Machiavelli's the Prince, a Number Essay

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As they approach Guhasena's home, they find a nun who would assist them in their venture. They lay their plan before the nun who agrees to help them. Again, this is a prime example of the rashness of youth. These four young men were traveling many miles on the idea that they would be able to take advantage of a young maiden's loneliness and solitude. They did not plan on Devasmita's ability to see through their machinations, and to plan retaliation accordingly. Fortune does not smile on these young men at all. They not only do not succeed at absconding with Devasmita's virtue, they also are marked for life as Devasmita's slaves.

It is a simple matter to state that Machiavelli's premise that the young act in a much more rash manner than do the old. Both characters show that such rashness is the manner of youth. The young men act rashly by deciding to travel to Devamita's abode in an attempt to steal her virtue. Devasmita herself acts rashly and boldly by following Guhasena and his father to their homeland in order to marry Guhasena.

Devasmita is also very contradictory to Machiavelli's premise that the young act brashly. She sees through their plans, and makes her own plans accordingly. She follows through with those plans and marks the men on their forehead; she does this on four separate occasions and is successful each time. This is a contradiction to Machiavelli's statement; at the same time it confirms his statement that Fortune smiles on those who beat and pound her.

Achieving power through maturation and planning is a form of beating and pounding. One could say that the power assumed by Devasmita is one that is awarded to those who take Fortune in their own hands and don't wait for someone else to act for them. Additionally, Machiavelli believes that a prince knows when, and how, to act. Whether those actions are good actions, or bad actions makes no difference and in each of these characters we see examples to what Machiavelli refers.

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With the young men, they could not attain the character of a true prince, mainly due to their lack of discipline towards another man's wife. However, Devasmita could have attained the character of a Prince, she knew when and how to act. Devasmita was cognizant of the fact that she was going to have to take charge of the situation in order to save her virtue and reputation. She employed nefarious and devious means to achieve her end result, and as Machiavelli believes, sometimes the results are exactly what matters. Machiavelli states that the crowd will go along with whatever the Prince says is right as long as there are results. In this case, Devasmita does the exact thing espoused by Machiavelli, and finds that she is successful just as Machiavelli predicts a Prince will be.

Machiavelli believes that a ruler 'will be successful who adapts his mode of procedure to the quality of the times'. He states that 'one acts with caution, another rashly, one with violence, another with skill, one with patience, another with its opposite' (p. 2530) and in that regard Machiavelli is entirely correct.

Devasmita would have made a good prince, she adapted to the circumstances, acted boldly when called upon to do so, and was favored by Fortune in the end. The young men acted rashly and boldly in the beginning, but failed to adapt to the circumstances and….....

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