King Duncan

I think that king Duncan was a good King because he knew how to give orders so people would fallow and he has compassion for his people. In Act one scene two he speaks with an injured captain who has been injured. The captain tells him his story and the King believes that the captain is a worthy gentleman. When the captain is done speaking Duncan orders his men to find surgeons who can help him. Later in that scene he tell Ross to tell Macbeth he has become the Thane of Cawdor. King Duncan shows he thinks of the people of Scotland when he makes decisions such a making Macbeth the thane of Cawdor. The previous Thane of Cawdor was one who was a trader so King Duncan thought it would be best for someone better to step in and he chose Macbeth.

Machiavelli would say that Macbeth is a good leader because he knows how to get what he wants and he is able to maintain his place in power.  "I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it." When Macbeth kills king Duncan it is supposed to be Malcolm but he runs to England and Macbeth takes over in his place. Macbeth certainly did change around the status quo when he became King instead of Malcolm. "The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all. " This is another quote from Machiavelli that describes how Macbeth rules Scotland in a way that is beneficial to himself. When Macbeth first becomes king he begins to worry that he will be removed from his place as king and Banquo's son will  take the place of him and the Weird Sister predicted. Macbeth wanted nothing of the sort to happen so he sent out some murderers to kill Banquo and his son.

Macbeth & Machiavelli

Appearance vs. Reality: To Machiavelli appearance and reality is more based on being someone that everyone wants you to be. In one of his quotes he mentions that it isn't important for a rule to have good quality's but it is important that he seems to have them. Machiavelli's take on this is when ruling it doesn't matter if you appear to be something else to the fallows it is reality. In Macbeth it is not just the leader that a showing a different appearance. Macbeth is now plotting to kill Kind Duncan but he is proving to the king, in his battles, that Macbeth is still loyal to him. I feel that appearance vs. reality in this play is not as big as a role as other topics. The main appearance vs. reality parts are when those who are loyal to another decide to betray the one who he is loyal to.

Gender Roles: In Macbeth the gander role are more traditional, the men are those who go out to fight and do the laboring job while the woman stay home. This is mostly true for the beginning though, as the play go on the roles begin to change. Lady Macbeth is the person who plots to kill King Duncan which is not something that would be expected from a woman back then. Back then the one who would be most likely to be plotting the murder of someone else would be the man but this time it is Macbeth's wife. Shakespeare really changed the roles in this play.

Loyalty and Honor: Throughout the beginning of Macbeth the characters a all very Loyal to King Duncan and don't have problems fallowing his orders. This is important because if someone were to go against him while they are in a war the other side may be able to take this to their advantage and win the war. Machiavelli mentions this a couple of times as its will be safer to be feared than to be loved because when you are feared then your followers are less likely to go against you when you need them. Loyalty is also important because when a fallower is loyal to his leader the leader is able to trust the fallower with his most important tasks. Whats bad about this is if the fallower decideds to turn on his leader it can turn out very bad for the leader.