King Duncan, the King of Scotland in the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, was a great King that everyone loved. Being liked by your followers is one of the most influential aspects that makes a good leader. A harsh and strict leader will not have many loyal to him; which means they will lash out and make life harder on him so that he will desert the throne. Or that is what they hope will happen. But when the followers believe in everything that the leader stands for and feels that leader treat everyone with respect, they will be loyal. Loyalty is another huge aspect of being a good leader. When there are people who like you as their King, they will do more to protect them than they would someone they dislike. King Duncan was a leader that everyone loved. " Upon the sightless couriers of the air,/shall blow the horrid deed in every eye/ that tears shall drown the wind" (1.7.23-25). This is said by Macbeth, when he is contemplating whether to kill King Duncan or not. He is saying that if he committed the deed of killing the King, all of Scotland would be devastated. They believe that he is such a good leader that they would be lost without him. The people of Scotland were very devoted and loyal to King Duncan. " I have no spur/ to prick the sides of my intent" (1.7.25-26). Macbeth is saying that there is no bad characteristic that King Duncan has that would even allow for Macbeth to think about killing him. He is such a great leader that even a person who wants his job would kill him. The only reason that Macbeth could come up with to kill Duncan was for personal gain and even then he felt that Duncan was too great to kill and he, Macbeth, wouldn't be able to live with himself.
Machiavelli would say that Macbeth is a good leader because he took action to get something he wanted. A quote from the book, The Prince, by Machiavelli says " The ends justify the means." Machiavelli is saying that it doesn't matter how you get what you want, as long as in the end, you get it. Macbeth is a good example of this quote because he murdered 3 people for personal gain, but according to Machiavelli, it doesn't matter that Macbeth killed 3 people, just that he got to be King in the end. Machiavelli also said " Politics have no relation to morals." This connects to the first quote because it means that in politics it doesn't matter what you do to win. Macbeth's actions folow along the lines of these quotes; he did whatever he could to gain a large political status, even if it meant hurting people or if it wasn't morally right. Machiavelli would have thought that Macbeth is a good leader, he knew how to get what he wanted and he did it. In the eyes of Maciavelli, those action make Macbeth fit to rule and lead.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Macbeth Act 1
What people appear as is not always what they are in reality. Lady Macbeth is a good example of this idea; she appears to be a sweet, nice and obedient, but really she did very different. "Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ and fill me from crown to the toe top-full/ of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,/ stop up th'access and passage to remorse" (1.5.38-42). This is thought by Lady Macbeth in the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare. She is saying that she wants the spirits to make her a man, take away everything that makes her a woman, because women are thought of as nice and nurturing and men are stronger and taken more seriously. She wants to be filled with cruelty and have no ability to feel remorse. This is because she and her husband Macbeth found out that Macbeth will become king, but Lady Macbeth feels that Macbeth will not be selfish enough to commit the act of killing someone for his own gain. So she wants to be able to convince him to do so. Machiavelli would have said that this was a smart thing to do. His quote "It is not essential that a Prince have all good qualities, but it is essential that he should seem to have them." This quote explains what Lady Macbeth is doing, she is appearing to be a nice, sweet, obedient wife, when really she is going so far as to change herself into an awful being and an evil mastermind, to get what she wants.
Gender is a huge aspect in the daily life of the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. Women were portrayed as innocent, obedient and maternal. Men are seen as strong, leader, the head of the house. Lady Macbeth doesn't follow these characteristics of being a women, but really those of a man. " Yet do i fear thy nature./ It is too full o'th' milk of human kindness/ to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/ art not without ambition, but without/ the illness that should attend it" (1.5. 14-18). This a line out of the play Macbeth, said by Lady Macbeth. It referring to the note that Macbeth sent to her saying that a prophecy said that he would become king. She is saying that she doesn't think he has it in to kill someone out of personal gain; he is too much of a "good person". She is saying that his ambition is "good" not for his own personal gain but for other people. This is more of the male role than the female. The male would want things for personal gain, while the female would be more of the nurturing and thoughtful one. Lady Macbeth is filling the male role which shows one of those themes throughout this play.
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare has a lot to do with loyalty and honor. Because the play is all about power and leadership; having the support of people is important. When someone has the support of their followers they feel safe and in control. But loyalty can be as dangerous as it can be safe. " he was a gentleman on whom i built/ an absolute trust" (1.4.13-14). This is said by King Duncan about the then Thane of Cawdor, who turned out to be a traitor and was killed because of it. The king is saying that he had complete trust in this man who turned out to have not been loyal to him at all. It is hard to now who to trust and who to put your trust into when eveyrone is looking out for themselves and you never know what their real intentions are. Machiavelli would think that this is a true statement to say about mankind becuase he says in the book The Prince, " Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain." Humans will do anything to get what they want, they will change what they belive in if it will allow them to get what they want in the end.
Gender is a huge aspect in the daily life of the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. Women were portrayed as innocent, obedient and maternal. Men are seen as strong, leader, the head of the house. Lady Macbeth doesn't follow these characteristics of being a women, but really those of a man. " Yet do i fear thy nature./ It is too full o'th' milk of human kindness/ to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/ art not without ambition, but without/ the illness that should attend it" (1.5. 14-18). This a line out of the play Macbeth, said by Lady Macbeth. It referring to the note that Macbeth sent to her saying that a prophecy said that he would become king. She is saying that she doesn't think he has it in to kill someone out of personal gain; he is too much of a "good person". She is saying that his ambition is "good" not for his own personal gain but for other people. This is more of the male role than the female. The male would want things for personal gain, while the female would be more of the nurturing and thoughtful one. Lady Macbeth is filling the male role which shows one of those themes throughout this play.
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare has a lot to do with loyalty and honor. Because the play is all about power and leadership; having the support of people is important. When someone has the support of their followers they feel safe and in control. But loyalty can be as dangerous as it can be safe. " he was a gentleman on whom i built/ an absolute trust" (1.4.13-14). This is said by King Duncan about the then Thane of Cawdor, who turned out to be a traitor and was killed because of it. The king is saying that he had complete trust in this man who turned out to have not been loyal to him at all. It is hard to now who to trust and who to put your trust into when eveyrone is looking out for themselves and you never know what their real intentions are. Machiavelli would think that this is a true statement to say about mankind becuase he says in the book The Prince, " Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain." Humans will do anything to get what they want, they will change what they belive in if it will allow them to get what they want in the end.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Machiavelli
1. Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence Italy. For a majority of his life, Machiavelli worked in government. His first writing was in late 1513, when he wrote the book The Prince. Machiavelli wrote The Prince, to help regain his status in the Florentine government, because the Medici overtook the Florentine government and Machiavelli was exiled. Machiavelli first started writing because he was forced out of the government, so with all his free time he took up writing about politics.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/
2. " Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces." This quote was said by Machiavelli and it represents relevance to leadership today. Many leaders around the world punish their followers if they are not happy with their performance. One of the most common things that followers do is being late. When people are tardy the ones waiting for them are usually angry with the late person. Because now the leader looks bad in front of important people or they run out of time for something they were planning on doing. An example of this would be on a sports team, when the players are late to practice and aren't as focused, the coach would be angry because the coach wouldn't have time to do everything they wanted to get done. the coach then will punish the team by being harsh and strict all practice or make them run sprints or do push-ups, something that the players don't enjoy.
3. " War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes his ability to execute military plans." This quote was said by Machiavelli in the book The Prince. This is bad advice for leaders today because there is too much money spent on military across the world. This money, that is being spent on military, should be being spent on health care and the economy. The United States spent 46% of the worlds spending on military in 2009. We are spending the most money on military in the entire world. Other countries are balancing their spending but the U.S. spends majority of money on military and not on health care or something else that is important to people.
http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/policy/securityspending/articles/us_vs_world.gif
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/
2. " Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces." This quote was said by Machiavelli and it represents relevance to leadership today. Many leaders around the world punish their followers if they are not happy with their performance. One of the most common things that followers do is being late. When people are tardy the ones waiting for them are usually angry with the late person. Because now the leader looks bad in front of important people or they run out of time for something they were planning on doing. An example of this would be on a sports team, when the players are late to practice and aren't as focused, the coach would be angry because the coach wouldn't have time to do everything they wanted to get done. the coach then will punish the team by being harsh and strict all practice or make them run sprints or do push-ups, something that the players don't enjoy.
3. " War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes his ability to execute military plans." This quote was said by Machiavelli in the book The Prince. This is bad advice for leaders today because there is too much money spent on military across the world. This money, that is being spent on military, should be being spent on health care and the economy. The United States spent 46% of the worlds spending on military in 2009. We are spending the most money on military in the entire world. Other countries are balancing their spending but the U.S. spends majority of money on military and not on health care or something else that is important to people.
4. "Before all else, be armed." This quote, said by Machiavelli in the book The Prince, would have been good advice to give the Incas. Because the Incas were sitting, waiting for Pizarro and his men to come. The Incas knew nothing about Pizarro so they should have been very heavily armed, so they would have been able to deal with anything that came their way. But the Incas didn't have a lot of weapons and they were conquered easily by Pizarro. The Incas consisted of 80,000 men, Pizarro 168 men. That is a huge difference, the Incas should have been able to easliy defeat the Spanish but they didn't becuase they knew nothing about what the rest of the world was doing; they were isolated. Therefore, they were unable to be prepared for the Spanish and their advanced technology in weapons.
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