The ideas of Machiavelli, Locke, Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Achebe.

Never is it easy for a writer to organize his ideas with those of past writers and have a noticeable effect on the world of his times. This is especially the issue as a writer uses ideas spanning nearly six centuries before him. The thoughts and writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, William Shakespeare, and John Locke, as well as their premises about nature, are what Chinua Achebe very closely parallels. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1530), an Italian writer …

…Okonkwo becomes an exemplar of the ideas of all three figures with whom Achebe relates. In accordance with Machiavelli's "Prince" and Locke's ideas, Okonkwo wants to totally exterminate the presence of those who harm the society of the Ibos. However, he fails in his task because he is not as ruthless as a "Prince" should be. In the end, it is the downfall of man to not be as decisive as he should, time fitting.