Niccolò Machiavelli Writing Styles in The Prince

This Study Guide consists of approximately 90 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Prince.

Niccolò Machiavelli Writing Styles in The Prince

This Study Guide consists of approximately 90 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Prince.
This section contains 553 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Prince Study Guide

Point of View

Most of The Prince is written from the first-person point of view. In other words, the speaker of the work refers to himself directly, using the word "I." In this case, the speaker is the same person as the book's author, Niccol6 Machiavelli.

In the "Dedicatory Letter" that opens the book, Machiavelli openly addresses Lorenzo de Medici, a member of the Florence ruling family. In the letter, Machiavelli states that what is written there will illustrate "my extreme desire that you arrive at the greatness that your future and your other qualities promise you." He addresses Lorenzo again near the end of the book, speaking directly of the current situation in Italy.

Throughout the book, though, he wrote with the formal "you," referring to a plural, a general readership, as modern readers might use the word in a statement like, "you need to take vitamins if...

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This section contains 553 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Prince Study Guide
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The Prince from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.