The Prince

1
The Prince

• By Niccolo Machiavelli

Shea, Renee H. and Lawrence Scanlon. Teaching
Nonfiction in AP English A Guide to Accompany 50
Essay. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2005.
2
Words to Know

• Contrast
• Placing opposed ideas, images, or both, to
  heighten or clarify a scene, theme, or episode
• Juxtaposition
• Placing 2 or more ideas next to each other in
  order to compare or contrast
• Antithesis
• Fundamentally, contrasting ideas sharpened by the
  use of opposite or noticeably different meanings
• Irony
• Subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in
  which an apparently straightforward statement or
  event is undermined by its context so as to give
  it a very different significance
• Paradox
• An apparently self-contradictory statement which,
  on closer inspection, is found to contain a truth
  reconciling the conflicting opposites

3
Words to Know

• Analogy
• A word or thing similar or parallel to another
• Illustration of an idea by means of a more
  familiar idea that is similar or parallel to it
  in some significant features
• Allusion
• An indirect or passing reference to some event,
  person, place, or artistic work, the nature and
  relevance of which is not explained by the writer
  but relies on the readers familiarity with what
  is thus mentioned
• Supposition
• An assumption or hypothesis

4
Pay Attention Take Notes

• Background from The Prince as translated and
  introduced by George Bull.
• Covers
• Background
• Links to the Devil
• Historical Context
• Florentine History
• Machiavellis Place in Florentine History
• His Works
• Conclusions

5
Task 1ST-TAPLES

• Subject
• Theme
• Tone
• Audience
• Purpose
• Language
• Evidence
• Speaker

6
Task 2

• In your groups
• Do a general read of the piece
• What is Machiavellis purpose?
• Discuss what Machiavelli is saying specifically
  in your assigned section
• Define any words you do not know
• What are his assertions?
• What are his proofs (evidence)?

7
Task 3A

• For your assigned section, answer the following
  questions
• Be prepared to share your findings with the class
  at our next meeting (homework)
• Introduction (paragraphs 1-2) Group A
• In the first paragraph, Machiavelli states that
  his consideration of the subject of leadership
  will differ from that of others who have
  considered it. Specifically, in what way does he
  say his approach will differ?
• In his first two paragraphs, does Machiavelli
  appeal primarily to ethos, logos, or pathos?
  Explain
• Provide several examples of juxtapositions and
  antitheses from the first two paragraphs.
  Explain their rhetorical effect.

8
Task 3B

• For your assigned section, answer the following
  questions
• Be prepared to share your findings with the class
  at our next meeting (homework)
• Introduction (paragraphs 1-2) Group B
• Provide several examples of juxtapositions and
  antitheses from the first two paragraphs.
  Explain their rhetorical effect.
• In the second paragraph the speaker says that a
  prince must be shrewd enough to avoid the public
  disgrace of those vices that would lose him his
  estate. Explain an underlying assumption behind
  that statement.
• Identify a rhetorical shift in paragraph 2.

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Task 3C

• For your assigned section, answer the following
  questions
• Be prepared to share your findings with the class
  at our next meeting (homework)
• On Generosity and Parsimony (paragraphs 3-5)
• Does paragraph 4 use a claim from the previous
  paragraph as its support? Explain.
• Identify an appeal to logos in paragraph 4.
• Explain the effect of the series of words loot,
  extortion, and plunder in paragraph 5

10
Task 3D

• For your assigned section, answer the following
  questions
• Be prepared to share your findings with the class
  at our next meeting (homework)
• Of Cruelty and Compassion, and Whether It Is
  Better to Be Loved or Feared (paragraphs 6-12)
• Identify the claims and support put forth in
  paragraph 7. Use our terminology from the
  Declaration of Independence to help you evaluate
  these claims.
• Identify and explain an assumption underlying the
  speakers position in paragraphs 7 and 8.
• Explain how the structure of the first sentence
  of paragraph 12 helps to strengthen its
  rhetorical point.

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Task 3E

• For your assigned section, answer the following
  questions
• Be prepared to share your findings with the class
  at our next meeting (homework)
• How Princes Should Honor Their Word (paragraphs
  13-19)
• Identify several contrasts the speaker presents
  in the last section, paragraphs 12-17.
• Explain the nature of the paradox at the end of
  the piece.

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Task 4

• Define the following words
• Pragmatist
• Idealist
• Cynic
• Optimist
• Satirist
• Critical
• Resigned
• Equity
• Integrity
• Feckless
• Gullible