In his book “The Prince”, Machiavelli was teaching a young ruler how to hold on to his power in a time of political instability. He did not advocate random, self-serving cruelty, such as the acts that Macbeth performs. He instead suggested that one take charge by making an example of a few enemies or rebellious citizens, and then slowly begin to reward those who are loyal: "Injuries must be inflicted all together so that, swallowed less, they injure less, and benefits have to be bestowed little by little so that they can be savored better." Machiavelli clearly believed that fear alone could not help a prince to stay in power. He knew that ideally, the people would support their leader out of love. However, this is another way his ideas have …show more content…
Machiavelli saw this vulnerable state as reason to be cautious and suspicious. There were always people waiting for a leader to slip up so that they could take the power for themselves. Machiavelli was pessimistic, saying, "Men will always prove to be wretched unless necessity makes them good." He believed the world was full of despicable people who would only stop being mean if there was something in it for them. In this environment, it was therefore too risky to always behave in a morally upright way: "There is such a distance between how one lives and how one should live, that whoever abandons what is done in favor of what should be done is preparing for his ruin rather than for his preservation. Hence it is necessary for a prince who wants to maintain himself to learn how not to be good, and to be or not be, according to the necessity." In other words, Machiavelli thought a prince needed to know how to do bad things, because with so many bad people surrounding him, he'd get overthrown if he was always trying to be …show more content…
Which in the case of Macbeth was true, before ascension to the throne he was a lord and a warrior who fought right alongside the knights and men of his rule. The outcome of which gave him praise as a brave man with courage and no fear, driving at the enemy with an unparalleled aggression and tenacity. But as soon as Macbeth rose to power he seemingly forgot all he had learned and tried to sever all ties with who he once was as a lord of the people and became a tyrant of himself. Which brought his own demise because of the fact that Macbeth forgot who he was and that he needed to rule as someone who could be feared and respected not feared and