Argumentativ essey on machiavelly - Essay Example

The Analogy Between the 'Prince' of Machiavelli and Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler, as one notorious historical figure, can be thought of to exactly embody the Machiavellian 'Prince' with the significant attributes of the latter. Machiavelli necessitates that a prince be feared more than loved and that he ought to realize having to achieve his desired goals by any means fit to his consideration, whether good or bad. Being idealistic and egocentric by nature, like this prince, A. Hitler decided to assume a persona which in his period stirred anxiety in the general public though he also managed to appear to exhibit virtuous traits of nationalism, modesty, and endurance and to imagine such disagreeable possibility is truly disquieting.

Despite occasions of psychological imbalance, Hitler may be noted for his remarkable military exploits and knowledge of relevant martial tactics. As such, he received decoration with Iron Cross and promotion to a corporal rank after demonstrating bravery for the regiment or German army as a whole (Stokes). Machiavelli likewise proposed for the prince to acquire fighting skills since subsequent triumphs through militaristic pursuit enhance courage which is also a very essential characteristic of a prince.

A Machiavellian prince lives by the image and behaves cautiously in order to remain in power and this combined nature of lion and fox is also symbolic of the approach used by Hitler in forming and securing control of the Nazi party (Stokes). By initially winning the favor of a large crowd who were drawn to his admirable manner of oration which sought pretentious publicity and propaganda (Stokes) overall, he found his way to earn more followers and influence over political subjects. By then the extent of his ill power reached the capability of funding for the organization, so though there were righteous party members who expressed disapproval of his irrational leadership, they were eventually tamed back by his wicked schemes and cleverness.

Here, Hitler quite resembles the prince's character further by showing a rather severe attitude toward implementing his crooked principles so that this consistent tendency proceeds to project for him a stronger character that justifies suppression of good and motivation by fear. On becoming an appointed chancellor of Germany and a self-declared Fuhrer who later ruled over all the country by dictatorship after President Hindenburg's death, Hitler resolved to materialize a plan which came to be labeled 'the Holocaust' (Bulow) of nearly six million Jews down the world history and no one would afford denying the acutest repugnance felt for this ultimately straightforward application of Machiavelli's famous aphorism 'the end justifies the means.

' Believing the Jews to be the source of all evils of communism and democracy in the world, he claimed to save Germany by punishing all Jewish inhabitants by total annihilation (Bulow). Way beyond reasonable doubt indeed, this is either too bold or too sharp an evil manifestation of the trait by which the Machiavellian prince has been chiefly known. Thus, in this context, A. Hitler makes a disreputable, even permanently unforgivable, figure of history whose infamous conviction aligns with that of Machiavelli – that if the prince must execute or punish, he must do so right away no matter how ruthlessly.

Finally, if I were to force a stance with an equivalent degree of brutish aim, it would be to condemn the fact that the philosophy of Machiavelli has existed to be looked up to by certain individuals in absolute power who deliberately exercise hideous deeds of inhumanity as the merciless Adolf did. Works Cited Stokes, Phil. “A Biography of Adolf Hitler.” Phil's World War II Pages. 2010. http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/ahitler.html. 10 Feb 2011. Bulow, Louis. “Adolf Hitler and The Holocaust.” 2010. http://www.auschwitz.dk/hitler.htm. 11 Feb 2011.