Machiavellian Archetype

Thier eyes were watching god/ moral of a prince: MAchiavellian Archetype:

Joe Starks is without question a Machiavellian archetype because he is unscrupulous and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Joe Starks seeks to create an idealistic black community. While this may seem to be a good thing, Joe Starks was very cunning in the way he set out to create this town. Both Machiavelli and Joe Starks believed any of their actions could be justified to ensure their success in ruling the town or state. Neither one of them was genuinely concerned about the citizens; they were egotistical, arrogant and motivated to gain power.

When Joe Starks first came to the town everyone was pleased with what he had in mind for Eatonville's future. While he appeared to be generous and have the town's best interest in mind, he was really after creating an ideal community were he was the leader. Starks did many things that benefited the community, he set up a store and always appeared to be helping people but he was really building his own wealth at the expense of the community. In The Morals of the Prince, Machiavelli explains "Any man that tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great numbers who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his post must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires." Here Machiavelli justifies appearing to do good to maintain power and leadership. Starks was very calculated in the way he was good. While he pretended to really care about the people in the town in reality he detested them. For example, Stark did not want his wife Janie talking to the town people and said "...Ah can't see what uh women uh yo' stability would want tuh be treasurin' all dat gum-grease from folks dat don't even own de house dey sleep in. 'Tain't no earthly use. They's jus' some puny humans playin' round de toes uh Time." This represents how Starks really felt about the people in the town.

Starks was always careful not to be too friendly or generous so he would not appear weak. Most people would consider kindness a virtue, however, Starks felt it could lead to loss of his power. This was also Machiavelli's philosophy.