody got any interesting interpretations of Machiavelli's works? or any ways that i could consider the novel before my interview in March?

Reply 1

The West Wing

The Prince is quite easy to read and it's really short - since your interview is in March why don't you have a go at finishing it and then discuss it.

A common question about it is something like "do you think it's serious or is it satirical?" - might be worth considering while you read it.

Reply 2

Mike_P

I wrote about it in my PS too, and I found quite a few connections with how todays politics are conducted and discussed in compearance to the authors "advice".

I'm not sure what to call it, but it seems like the book has very pragmatic approaches on how to reach stability. Theres many societies today whose situations doesn't differ that much from them.

You should finish it though - If they bring it up on interview, it can be essential if not crucial to be familiar with the whole text. Besides, you never know what you may learn for future purposes etc.

Reply 3

J-OD

Mike_P

I wrote about it in my PS too, and I found quite a few connections with how todays politics are conducted and discussed in compearance to the authors "advice".

youtube has saved my life yet again, on the 'Yale University' channel they have lectures about it that are pretty interesting..

Reply 4

Lockhart

Read book 16 and 17 on Liberality and Clemency, its about reconsidering 'morality'

The 'satire or serious' suggestion is a good one and pay a lot of attention to the context in which its written in

Good luck

Reply 5

davireland

J-OD

Now I realise how dry a text it is, and it draws from italian renaissance politics and classical examples too.. yet i have limited knowledge of the context

On a side note, I dont think its that dry, I prefered reading the Prince to reading Plato's Republic or Locke or quite alot of other stuff ive read.

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