http://www.greatbooksandfilm.com/guide1.htm
Great Books & Film: Politics and
Morality
Guide for Teachers
and
Students
This unit on politics and morality is held together by the themes of justice, morality, and politics, as they are set forth in
Machiavelli's Prince and Plato's Apology.
from The Prince
It being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it appears to me more
appropriate to follow up the real truth of the matter than the imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and
principalities which in fact have never been known or seen, because how one lives is so far distant from how one ought
to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for
a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much
that is evil. Machaivelli's Prince
In The Prince, written in 1513, Machiavelli advocates the separation of moral and political orders, as the excerpt on the previous
page indicates. Machiavelli argues that a concern with the morality of one's actions limits political effectiveness, and might even
harm an individual. Thus, he teaches that a "prince" or political actor ought not hesitate to engage in immoral action when he
finds it to be politically necessary or expedient. Indeed, Machiavelli redefines what is meant by "moral," just as he redefines
what is meant by "virtuous" action. It would be immoral from Machiavelli's perspective to do what is harmful to oneself and to
one's community for the sake of upholding a moral principle. So too does the "virtue" of a ruler consists in performing those
actions necessary for the sake of seizing and maintaining power.
In the selections that we read Machiavelli discusses the specific virtues of a prince, including the ability to act as both lion and
fox. While it is good to have a reputation for all the virtues if possible, the prudent prince should not act virtuously if it means
the ruin of himself or his state.
One can easily understand why Machiavelli would be called a teacher of evil, and be associated with an amoral power politics.
Much of his advice to those who want to rule is morally shocking, even today. Nothing, however, is quite so simple. That the
end justifies the means does not mean that anything goes. Machiavelli was, after all, trying to give the advice that would bring
peace and unity to his war-torn and disunited Italy.
The Prince
by Niccolo Machiavelli
Concerning Things for Which Men, and
Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed
It remains now to see what ought to be the rules of conduct for a prince towards subject and friends. And as I know that many
have written on this point, I expect I shall be considered presumptuous in mentioning it again, especially as in discussing it I
shall depart from the methods of other people. But, it being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who
apprehends it, it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of a matter than the imagination of it; for many
have pictured republics and principalities which in fact have never been known or seen, because how one lives is so far distant
from how one ought to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his
preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so
much that is evil.
Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to
necessity. Therefore, putting on one side imaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing those which are real, I say that
all men when they are spoken of, and chiefly princes for being more highly placed, are remarkable for some of those qualities
which bring them either blame or praise; and thus it is that one is reputed liberal, another miserly, using a Tuscan term
(because an avaricious person in our language is still he who desires to possess by robbery, whilst we call one miserly who
deprives himself too much of the use of his own); one is reputed generous, one rapacious; one cruel, one compassionate; one
faithless, another faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, another bold and brave; one affable, another haughty; one lascivious,
another chaste; one sincere, another cunning; one hard, another easy; one grave, another frivolous; one religious, another
unbelieving, and the like. And I know that every one will confess that it would be most praiseworthy in a prince to exhibit all
the above qualities that are considered good; but because they can neither be entirely possessed nor observed, for human
conditions do not permit it, it is necessary for him to be sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of
those vices which would lose him his state; and also to keep himself, if it be possible, from those which would not lose him it;
but this not being possible, he may with less hesitation abandon himself to them. And again, he need not make himself uneasy
at incurring a reproach for those vices without which the state can only be saved with difficulty, for if everything is considered
carefully, it will be found that something which looks like virtue, if followed, would be his ruin; whilst something else, which
looks like vice, yet followed brings him security and prosperity. (Chapter 15).
Order and Barbarity
Cesare Borgia, called by the people Duke Valentino, acquired his state during the ascendancy of his father [Pope Alexander
VI], and on its decline he lost it, notwithstanding that he had taken every measure and done all that ought to be done by a
prudent and virtuous man to fix firmly his roots in the states which the arms and fortunes of others had bestowed on him.
Because, as is stated above, he who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards,
but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building. If, therefore, all the steps taken by the duke be
considered, it will be seen that he laid solid foundations for his future power, and I do not consider it superfluous to discuss
them, because I do not know what better precepts to give a new prince than the example of his actions; and if his dispositions
were of no avail, that was not his fault, but the extraordinary and extreme malignity of fortune....
When the Duke occupied the Romagna he found it under the rule of weak masters, who rather plundered their subjects than
ruled them, and gave them more cause for disunion than for union, so that the country was full of robbery, quarrels, and every
kind of violence; and so, wishing to bring back peace and obedience to authority, he considered it necessary to give it a good
governor. Thereupon he promoted Messer Remirro de Orco, a swift and cruel man, to whom he gave the fullest power. This
man in a short time restored peace and unity with the greatest success. Afterwards the duke considered that it was not
advisable to confer such excessive authority, for he had no doubt but that he would become odious, so he set up a court of
judgment in the country, under a most excellent president, wherein all cities had their advocates. And because he knew that
the past severity had caused some hatred against himself, so, to clear himself in the minds of the people, and gain them
entirely to himself, he desired to show that, if any cruelty had been practiced, it had not originated with him, but in the natural
sternness of the minister. Under this pretense he took Ramiro, and one morning caused him to be executed and left on the
piazza at Cesena with the block and a bloody knife at his side. The barbarity of this spectacle caused the people to be at once
satisfied and dismayed. ... (Chapter 7)
The Lion and the Fox
You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men,
the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second.
Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man. This has been figuratively
taught to princes by ancient writers, who describe how Achilles and many other princes of old were given to the Centaur
Chiron to nurse, who brought them up in his discipline; which means solely that, as they had for a teacher one who was half
beast and half man, so it is necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures, and that one without the other is
not durable. A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because
the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. (Chapter 18)
On Avoiding Being Disdained and Hated
(Recommended reading along with Macbeth)
...The Prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or
contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other
reproaches. It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and
women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor their honor is touched, the
majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many
ways....(Chapter 19)
For this reason I consider that a prince ought to reckon conspiracies of little account when his people hold him in esteem; but
when it is hostile to him, and bears hatred towards him, he ought to fear everything and everybody. And well-ordered states
and wise princes have taken every care not to drive the nobles to desperation, and to keep the people satisfied and contented,
for this is one of the most important objects a prince can have....
Conspiracy and Security
(Recommended along with Elizabeth)
That prince is highly esteemed who conveys [greatness, spiritedness and gravity], and he who is highly esteemed is not easily
conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people [versus the nobles], he
can only be attacked with difficulty. For this reason a prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his
subjects, the other from without, on account of external powers. From the latter he is defended by being well armed and
having good allies, and if he is well armed he will have good friends, and affairs will always remain quiet within when they are
quiet without, unless they should have been already disturbed by conspiracy; and even should affairs outside be disturbed, if
he has carried out his preparations and has lived as I have said, as long as he does not despair, he will resist every attack...
But concerning his subjects, when affairs outside are disturbed he has only to fear that they will conspire secretly, from which
a prince can easily secure himself by avoiding being hated and despised, and by keeping the people satisfied with him, which it
is most necessary for him to accomplish, as I said above at length. And one of the most efficacious remedies that a prince can
have against conspiracies is not to be hated and despised by the people, for he who conspires against a prince always expects
to please them by his removal; but when the conspirator can only look forward to offending them, he will not have the courage
to take such a course, for the difficulties that confront a conspirator are infinite. And as experience shows, many have been the
conspiracies, but few have been successful; because he who conspires cannot act alone, nor can he take a companion except
from those whom he believes to be malcontents, and as soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent you have given
him the material with which to content himself, for by denouncing you he can look for every advantage; so that, seeing the
gain from this course to be assured, and seeing the other to be doubtful and full of dangers, he must be a very rare friend, or
a thoroughly obstinate enemy of the prince, to keep faith with you.
And, to reduce the matter into a small compass, I say that, on the side of the conspirator, there is nothing but fear, jealousy,
prospect of punishment to terrify him; but on the side of the prince there is the majesty of the principality, the laws, the
protection of friends and the state to defend him; so that, adding to all these things the popular goodwill, it is impossible that
any one should be so rash as to conspire. For whereas in general the conspirator has to fear before the execution of his plot, in
this case he has also to fear the sequel to the crime; because on account of it he has the people for an enemy, and thus
cannot hope for any escape.... (Chapter 19)
Of a Prince's Advisors
(Recommended along with Elizabeth)
The choice of servants is of no little importance to a prince, and they are good or not according to the discrimination of the
prince. And the first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around
him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the
capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error
which he made was in choosing them....
But to enable a prince to form an opinion of his servant there is one test which never fails; when you see the servant thinking
more of his own interests than of yours, and seeking inwardly his own profit in everything, such a man will never make a good
servant, nor will you ever be able to trust him; because he who has the state of another in his hands ought never to think of
himself, but always of his prince, and never pay any attention to matters in which the prince is not concerned.
On the other hand, to keep his servant honest the prince ought to study him, honoring him, enriching him, doing him
kindnesses, sharing with him the honors and cares; and at the same time let him see that he cannot stand alone, so that many
honors may not make him desire more, many riches make him wish for more, and that many cares may make him dread
chances. When, therefore, servants, and princes towards servants, are thus disposed, they can trust each other, but when it is
otherwise, the end will always be disastrous for either one or the other.
Therefore a wise prince ought to [choose] the wise men in his state, and give to them only the liberty of speaking the truth to
him, and then only of those things of which he inquires, and of none others; but he ought to question them upon everything,
and listen to their opinions, and afterwards form his own conclusions. With these councilors, separately and collectively, he
ought to carry himself in such a way that each of them should know that, the more freely he shall speak, the more he shall be
preferred; outside of these, he should listen to no one, pursue the thing resolved on, and be steadfast in his resolutions. He
who does otherwise is either overthrown by flatterers, or is so often changed by varying opinions that he falls into contempt....
A prince, therefore, ought always to take counsel, but only when he wishes and not when others wish; he ought rather to
discourage every one from offering advice unless he asks it; but, however, he ought to be a constant inquirer, and afterwards
a patient listener concerning the things of which he inquired; also, on learning that nay one, on any consideration, has not told
him the truth, he should let his anger be felt.
And if there are some who think that a prince who conveys an impression of his wisdom is not so through his own ability, but
through the good advisers that he has around him, beyond doubt they are deceived, because this is an axiom which never
fails: that a prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice, unless by chance he has yielded his affairs entirely to
one person who happens to be a very prudent man. In this case indeed he may be well governed, but it would not be for long,
because such a governor would in a short time take away his state from him.
Of Cruelty and Mercy
(Recommended along with Elizabeth)
... Every prince ought to desire to be considered merciful and not cruel. Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this
mercy. Cesare Borgia was considered cruel; notwithstanding, his cruelty reconciled the Romagna, unified it, and restored it to
peace and loyalty. And if this be rightly considered, he will be seen to have been much more merciful than the Florentine
people, who, to avoid a reputation for cruelty, permitted Pistoia to be destroyed. Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his
subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more merciful
than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wont
to injure the whole people, whilst those executions which originate with a prince offend the individual only.
And of all princes, it is impossible for the new prince to avoid the imputation of cruelty, owing to new states being full of
dangers. Hence Virgil, through the mouth of Dido, excuses the inhumanity of her reign owing to its being new, saying, "The
harshness of things and the newness of the kingdom compel me to contrive such things and to guard my borders from all
sides."
Nevertheless he ought to be slow to believe and to act, nor should he himself show fear, but proceed in a temperate manner
with prudence and humanity, so that too much confidence may not make him incautious and too much distrust render him
intolerable....
Among the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enumerated: that having led an enormous army, composed of many
various races of men, to fight in foreign lands, no dissensions arose either among them or against the prince, whether in his
bad or in his good fortune. This arose from nothing else than his inhuman cruelty, which, with his boundless valor, made him
revered and terrible in the sight of his soldiers, but without that cruelty, his other virtues were not sufficient to produce this
effect. And shortsighted writers admire his deeds from one point of view and from another condemn the principal cause of
them. That it is true his other virtues would not have been sufficient for him may be proved by the case of Scipio, that most
excellent man, not of his own times but within the memory of man, against whom, nevertheless, his army rebelled in Spain;
this arose from nothing but his too great forbearance, which gave his soldiers more licence than is consistent with military
discipline. For this he was upbraided in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, and called the corrupter of the Roman soldiery. The
Locrians were laid waste by a legate of Scipio, yet they were not avenged by him, nor was the insolence of the legate
punished, owing entirely to his easy nature. Insomuch that someone in the Senate, wishing to excuse him, said there were
many men who knew much better how not to err than to correct the errors of others. This disposition, if he had been
continued in the command, would have destroyed in time the fame and glory of Scipio; but, he being under the control of the
Senate, this injurious characteristic not only concealed itself, but contributed to his glory. (Chapter 17)
Whether it is Better To be Loved than Feared,
or the Contrary
(Recommended along with the A Bronx Tale)
A question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish
to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two,
either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false,
cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life and
children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you. And that prince who,
relying entirely on their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined; because friendships that are obtained by
payments, and not by greatness or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in time of need
cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is loved than one who is feared, for love is preserved
by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear
preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can
endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his
citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must
do it on proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others,
because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Besides, pretexts for taking away
the property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what
belongs to others; but reasons for taking life, on the contrary, are more difficult to find and sooner lapse. But when a prince is
with his army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of
cruelty, for without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties....
Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and
fearing according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that
of others; he must endeavor only to avoid hatred. (Chapter 17)
On Availability
(Recommended along with A Bronx Tale)
Because, if one is on the spot, disorders are seen as they spring up, and one can quickly remedy them; but if one is not at
hand, they are heard of only when they are great, and then one can no longer remedy them. Besides this, the country is not
pillaged by your officials; the subjects are satisfied by prompt recourse to the prince; thus, wishing to be good, they have
more cause to love him, and wishing to be otherwise, to fear him. He who would attack that state from the outside must have
the utmost caution; as long as the prince resides there it can only be wrested from him with the greatest difficulty. (Chapter 3)
Because the Romans did in these instances what all prudent princes ought to do, who have to regard not only present troubles,
but also future ones, for which they must prepare with every energy, because, when foreseen, it is easy to remedy them; but
if you wait until they approach, the medicine is no longer in time because the malady has become incurable; for it happens in
this, as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever, that in the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to
detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but
difficult to cure. This it happens in affairs of state, for when the evils that arise have been foreseen (which it is only given to a
wise man to see), they can be quickly redressed, but when, through not having been foreseen, they have been permitted to
grow in a way that every one can see them, there is no longer a remedy. (Chapter 3)
And above all things, a prince ought to live amongst his people in such a way that no unexpected circumstances, whether of
good or evil, shall make him change; because if the necessity for this comes in troubled times, you are too late for harsh
measures; and mild ones will not help you, for they will be considered as forced from you, and no one will be under any
obligation to you for them. (Chapter 8)
[T]here will always be in doubtful times a scarcity of men whom he can trust. For such a prince cannot rely upon what he
observes in quiet times, when citizens have need of the state, because then every one agrees with him; they all promise, and
when death is far distant they all wish to die for him; but in troubled times, when the state has need of its citizens, then he
finds but few. And so much the more is this experiment dangerous, inasmuch as it can only be tried once. Therefore a wise
prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state
and of him, and then he will always find them faithful. (Chapter 9)
Crime Well Used
(Recommended along with Primary Colors and City Hall)
Some may wonder how it can happen that Agathocles, and his like, after infinite treacheries and cruelties, should live for long
secure in his country, and defend himself from external enemies, and never be conspired against by his own citizens; seeing
that many others, by means of cruelty, have never been able even in peaceful times to hold the state, still less in the doubtful
times of war. I believe that this follows from cruelties being badly or well used. Those may be called well used, if of evil it is
permissable to speak well, that are applied at one blow and are necessary to one's security, and that are not persisted in
afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects. The badly employed are those which, notwithstanding
they may be few in the commencement, multiply with time rather than decrease. Those who practice the first system are able,
by aid of God or man, to mitigate in some degree their rule, as Agathocles did. It is impossible for those who follow the other
to maintain themselves.
Hence it is to be remarked that, in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it is
necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily; and thus by not unsettling
men he will be able to reassure them, and win them to himself by benefits. He who does otherwise, either from timidity or evil
advice, is always compelled to keep the knife in his hand; neither can he rely on his subjects, nor can they attach themselves
to him, owing to their continued and repeated wrongs. For injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less,
they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavor of them may last longer. (Chapter 8)
On Dissembling
(Recommended along with Primary Colors and City Hall)
Everyone admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with integrity and not with craft. Nevertheless our
experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how
to circumvent the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word.....It is
necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not
understand what they are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be
turned against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good this precept
would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor
will there ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this nonobservance. Of this endless modern examples could
be given, showing how many treaties and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the faithlessness of
princes; and he who has known best how to employ the fox has succeeded best.
But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are
so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself
to be deceived. One recent example I cannot pass over in silence. Alexander VI did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever
thought of doing otherwise, and he always found victims; for there never was a man who had greater power in asserting, or
who with greater oaths would affirm a thing, yet would observe it less; nevertheless his deceits always succeeded according to
his wishes, because he well understood this side of mankind.
Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to
have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to
have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that
should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.
And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are
esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion.
Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it,
yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set
about it.
For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the abovenamed five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and
religious. There is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge generally more by
the eye than by the hand, because it belongs to everybody to see you, to few to come in touch with you. Every one sees what
you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who
have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent
to challenge, one judges by the result.
For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest,
and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of
it; and in the world there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have somewhere to lean on.
One prince of the present time, whom it is not well to name, never preaches anything else but peace and good faith, and to
both he is most hostile, and either, if he had kept it, would have deprived him of reputation and kingdom many a time.
(Chapter 18)
Fortune in Human Affairs
(Recommended along with Primary Colors and City Hall)
It is not unknown to me how many men have had, and still have, the opinion that the affairs of the world are in such wise
governed by fortune and by God that men with their wisdom cannot direct them and that no one can even help them; and
because of this they would have us believe that it is not necessary to labor much in affairs, but to let chance govern them. This
opinion has been more credited in our times because of the great changes in affairs which have been seen, and may still be
seen, every day, beyond all human conjecture. Sometimes pondering over this, I am in some degree inclined to their opinion.
Nevertheless, not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that
she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.
I compare her to one of those raging rivers, which when in flood overflows the plains, sweeping away trees and buildings,
bearing away the soil from place to place; everything flies before it, all yield to its violence, without being able in any way to
withstand it; and yet, though its nature be such, it does not follow therefore that men, when the weather becomes fair, shall
not make provision, both with defenses and barriers, in such a manner that, rising again, the waters may pass away by canal,
and their force be neither so unrestrained nor so dangerous. So it happens with fortune, who shows her power where valor has
not prepared to resist her, and thither she turns her forces where she knows that barriers and defenses have not been raised
to constrain her. (Chapter 25)
from The Apology of Socrates
Our second reading dates back to the Greek world, in the fourth century BC. The Athenian philosopher Socrates was brought to
trial and found guilty in 399 BC of doing injustice, by corrupting the young and by not believing in the gods of the city. After
Socrates was executed, Plato explores the charges against of Socrates as well as his philosophic life by writing The Apology of
Socrates, a defense speech of the sort that Socrates himself might have delivered in court. In that work, Socrates gives an
account of his search for wisdom, his pursuing a virtuous life and urging others to do so, and how he has become unpopular as
a consequence. It is political life itself, and not Socrates' teaching, Socrates suggests, that corrupts the young. Although
Socrates argues that a good person cannot survive the corruptions of political life, his trial nevertheless demonstrates that a
good life inevitably brings one into political conflict and dangers, just as Socrates' life devoted to philosophic questioning entails
obligations and duties toward others. By exploring the character of Socrates' life, Plato offers an alternative vision to
Machiavelli's concerning the relations between morality and politics.
The readings thus raise questions of what is owed to one's political community and what is owed to oneself. Should we pursue a
political career? And what would that mean for our happiness, and the good of our own souls? Is justice good, and why? How
much justice is good for a ruler, and is it ever consistent with what is necessary to rule effectively?
The readings and films in this unit can be used in any combination, but we recommend beginning with the selections from
Machiavelli's Prince and Plato's Apology found in the first two sections, and discussing the preliminary questions found therein.
The readings from The Prince are grouped by their relevance to the film and great book selections. Section questions follow
each reading and film, and frequently ask the student to compare the work of that section with the selections from The Prince
and The Apology found at the beginning of the unit.
The Apology of Socrates
selections from the
Apology, by Plato
The Athenian philosopher Socrates was accused of injustice-corrupting the young and not believing in the gods of
the city, but in other new divinities. Socrates was found guilty and executed. Plato later examined the issue of
Socrates' innocence and guilt, as well as of his philosophic way of life, by writing a speech in which Socrates pleads
his case before an Athenian jury. After claiming that he has been slandered by prejudices against philosophers that
do not apply to him, Socrates raises the question of why his way of life has led to his indictment.
20c-21e
Socrates, speaking before the jury:
Perhaps, then, someone among you will reply, "What is the matter with you, Socrates? Where have these slanders
come from? Surely, if you did nothing different from most people, or acted the way others do, so much talk and
report would not have arisen. So tell us what it is, in order that we do not act hastily concerning you."
The person saying this seems to me to speak justly, and I will try to show you what has caused this reputation and
slander against me. Listen, then. Now perhaps some of you will suppose that I am joking. Know well, however, that
I will tell you the whole truth.
Men of Athens, I have gotten this reputation through nothing other than a certain sort of wisdom. What sort of
wisdom? Human wisdom. [Others] might be wise in some wisdom greater than human wisdom, but I am unable to
say what it is. I have no knowledge of it, and whoever says that I do lies and speaks to slander me.
Men of Athens, do not make a disturbance, not even if I seem to you to boast. For it is not my word. Rather, I refer
you to the word of someone worthy of credit: whether I have any wisdom, and what sort it is, I offer as witness the
god of Delphi. You must have known Chaerephon; he was my comrade from youth, as well as a comrade of your
democratic faction, for he shared in your exile, and returned with you. Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was very
impetuous in everything he did. He went to Delphi and dared to consult the oracle about this-now don't make a
disturbance, men, as I said-he asked the oracle whether anyone was wiser than I , and the prophetess answered
that there was no one wiser. Chaerephon is dead himself, but his brother, who is in court, will testify to this.
Why do I mention this? Because I am going to teach you where this slander against me came from. When I heard
the answer, I said to myself, "What can the god mean? What riddle is he offering? I know that I have no wisdom,
small or great. What can he mean when he says that I am the wisest? Surely he cannot by lying, for it is not
permitted [for a god to lie]."
For a long time I was perplexed, and then very reluctantly I undertook to examine [the god] in this way. I went to
one of those with a reputation for wisdom, supposing that there, if anywhere, I would refute the divination and show
the oracle that "this person is wiser than I, but you said that I was the wisest." Accordingly, I examined him-his
name I need not mention--he was one of the politicians-and when I examined him and conversed with him, I had
this experience, Athenian men: this man seemed to be wise to many human beings, and especially to himself, but
he was not really wise. And then I tried to show him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise. As a
result I became hated by him and by many of those present. So I left him, reasoning, "I am wiser than this human
being. It is likely that neither of us knows anything noble and good, but this one believes that he knows when he
does not, whereas I neither know nor think that I know. It is likely, then, that I am a little bit wiser than he is, for I
do not believe that I know what I do not know."
Then I went to another, who had still a greater reputation for wisdom than he, and these things seemed to be
exactly the same. I became hateful to him, and to many others besides him....
23c-d
Socrates points out another problem that he encountered in his search for wisdom:
This too happened: the youth who followed me of their own accord, those who had the greatest leisure, and the
sons of the wealthiest, enjoyed hearing human beings examined. They often imitated me, and examined others
themselves. And they discovered, I believe, an abundance of people who thought that they knew something, but
really knew little or nothing. And those who were examined by them instead of being angry with themselves became
angry with me. And they said that Socrates is disgusting and corrupts the young.
28b and 29a-30b
Socrates addresses whether he should have avoided this investigation since as a result his life in danger:
Perhaps someone will say, "And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life from which you run the risk of
losing your life?" Justly would I reply to him: "You speak ignobly, sir, if you suppose that a man who is good for
anything ought to take into account the danger of living or dying, rather than consider only this when he acts,
whether he acts justly or unjustly, and does the deeds of a good man or of a bad....
For this fear of death, men, is nothing other than to think one is wise when one is not, for it is to seem to know what
one does not know. For no one knows whether death is not the greatest of goods for a human being, but they fear it
as if it were the greatest of evils. And is this not that shameful ignorance of supposing that one knows what one
does not? Perhaps, men, I differ from other human beings in this, and if I am wiser it is in this-that whereas I know
little of the world below, I do not suppose that I know. But I do know that it is bad and shameful to do injustice and
to disobey one's better, whether god or man. In contrast to those things I know to be bad, I will never fear or avoid
things that might turn out to be good.
Suppose you were to let me go now, and reject the counsels of [my accusers], who say that I ought not to have
been prosecuted, if I were not to be put to death, and that if I escape now, your sons will all be utterly ruined by
listening to my words. But you also said to me, "Socrates, this time we will not listen to [your accusers], and will let
you off, but upon one condition, that you inquire and philosophize in this way no more, and that if you are caught
doing this again you shall die." If this was the condition on which you acquitted, I should reply, "Men of Athens, I
cherish and love you, but I shall obey the god rather than you, and as long as I breathe and am able to, I shall not
cease philosophizing, and exhorting you and saying to anyone whom I happen to meet, as I am accustomed to
doing, 'best of men, you are an Athenian, from the city that is the greatest and has the greatest reputation for
wisdom and strength. Are you not ashamed to care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and
honor and reputation, while you neglect and have no regard for prudence and truth and how your soul will be the
best possible?'"
If one of you disputes this and says he does care, I will not depart or let him go at once, but I will speak with him
and examine and cross?examine him. And if he does not seem to me to possess virtue, but only says that he does, I
will reproach him with undervaluing the greater, and overvaluing the less. And this I shall do to everyone whom I
meet, young and old, foreigner and townsmen, but especially to the townsmen, inasmuch as you are more closely
related to me.
Know well that the god commands this. I believe that to this day no greater good has ever happened in this city
than my service to the god. For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take
thought for your bodies and money, but first and chiefly to care for your soul, how it will be the best possible. I say
that "virtue does not arise from money, but that from virtue comes money and all other goods for human beings,
public as well as private." If I corrupt the young by saying such things, they may be harmful. But if anyone claims
that I speak different things, he speaks nonsense. With regard to these matters, men of Athens, I say, do as [my
accusers] bid or not, either acquit me or not. But whatever you do, know that I shall never alter my ways, not even
if I have to die many times.
31c-33a
Before concluding his speech, Socrates addresses the question of why he has not pursued a political career.
It might seem odd that I go about in private, giving advice and busying myself with the concerns of others, but do
not dare to come forward in public and advise the city. The cause of this you have heard me speak of many times
and in many places. Something divine or daimonic comes to me, which [my accusers] mock in their indictment. This
voice that I have had ever since childhood, when it comes to me, always forbids me to do something which I am
going to do, but never urges me to do anything.
It is this voice that stands in the way of my being a politician. And rightly so it opposes this. For I am certain, men of
Athens, that if I had engaged in politics, I should have perished long ago and done no good either to you or to
myself. And don't be annoyed at my telling you the truth. For there is no human being who can preserve his life who
opposes you or any other multitude, and prevents many unjust and unlawful things from occurring in the city.
Rather, if someone who fights for the just is to preserve himself even for a short time, he must live a private life and
not a public one.
I can give you as proofs of this, not words, but deeds, which you honor more. Listen to what happened to me, so
that you may know that I would never have yielded to injustice from any fear of death, even if by not yielding I
should have died at once. I will tell you vulgar things, characteristic of lawcourts, but true. The only office in the city
which I ever held, men of Athens, was once being on the Council.... Then you wanted to try as a group, not
individually, the ten generals who had not taken up the bodies after the naval battle-contrary to law, as you all
thought afterwards. At that time I was the only one of the councillors who opposed your acting contrary to the law,
and I voted against you. Even though the orators threatened to indict and arrest me, and you urged and shouted, I
supposed that I would run the risk, having law and justice with me, rather than take part in your injustice because I
feared imprisonment and death....
Do you suppose that I could have survived all these years, if I had led a public life, acting like a good man and
always supporting the just and supposing this the most important? Far from it, men of Athens, neither I nor any
other human being could have done this. But I have been always the same in all my actions, public as well as
private, and never have I yielded contrary to what is just....
from Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Shakespeare's Macbeth might be seen as a didactic tale, cautioning the reader against an excess of ambition. It is ambition that
consumes Macbeth and his "dearest partner of greatness," his wife, and sets them to the task of committing a series of murders
that escalate to the point that none of Macbeth's subjects can be ignorant of his culpability in these many crimes. Our selections
include five scenes from Shakespeare's Macbeth. These are, however, a rich and sophisticated picture of what executing the
most horrible cruelties can do to a man's conscience, soul, or self. Macbeth's ambition causes him to take the Machiavellian
divide between the morally right and the expedient and push it to its logical outcome.
Shamed for his irresolution and encouraged by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan in his own home, violating the "double
trust" Duncan had in him as his kinsman and subject. Once there, however, Macbeth is not satisfied with simply possessing the
throne, but seeks to keep it in perpetuity-even into future generations. This requires that he seek the death of Banquo's heirs,
as Banquo, it is foretold by the witches, will be the father of many future kings. But Macbeth's ambition quickly turns to a
madness that consumes him with his sense of insecurity on the throne. He finds every slight among his nobles cause to suspect
them and he does not hesitate to order the murder of Macduff's entire family in spite of the obvious senselessness of fearing the
wife and young children of the defected thane.
Macbeth follows the advice of his wife, who acts as his Machiavellian advisor. While Macbeth has the ambition to be king,
according to his wife, he is free of the "illness which should attend it." That is, he possesses a conscience or a fear of upsetting
a moral order of which he is a part. His initial irresolution is a product of knowing what committing such a deed might do to his
soul or psyche. He seems to be able to foretell the outcome for both himself and Lady Macbeth, fearing that "Bloody
instructions, which being taught, return/To plague the inventor." Even his resolute and cruel wife so suffers from her part in the
murders that she kills herself. Macbeth, in his last appearance on the stage before his defeat, is equally in despair of the world
and defiant of his fate. The horror about him cannot match the horror within him.
But Shakespeare does not leave us with the despair of Macbeth. The play closes with the ascent of Malcolm to the throne. By
showing us in an earlier scene Malcolm's testing Macduff's character, Shakespeare dramatizes Malcolm's own character, and his
worthiness to be king. Like Machiavelli, Shakespeare is concerned with the character of the ruler, but does he understand the
ruler's virtues in the same way as does Machiavelli? Moreover, Malcolm's personal merits complement his rightful claim to the
throne. Shakespeare adds legitimacy (whether by inheritance or election) as a factor that justifies rule.
Also interesting about the exchange between Malcolm and Macduff are the compromises that both are willing to make to
overturn Macbeth's tyranny. Macduff determines that certain, measured and well?managed vices on Malcolm's part will not
disqualify him as a good king-at least one more worthy of Macduff's support than is Macbeth. And Malcolm, as we have said,
willingly employs a deception in order to test Macduff's loyalty. Each thus seems to tempt the other, in the manner that the
witches tempted Macbeth. But, while neither is uncompromising in his defense of virtue and truth, both Malcolm and Macduff
pass the other's test and prove themselves to one another as free men, unwilling to sell themselves, each other, or their
country to present or future tyrants, whatever the personal profit.
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
Macbeth, a Scotish Thane or nobleman of a territory called Glamis, has just been told by three witches that he
become made Thane of Cawdor, and eventually King of Scotland. He has written of the witches' report to his wife.
She reads his letter in this scene.
ACT I, SCENE V Inverness. Macbeth's castle.
[Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter]
LADY MACBETH
'They met me in the day of success: and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than
mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they
vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;'
by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that
shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the
dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.'
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis,
That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.
[Enter a Messenger]
What is your tidings?
MESSENGER
The king comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH
Thou'rt mad to say it:
Is not thy master with him? who, were't so,
Would have inform'd for preparation.
MESSENGER
So please you, it is true: our thane is coming:
One of my fellows had the speed of him,
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his message.
LADY MACBETH
Give him tending;
He brings great news.
[Exit Messenger]
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'
[Enter MACBETH]
Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!
Greater than both, by the all?hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.
MACBETH
My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
LADY MACBETH
And when goes hence?
MACBETH
Tomorrow, as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH
O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
MACBETH
We will speak further.
LADY MACBETH
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.
[Exeunt]
ACT I, SCENE VII Macbeth's castle.
[Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers
Servants with dishes and service, and pass over the
stage. Then enter MACBETH]
MACBETH
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking off;
And pity, like a naked new born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other.
[Enter LADY MACBETH]
How now! what news?
LADY MACBETH
He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber?
MACBETH
Hath he ask'd for me?
LADY MACBETH
Know you not he has?
MACBETH
We will proceed no further in this business
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
LADY MACBETH
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
MACBETH
Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
LADY MACBETH
What beast was't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
MACBETH
If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him, his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
MACBETH
Bring forth men children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?
LADY MACBETH
Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
MACBETH
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
[Exeunt]
[Macbeth has just murdered the King ? while he slept in Macbeth's own home, in a room next to his sons, the
Princes, Malcolm and Donalbain.]
ACT II, SCENE II The same.
[Enter LADY MACBETH]
LADY MACBETH
That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;
What hath quench'd them hath given me fire.
Hark! Peace!
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good night. He is about it:
The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd
their possets,
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
MACBETH
[Within]
Who's there? what, ho!
LADY MACBETH
Alack, I am afraid they have awaked,
And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't.
[Enter MACBETH]
My husband!
MACBETH
I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?
LADY MACBETH
I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
MACBETH
When?
LADY MACBETH
Now.
MACBETH
As I descended?
LADY MACBETH
Ay.
MACBETH
Hark!
Who lies i' the second chamber?
LADY MACBETH
Donalbain.
MACBETH
This is a sorry sight.
[Looking on his hands]
LADY MACBETH
A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.
MACBETH
There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried
'Murder!'
That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them:
But they did say their prayers, and address'd them
Again to sleep.
LADY MACBETH
There are two lodged together.
MACBETH
One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'
When they did say 'God bless us!'
LADY MACBETH
Consider it not so deeply.
MACBETH
But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?
I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'
Stuck in my throat.
LADY MACBETH
These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
MACBETH
Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.
LADY MACBETH
What do you mean?
MACBETH
Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house:
'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'
LADY MACBETH
Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think
So brainsickly of things. Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there: go carry them; and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
MACBETH
I'll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.
LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt.
[Exit. Knocking within]
MACBETH
Whence is that knocking?
How is't with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
[Re-enter Lady Mcbeth]
LADY MACBETH
My hands are of your colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white.
[Knocking within]
I hear a knocking
At the south entry: retire we to our chamber;
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it, then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended.
[Knocking within]
Hark! more knocking.
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
MACBETH
To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.
[Knocking within]
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!
[Exeunt]
Macbeth has been made King. Feeling the insecurity of having the prophesized heir to the throne (the sons of
Banquo) and also the apparent heir (Malcolm the son of the slain King Duncan) alive still, Macbeth orders the murder
of Banquo and his son Fleance. Although Macbeth's men kill Banquo, Fleance escapes the murders. Macbeth is
further undone by the defection of many noblemen to England, where Malcolm has fled. MacDuff, the Thane of Fife,
is among those who have fled to Malcolm, the rightful heir. In the scene just prior to this one, the audience
witnesses Macbeth's myrmidons murdering the wife and children of MacDuff.
As Macbeth's cruelties have escalated, so has his madness and that of his wife. They appear to be increasingly
distracted and reckless: Macbeth halucinating (seeing Banquo's ghost attend a banquest he hosts for the nobles of
the realm) and Lady Macbeth, very famously, trying to wash the blood of King Duncan off her hands while
sleepwalking.
At the end of this selection, a doctor refers to King Edward the Confessor of England, who supports Malcolm, and his
practice of miraculously curing people of scrofula, which was referred to "the Evil."
ACT IV. SCENE III England. Before the King's [Edward of England's] palace.
[Enter Malcolm and Macduff]
MALCOLM
Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.
MACDUFF
Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men
Bestride our down?fall'n birthdom: each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.
MALCOLM
What I believe I'll wail,
What know believe, and what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will.
What you have spoke, it may be so perchance.
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest: you have loved him well.
He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young;
but something
You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom
To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb
To appease an angry god.
MACDUFF
I am not treacherous.
MALCOLM
But Macbeth is.
A good and virtuous nature may recoil
In an imperial charge. But I shall crave
your pardon;
That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose:
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell;
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.
MACDUFF
I have lost my hopes.
MALCOLM
Perchance even there where I did find my doubts.
Why in that rawness left you wife and child,
Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,
Without leave?taking? I pray you,
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours,
But mine own safeties. You may be rightly just,
Whatever I shall think.
MACDUFF
Bleed, bleed, poor country!
Great tyranny! lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dare not cheque thee: wear thou
thy wrongs;
The title is affeer'd! Fare thee well, lord:
I would not be the villain that thou think'st
For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp,
And the rich East to boot.
MALCOLM
Be not offended:
I speak not as in absolute fear of you.
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;
It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds: I think withal
There would be hands uplifted in my right;
And here from gracious England have I offer
Of goodly thousands: but, for all this,
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head,
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country
Shall have more vices than it had before,
More suffer and more sundry ways than ever,
By him that shall succeed.
MACDUFF
What should he be?
MALCOLM
It is myself I mean: in whom I know
All the particulars of vice so grafted
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared
With my confineless harms.
MACDUFF
Not in the legions
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd
In evils to top Macbeth.
MALCOLM
I grant him bloody,
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name: but there's no bottom, none,
In my voluptuousness: your wives, your daughters,
Your matrons and your maids, could not fill up
The cistern of my lust, and my desire
All continent impediments would o'erbear
That did oppose my will: better Macbeth
Than such an one to reign.
MACDUFF
Boundless intemperance
In nature is a tyranny; it hath been
The untimely emptying of the happy throne
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours: you may
Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty,
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink.
We have willing dames enough: there cannot be
That vulture in you, to devour so many
As will to greatness dedicate themselves,
Finding it so inclined.
MALCOLM
With this there grows
In my most ill-composed affection such
A stanchless avarice that, were I king,
I should cut off the nobles for their lands,
Desire his jewels and this other's house:
And my more?having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more; that I should forge
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,
Destroying them for wealth.
MACDUFF
This avarice
Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root
Than summer-seeming lust, and it hath been
The sword of our slain kings: yet do not fear;
Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will.
Of your mere own: all these are portable,
With other graces weigh'd.
MALCOLM
But I have none: the king-becoming graces,
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them, but abound
In the division of each several crime,
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.
MACDUFF
O Scotland, Scotland!
MALCOLM
If such a one be fit to govern, speak:
I am as I have spoken.
MACDUFF
Fit to govern!
No, not to live. O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accursed,
And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king: the queen that bore thee,
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself
Have banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast,
Thy hope ends here!
MALCOLM
Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me
From overcredulous haste: but God above
Deal between thee and me! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction, here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet
Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
At no time broke my faith, would not betray
The devil to his fellow and delight
No less in truth than life: my first false speaking
Was this upon myself: what I am truly,
Is thine and my poor country's to command:
Whither indeed, before thy here approach,
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men,
Already at a point, was setting forth.
Now we'll together; and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel! Why are you silent?
MACDUFF
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
'Tis hard to reconcile.
Enter a Doctor
MALCOLM
Well; more anon.--Comes the king forth, I pray you?
DOCTOR
Ay, sir; there are a crew of wretched souls
That stay his cure: their malady convinces
The great assay of art; but at his touch-Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand-They presently amend.
MALCOLM
I thank you, doctor.
Exit Doctor
MACDUFF:
What's the disease he means?
MALCOLM
'Tis call'd the evil:
A most miraculous work in this good king;
Which often, since my here-remain in England,
I have seen him do.
How he solicits heaven,
Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people,
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
The mere despair of surgery, he cures,
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction. With this strange virtue,
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,
And sundry blessings hang about his throne,
That speak him full of grace....
The troops under Malcolm and his English allies grow with the addition of Macduff and many other Scottish nobles
who have defected to the rightful heir. It has become commonly understood that Macbeth is responsible for the
string of recent murders and as is related above he is increasingly mad. Macbeth watches from his castle at
Dunsinane, scornfully awaiting the attack of Malcolm's men.
In the next scenes, we see the states of mind and Macbeth and his wife, as their their ends approach. The death of
Lady Macbeth, who shares Macbeth's diseased conscience, is also reported. Macbeth's "tomorrow and tomorrow and
tomorrow" speech, the last of his speeches in our selection, is his response to his wife's death. This is perhaps the
most famous of the many famed speeches of this play.
ACT V, SCENE III. Dunsinane. Within the castle.
MACBETH
What news more?
SEYTON
All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported.
MACBETH
I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd.Give me my armour.
SEYTON
'Tis not needed yet.
MACBETH
I'll put it on.
Send out more horses; skirr the country round;
Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armour.
How does your patient, doctor?
DOCTOR
Not so sick, my lord,
As she is troubled with thick coming fancies,
That keep her from her rest.
MACBETH
Cure her of that.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
DOCTOR
Therein the patient
Must minister to himself.
MACBETH
Throw physic to the dogs; I'll none of it.
Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff....
ACT V, SCENE V The same.
[Enter MACBETH, SEYTON, and Soldiers, with drum
and colours]
MACBETH
Hang out our banners on the outward walls;
The cry is still 'They come:' our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up:
Were they not forced with those that should be ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home.
[A cry of women within]
What is that noise?
SEYTON:
It is the cry of women, my good lord.
[Exit]
MACBETH:
I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
Cannot once start me.
[Re-enter SEYTON]
Wherefore was that cry?
SEYTON:
The queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH:
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing....
Discussion Questions
1. What effect do the witches' prophecy have on Macbeth? On Lady Macbeth?
2. Do you think that the tragedy would have occurred without the prophecy? Does the prophecy leave room for choice?
Would this be a tragedy, if the actions of the tragic characters were fated?
3. What do Macbeth's musings in his soliloquy at the beginning of Act I, scene 7 indicate about time? What do they
indicate about Macbeth? How does the human relation to time play a role in this tragedy?
4. When Macbeth says, "I dare do all that may become a man," what does he mean? Does Lady Macbeth use "man" in the
same way her husband does? Does Macbeth prove himself a man in the scene with Lady Macbeth immediately after he
murders Duncan? How does the play equivocate on the meaning of man?
5. Is Macbeth a religious man? Why does Lady Macbeth advise him not to consider the matter "so deeply"? (Act II, scene
ii)
6. Why does Macbeth kill Banquo and try to kill his son?
7. Analyze what the exchange between Malcolm and Macduff reveals about each of their characters.
8. What qualities does Malcolm show in his testing of Macduff?
9. What qualities does Macduff look for in a good ruler? What are the virtues of a ruler that emerge from this exchange,
and how do they differ from those Machiavelli praises in The Prince?
10. Why does Shakespeare include this scene in the play? How does it provide relief for the audience from the horrors of
Macbeth, and suggest a similar relief for Scotland in the future?
11.Could you argue that Shakespeare's play is not only about what constitutes a bad ruler but what constitutes a good
ruler?
12. Why does Shakespeare include the passage about the British king, Edward the Confessor, in this play? Does
Shakespeare offer a number of different kinds of rulers for our consideration? What do we learn from this?
13. Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of illness and healing in this play, Edward's healing the body and the doctor's
inability to heal Lady Macbeth's soul? Does Shakespeare as a tragic poet offer any kind of "healing" to his audience?
14. Does Macbeth's famous "tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy present Shakespeare's view of human life? How is
Shakespeare's play not "a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/ Signifying nothing"?
Paper topics
1. How do the issues of Shakespeare's play overlap with those of Machiavelli's Prince and Plato's Apology?
2. Would Machiavelli approve of Macbeth's actions? What advice would he give him? In what ways is Macbeth a
Machiavellian figure? Does he demonstrate what happens when one separates politics from morality in the way that
Machiavelli did? On the other hand, how does Macbeth fail to live up to Machiavellian standards?
3. Discuss whether Shakespeare's Macbeth serves as an implicit criticism of Machiavelli's Prince.
4. How would Socrates respond to the prophecies of the witches? How would his response differ from Macbeth's?
5. Compare the place of religion in Macbeth with its place in Machiavelli's Prince and Plato's Apology.
6. What figure, if any, in Macbeth, resembles Socrates?
7. Does Shakespeare's concerns in Macbeth come closer to those of Machiavelli or Plato?
8. Do Malcolm and Macduff escape Socrates' charge that politics is corrupting? How? Will Malcolm be able to remain a good
man as king? (Was Macbeth not thought to be virtuous at the beginning of the play?)