ilies, the kings and lords who owed loyalty to Him and to whom in turn their social dependents were expected to entrust themselves. However, the bloody history and complicated political arrangements of the Italian states, where feudalism never took root, contradicted the medieval ideal. Lacking a framework that placed a premium on loyalty and cooperation, dukes and princes instead competed fiercely with each other. Machiavelli wrote two major books that forced people to reconsider how states really were governed. Machiavelli viewed the state as an organism with its ruler as the head and its people as the body. He maintained that a healthy state is unified, orderly, and in balance, and that its people have happiness, honor strength and security. An unhealthy state is disorderly and unbalanced, and may require strong measures to restore it to normal. Machiavelli called for a leader to use any means necessary to preserve the state, resorting to cruelty, deception, and force if nothing else worked. As a result, many people believed he supported the use of cruelty and deceit in politics. Throughout his book The Prince Machiavelli gives insight on how a ruler may gain power and keep power. Machiavelli believed that hereditary rulers have an easier time keeping power and regaining it because they have less cause and less need to offend than a new one (Machiavelli). Unless a hereditary ruler does something truly despicable, the people will approve of him and fight to keep him in power (Machiavelli). If a stronger force strips him of the title, he will have an easier time regaining it, because of the necessary cruelties of his over throwers force on the people make them more affectionate for him (Machiavelli). This is seen throughout Hamlet. The people of Denmark love Hamlet no matter what he does. Machiavelli also believes that a prince’s main objective and profession must be warfare (Machiavelli). This can be done through action and stud...
