I have come across so many posts on the internet saying that Niccolo Machiavelli’s the Prince is sarcastic. This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you read the book more than once, you’d notice that Machiavelli regularly backs his statements with reason. His logic at no point seems ridiculous or sarcastic.
>For this can be said of men in general: that they are ungrateful, fickle, hypocrites and dissemblers, avoiders of dangers, greedy for gain; and while you benefit them, they are entirely yours, offering you their blood, their goods, their life, their children,…when need is far away, but when you actually become needy, they turn away.
>He that is good at all times will come to ruin among the man masses that are not good
>It cannot be called virtue to kill one’s fellow-citizens, betray one’s friends, be without faith, without pity, and without religion; by these methods one may indeed gain power, but not glory.
The book overall makes very serious arguments bounded in reason. At no point does it sound sarcastic. We can never know what Machiavelli thought while writing the book. It was addressed to Lorenzo di Medici shortly after the medicis exiled Machiavelli from Florence, which is why many people argue that it is sarcasm. Machiavelli either wanted to show the medicis that he could be useful to them as an advisor or simply show them that he understands their methods, it’s likely to be the former, but in either case, it was never intended as a parody or sarcasm.
I feel that this theory is propagated by people that appreciate the book, yet don’t want to admit the validity of the advice in the book simply because it is “immoral”.
by NeoMachiavell