Macbeth: Leadership Comparison

he driving force behind Shakespeare's Macbeth is the effect of ambition and conscience upon a nation when it occurs at the highest levels of society. Macbeth’s weakness of character is the ambition which clouds his rational thoughts. Macbeth's lunge for the throne is the result of his great ambition, this is the product of his mind alone and not of other characters. Ambition is the basic flaw that Macbeth has received from Shakespeare to pave the rest of the play; Macbeth's “vaulting ambition” (I.vii.27) is the substrate awaiting catalysis by other characters to create a great tragedy. For the weak-minded Macbeth, the only method of mental rationality is to balance ambition with his conscious fear. Macbeth's great ambition to become King is entertained by the prophecies of the witches, an external influence that affects his mind to take charge of the future. The intial prophecies of the witches are fuel for the flames of Macbeth's ambition, plunging him into a “fantastical” state of mind (I.iii.139), decreasing the effectiveness of Macbeth's conscience and fear of reprisals in checking his ambition. The ease with which external influence mangles the mental equilibrium of Macbeth's reason is telling of his mental weakness. When those stronger than Macbeth himself, such as Lady Macbeth and the witches, play upon his ambitions his conscience is no longer a factor as he is motivated beyond the reach of his fear. His actions are dictated by this flaw; they are controlled by the imbalance of reason and confusion. Paranoia is a tragic flaw of Macbeth, manipulating his every thought, conforming him from a gallant warrior to a tyrannical king. Ironically, prior to Macbeth's conversion to the "dark side", Lady Macbeth commented that he was without the drive to apply his ambitions.

Although the actions of Macbeth during his kingship to be considered a tyrant are rather extensive, they all revolve around a central paranioa; Macbeth, the ever unworth King, is tyrannical in the play by attempting to forcibly destroy all threats to his crown. The end of each crime that the King commits on the throne never justifies the means and Macbeth never makes a decision for the good of his subjects. The revolutionary movement based in England is allowed to grow in popularity within his own court due to his inability to accurately assess true threats within his court and distinguish them from his own fabricated enemies. As Macbeth reached the throne through an act of injustice, his true leadership abilities as presented to god are questioned by other around him. In order to preserve his kingship and come to be considered a great ruler he must gain the trust and support of his subject, the method in which Macbeth attempts to eliminate threats to his crown achieves the opposite. Macbeth destroys all respect among his court by fanatically pursuing the perceived threats to his personal monarchy by attempting to murder then one at a time. For assasination to be effective, all the important members of the group on the opposiing end of the polarized political situation must be eliminated as soon as possible and care should be taken to ensure that they are all removed from the political theater at once, even at the cost of a properly staged "accident"; the end will justify the means, if five people must die so that a million can live in stability then so be it.

Reigns that which would be fear’d: ‘tis much he dares,

While Macbeth finds himself consumed with paranioa, the result of ambition and fear combining forces, Malcolm requires little change of attitude to gain the kingship. Although this is clearly due to the fact that he is in fact portrayed as the "true" King, chosen by god and wronged by an usurper, Malcolm does demonstrate that he is able to balance his fears and ambitions equally. As the rightful King

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