King Duncan

So far in Macbeth, up until scene III, the two prominent leaders of the play are King Duncan and Macbeth. Duncan was king of Scotland before SPOILER ALERT! he was killed by Macbeth, who than became King of Scotland. At the beginning of the play, we see King Duncan as a kind king. Maybe a little to kind. The Thane of Cawdor rebelled against Duncan, helping the Norwegians in their battle against Scotland. If Duncan had been a more strict king, he would've seen that the Thane of Cawdor was going to rebel. "There's no art it find the mind's construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built  an absolute trust" (1.4. #11-13). By trusting the Thane of Cawdor, King Duncan never suspected that he would be turned upon. He was perhaps blinded by his friendship to see what the Thane was doing. He also realised what he had to do once he heard that the Thane of Cawdor betrayed Scotland. "No more that Thane of Cawdor shall decieve our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present deat, And with his former title greet Macbeth" (1.2 #63-65) By ordering the Thane's death, he ensures that he will never betray Scotland again.
By Machiavelli standards, Macbeth started out as a good Machiavelli leader, but than he went spiraling downwards. "The ends justify the means." Macbeth will do whatever it takes to stay king. He has killed King Duncan, killed his friend Banquo, threatened witches and killed innocent lives for no reason at all. And than he messes it all up by regretting what he has done. Machiavelli would say that by showing regret after getting what he wants, is weakness, because he is not strong enough to be a leader.Macbeth will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, and he follows this quote pretty well. "Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others." Macbeth follows his ambition from becoming king, to making sure his children become king, by killing Banquo, and than killing people to stay in power. He secured himself, for the most part, from attack by the Thane's in Scotland by placing spies in each of the Thane's households. He than attacks other people like Macduff's wife and children, because he wants to make sure Macduff is not a threat. Machiavelli would say that Macbeth is a good ruler by this quote.

11/05/10 Macbeth

Appearance vs. Reality
In the third scene of the play, Macbeth and Banquo are walking back from the victorious battle against Norway, when they cross paths with the Wierd Sisters. They give good news to Macbeth and Banquo, which Macbeth takes to heart and Banquo is worried about. "Were such things here as we do speak about, or have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason Prisoner" (1.3.81-83)? In this, Banquo is questioning if they have really seen witches, or if they were hallucinating.

Gender Roles
During this time period, it was expected that the man would work for the money and the wife would stay home and take care of the kids, cook and clean. In Macbeth, Shakespeare portrays the noble men as being very brave, noble woman were weak and needed protecting. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as being very strong, and lady Macbeth as being very cunning and evil. In the second scene, King Duncan gets news of how Macbeth and Banquo kept on fighting hordes of Norway troops. In the fifth scene, Lady Macbeth talks of how she must become pure evil so that Macbeth can become king. Shakespeare took what people thought of genders role back than, and mixed them up.

Loyalty and Honor
In Macbeth, nobody is total loyalty. In scene 4, Macbeth tells King Duncan how he fought for the honor of King Duncan and his family. While he is saying that he is loyal to King Duncan, he is thinking of the weird sisters' prophecy of how he will become king, and that he must kill Duncan and perhaps Malcom to achieve that goal.

Machiavelli, 10/29/31

Nicollo Machiavelli was the author of the Prince, a guide to leaders on how to keep power . He was born on May 3rd, 1469 in Florence, Italy. He wrote his book Prince, during the Renaissance. During that time, it was thought that to be a good leader, you needed to have good morals, and that by doing good things, you would gain respect. Machiavelli instead thought that if you have power, you have the right to command, and that being nice does not mean people have to follow you. His main idea in the Prince is that if you have power, you will have good politics and authority.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/

"The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not." In today's race for seats for the senate, or to become governor of a state, the politicians need to make sure that their ideas are reflecting what the voters want. If the view of most voters is to have a universal health care, the politician who says he/she also wants universal health care will most be more popular with the voters. While the politician who doesn't want universal health care, he/she will not get that many supporters.

"The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present." In politics, a person is elected by what she/he says they will do. If a person says that their top priority is health care, than when they got elected they put health care last and a war first, which they said they wanted to end, but they are now promoting the war, their followers will now hate them. This is not a good quote to follow these days because of people's voice in the government.

"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally." When the Inca leader first found out about Pizarro and his men, he should have killed them, instead, he waits to see what they have with them. By not killing Pizarro and his men, the Incan leader was a fool, for he did not predict how powerful these men were.


http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/