My focus is upon a piece by Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian prince from the renaissance period who writes "The Morals of a Prince", and in an opposite vein, an essay by George Orwell, an English author and enemy of totalitarianism whose essay is "Politics and the English Language". Within these essays I have found a similarity in which Orwell illustrates that 'political writing becomes the defense of the indefensible, most political writing is bad, where it is not the author is usually a rebel who expresses his private opinions'. While this could be true of Machiavelli's piece, he himself contends that 'men who embrace the ideal, while rejecting the real, will only accomplish their ruin'
             Machiavelli wishes to convince other statesmen of the necessary vices that a prince must possess to rule a kingdom. A bold stance is taken for the sake of reality "...Better to go after the real truth of the matter than ....what people have imagined". He offers rationalizations for why a prince cannot be good, and at the same time, reign effectively. Vice is a condition of humanity, a prince must therefore be cunning, miserly, feared, and dishonest to prevent himself, and his post, from being victimized. Manipulation is key lest friend or foe best him. Generosity cannot be practiced, otherwise he must recoup his loses in taxation, resulting in his subjects hatred of him. Though a prince should be feared, for fear of punishment prevents men from committing crimes against him. The latter is especially true in regard to soldiers during times of war; respect for their leader intensifies performance. 'A prince must also be sly like a fox and wary of traps for he cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, he must not be honest because doing so would go against his best interest.' Machiavelli argues "To preserve the state, he often has to do things against his word, against charity, against humanity, against religion".
             Consequently Orwell d...