Utopia by Thomas More and The Prince by Machiavelli Essay -- More Utop

Utopia by Thomas more than and The Prince by MachiavelliThomas Mores Utopia and Machiavellis The Prince both concern themselves with the fundamental issues of how a society works and maintains itself. The goals behind the two works,however, differ considerably. The goal of Utopia is to illustrate the maintenance of an ensample society and the goal of The Prince is to instruct a prince, or ruler, on how to maintain his state. On the surface these two goals may seem similar but the going away lies in the way the authors handle the subject of might. As a manual, or handbook if you will, Prince treats power as a necessity, a goal, to be worked towards and maintained, almost at all costs. Utopia, a fantasy,treats power as something all individuals have rather, they are empowered. By comparing the way both works use and treat indicate of view and form, governmental systems and inclinationls thedifferences in perspective on power becomes clearer. Ideas are brought forth differen tly in both works through narrative range of view and style. These two different ways reflect the views of power the authors hold. The Prince is told in a matter of fact tone, its purpose being to inform a prince on how to run his kingdom. Inherentin this purpose is a key to Machs view of power. Because it was written for the use of one manto dominate over and check over his kingdom/state, it was obviously not meant for lesser mortals. Itin itself is a tool of power which could be used for only the good of the prince who uses it. Whether or not the hoi polloi are empowered does not matter, it is irrelevant. It only matters that theprince uses it to maintain his own power. In contrast, Utopia is a fanta... ... word virtu over and over again, it is made clear that his impartiality is not that of Mores. Power is implied in the very essence of Machiavellis writing. It is tied in with the greed,selfishness, and his do anything to maintain the state attitude. Even though Machi avelli stormily invokes the idea of his Italy brought back to life in the Exhortation, his motives are still selfish in nature to look at an even broader term, his motives are nationalistic which is the idea of a nation being egocentric. In this respect he is also contradictory to More in that Moresideas are for the good of human race kind, not just for one nation. Ideals like justice and truth, which are the basis for Mores invention, make it impossible for him to do anything but claim power as the source of corruption in society while Machiavelli praises it.