In Shakespeare’s Richard III, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Henry V, he tells the stories of four kings, all different in certain ways. In Machiavelli’s, The Prince, he explains the best way a king should rule. Here is a look on overall how the four kings did under Machiavelli’s doctrine. Looking at Henry V, the model and best king, helps prove that Macbeth is the worst king followed by Richard III and then Claudius because Macbeth did not have the hearts of his people or an effective way to handle his kingship.

Chapter fifteen of The Prince, is about how a prince should seem good but not necessarily act it. He must look like the “innocent flower” but be “the serpent under it” (Macbeth I.vi.76). Macbeth was only seen as unnaturally cruel because he killed families and took land from people. These two things were the two things Machiavelli bluntly said not to do as a king. The fact that he only became king after the king was murdered and the two sons sent to two separate far away countries did not help his situation either. He was never seen as good only evil. C

Looking at all three bad kings, Macbeth is the worst. Richard III did a couple of Machiavelli’s tenets bad and Claudius was not truly a king. Macbeth though, did several tenets wrong, so when it comes down to it he was all around the worst king. Machiavelli was an expert on the way a king should act and his book helped because it is universal and basically a guide to being an effective ruler. It is now easier to discover exactly what a king did wrong and what he should have done because of The Prince. In Macbeth’s instance, it is obvious, Macbeth was a king without the trust or hearts of his people and without trust there is nothing.

When it comes to the end of the line the best king is a king that captures the heart of his people. In order to do that a king must be “merciful, faithful, humane, frank, and religious.”(The Prince 63). Macbeth’s army’s “hearts were absent” (Macbeth V. iv. 18) to him. Macbeth could not win his fight without an army on his side. They did not want to fight and risk their lives for someone they felt was not worth anything. As Richard III goes into battle he knows he will

Some topics in this essay:
Richard III, Ii16 Macbeth, Ivi76 Macbeth, IV Iii60, Claudius Macbeth, Bardolph Prince, Looking Henry, Prince Macbeth’s, Machiavelli’s Prince, richard iii, hearts people, Hamlet Henry, king king, king hearts people, feared loved, worst king, win fight, macbeth feared, macbeth worst, kings machiavelli’s, seen evil,