What rules should govern leaders? Use text evidence to support ideas.

Should princes have "open hands" when making ruling decisions--meaning should they rule without restrictions? Who is in charge among the boys in Lord of the Flies? Does this person have limited power or carte blanche?

Princes should have open hands, meaning that they should have an open ear and be mindful of all opinion, however, this idea is opposed by Machiavelli, saying that "hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong and make use of it or not according to necessity." One cannot be intelligent in terms of knowing right from wrong all of the time. Ralph is in charge among the boys in Lord of the Flies. The boys follow him and what he says, for instance, whenever Piggy will suggest a genuinely good idea, the boys will not follow unless or until Ralph says so as well.

If by "open hands", Machiavelli means "having decisions flexible", then yes, I think a leader or 'Prince' should have open hands.  A good leader (in my opinion), should be able to take his peoples' thoughts and needs into consideration. A decision cant just be made because the leader decides to do it, he/she should think about his/her people. In LOTF, Ralph wants help making shelters for him and the boys on the island, he is thinking of not only his, but everyone else's needs as well. Jack on the other hand has faced a challenge from the beginning of the book, he hasn't been able to kill a pig. Jack only wants to hunt for meat so he can kill a pig to be able to praise himself for the accomplishment. Even though the meat could be shared with everyone, the purpose is for his own good. Ralph thinks for everybody while Jack is selfishly thinking about maintaining his ego and image.

Princes should have open hands when making decisions meaning that he should be mindful to others as well. Lord of the flies shows how having no adults on the island proves to be a new outlet of freedom for the boys. So, now that they are the ones with "open hands" they may or may not be responsible and use it for the good of everyone. I believe that Jack and Ralph took charge and became leaders in the book so far. However, they both have differing styles of leadership.

Princes should have open hands in making decisions at all times. If a leader does this, he will be successful and his popularity with his people will be constant. Machiavelli states, "hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong and make use of it or not according to necessity". This means that a Prince should always have an open view and see all perspectives on every issue. In LOTF, Ralph is the final decision maker. Every idea must get final approval through him. This is good for a leader, as it shows that he is open minded and responsive.

Leapfrog Lou wrote:Princes should have open hands, meaning that they should have an open ear and be mindful of all opinion, however, this idea is opposed by Machiavelli, saying that "hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong and make use of it or not according to necessity." One cannot be intelligent in terms of knowing right from wrong all of the time. Ralph is in charge among the boys in Lord of the Flies. The boys follow him and what he says, for instance, whenever Piggy will suggest a genuinely good idea, the boys will not follow unless or until Ralph says so as well.

Do you think Piggy would make a better leader?

Leaders should always have "open hands' when making decisions because they should want to do what is best for the community he or she is leading. In "The Lord of The Flies" Ralph and Jack both show qualities of a leader, but Ralph is ultimately labeled leader.

Princes should have "open hands" when governing, as they should see all benefits and consequences of each decision before acting upon one. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is the best leader because unlike Jack, he is not selfish, and unlike Piggy, he is respected.

If Jack and Ralph do have opposing views of leadership, then who should be leading in your opinion and which would be better for the island?

Princes should not rule without restrictions. Every body, whether t be a kingdom, empire, or civilization, should have rules to keep people in check and to keep people from committing bad acts. Ralph is the leader in Lord of the Flies, and he should set more restrictions. If not, the boys will most likely try to gain things in unethical ways, or they could hurt their fellow survivors. Rulers need to have some restrictions because if not, the population goes crazy and becomes uncontrollably reckless.

Machiavelli states that it is better for a ruler to be feared rather than loved, so that the citizens maintain order and acknowledge the threat of punishment if they disobey. At the same time, the rulers should not cross certain boundaries that cause citizens to rebel. A ruler "can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and from their women" (Machiavelli). Hatred can evolve under certain boundaries, so the ruler must justify his actions and keep the citizens wary , yet protected from the government of stealing the civil liberties that people keep close to their desires.

I do not think that princes should be able to rule with "open hand" because thy may then abuse their power and get out of control which could lead to an autocracy and that may be bad. They need to have other leaders who go over their decisions and rule whether it is for the better of the people or not. Ralph has the power right now on the island, but with that being said, some other boys like Simon and Jack also have some power and will make sure Ralph doesn't make any rash decisions that could be harmful for the boys. Ralph has shown good leader qualities so far so the boys listen to him because he has been given the highest power over them.

When making decisions, princes should keep in mind what everyone needs. Decisions should be selfless and unbiased. Princes should have some restrictions on the decisions they make to ensure that the decisions will be beneficial to everyone. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is the leader. He does have a lot of power but his decisions should be reviewed by others before they are put into effect to ensure that it is truly beneficial to everyone. For example, when Ralph decided to make a fire, his decision was rash and caused a harmful fire. If he listened to Piggy's feedback on the decision beforehand, he could have avoided this issue.

Princes should have restrictions when it comes to ruling. Without certain guidelines, the prince can easily gain too much power and control over those who he is in charge of. If this happens, his followers will become unhappy and there will be many issues within the society. Ralph is in charge of the boys in Lord of the Flies. He has carte blanche because boys have to set up their own society without any help. Since Ralph is the leader, he gets to make any decision he wants that he thinks will best benefit all of the boys.

I sort of disagree with the statement that thy should have open hands in order to learn from the good and bad decisions. This is because if they had someone else making sure they wouldn't make the bad decisions, they wouldn't make them. If they make one really bad decision, it could harm everyone they are in charge of.

I think that neither Jack nor Ralph are the right leaders for this group of boys. Jack uses his choir to assert authority, but that doesn't mean he will actually make a good leader. Ralph is not looking at the reality of the situation. Piggy is much more of a realist, and he has good judement. Piggy would make the best leader.

Princes should have "open hands". Open hands is when a prince as the complete and full power to make all the decisions. However, just because a prince has this power doen't mean that they can't listen to the people or an advising counsel. In "Lord the Flies" Ralph becomes the leader of the group of boys on the island. I feel as if Ralph, as of right now, as open hands. "Shut up! Wait! Listen! He went on in the silence borne on his triumph... A fire! Let's make a fire! At once half the boys were on their feet." (Golding 38) Ralph shows here that he makes the decisions and the boys listen, just like a prince with open hands.

In Machiavelli's passage, he says that it is necessary for princes to know how to do wrong and to make sure he knows when to do it. This shows that princes or leaders in general should restrict when it comes to certain issue. Even in Lord of the Flies, they make rules to make sure that nothing goes wrong in that island.

While most would like to think it is better to rule with open hands, history has taught us that this method often ends badly. While a prince should keep the opinions of his/her people in mind and take the general advice into account, he should also maintain some restrictions. Giving people free rule over themselves would most likely end in chaos and rebellion within themselves. In my opinion, most leaders give the illusion of leading with open hands, letting people believe they have say in order to keep order and peace within their people but in reality, they have control over the making of all major decisions. As Machiavelli says, "when a prince is with his army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty." Even in the most free forms of government, some cruelty and restrictions are inevitable. In Lord of the Flies, I believe Piggy has ideas that would benefit the group greatly but doesn't receive the respect one must have to lead a group like Ralph.

Should princes have "open hands" when making ruling decisions--meaning should they rule without restrictions? Who is in charge among the boys in Lord of the Flies? Does this person have limited power or carte blanche?

No princes should not rule with "open hands" to avoid the abuse of power. Without restrictions tying them down, princes will eventually make bad decisions that could result in unnecessary cruelty, unjust laws, violence, and other problems. On the island in Lord of the Flies, as of chapter two, the leader of the boys is Ralph, he lead the vote and when done determined that "I'm chief then" (23, Goulding). As of the present, Ralph does not appear to have limited power. Because he was voted chief recently, all the boys blindly follow whatever comes out of his mouth and he could say nearly anything he wanted and they would follow.

Rulers should not be allowed to make rules all by themselves. When this happens in government people start to become powerless. History shows us that any person that is singularly responsible for a large government is usually going to make decisions that are good for that one ruler. In lord of the flies however, the boys seem to have more of a democracy then anything. Although Ralph makes decisions, he is not the only person that effects what happens. The boys held a vote to decide who was going to be the chief of the group. Ralph won because of "his size, and attractive appearance" but also the conch that had brought the group together (Golding 22).

I believe that rulers should not be able to lead with "open hands", or without restrictions. If there are no restrictions, power can very easily be corrupt. In Machiavelli's "The Prince", he implies some restrictions as well. "He must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony." (Machiavelli, Paragraph 3). In Lord of the Flies, the leader appeared to have absolute power, but he didn't have much control over the boys. This will most likely change in later chapters.

Machiavelli states that a good leader "abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects" (2). Therefore, he believes that good leaders respect the rights and property of their followers unless there is "proper justification."

I agree with your idea that a leader should not have free rule among his people but his/her actions should be restricted and kept in check.

Princes should not be able to lead without any restrictions, as it would create a dictatorship and the leader could become corrupt with power. Machiavelli states that a leader should be feared as "fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails," but the leader must be careful to not be hated. The leader will be hated if he becomes corrupt. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is in charge of the boys because he has the conch, but he has limited power because he takes the opinions of others such as Jack or Piggy.