LVMR Deepankar, Gandhi, Sai Manoj, Siddharth

A group project on
Macbeth

submitted to
Instructor: Prof. S. Manikuuty

In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the course

Leadership: Vision, Meaning and Reality
(LVMR)

By
Deepankar Bhagat (PGP 16112) Gandhi Mardi (PGP 16128)
Sistla Sai Manoj (PGP 16339) Siddharth Vora (PGP 16401)

(Section A LVMR)

On
August 31st, 2017

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Contents
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ........................................................................................................... 3
ABOUT THE PLAY.................................................................................................................. 3
PLOT OF THE PLAY ............................................................................................................... 4
CHARACTER SKETCH ........................................................................................................... 6
Macbeth.................................................................................................................................. 6
Lady Macbeth ........................................................................................................................ 7
Duncan ................................................................................................................................... 8
Macduff .................................................................................................................................. 8
Banquo ................................................................................................................................... 9
Malcom ................................................................................................................................ 10
COMPARISON WITH OTHER CHARACTERS .................................................................. 10
THEMES.................................................................................................................................. 11
Need for Power .................................................................................................................... 12
Leadership and balance: ....................................................................................................... 13
Resistance to Manipulative Persuasion ................................................................................ 14
Appearances and Reality...................................................................................................... 15
Character in Leadership ....................................................................................................... 16
Fate and Free Will ................................................................................................................ 17
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................... 18
Reference: ................................................................................................................................ 20

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William Shakespeare, also known as the Bard of Avon is considered the greatest writer in
the English literature. His work is known throughout the world and has been enacted in
numerous plays worldwide since time immemorial. This has bestowed upon him, the badge
of being considered as Englands national poet. [1] During his early days, he was a managing
partner in the Lord Chamberlains Men, an acting company in London. His association with
the company seemed to have influenced his way of writing and his artistry. His earlier work
mostly centered around comedies and histories, that are considered as some of the finest
plays ever produced in those genres. Then, he wrote about tragedies which included Macbeth,
King Lear, Hamlet and Othello. During the last phase of his playwriting career, he wrote
plays centered around romance and tragicomedy. His plays cover a wide range of human
emotions and conflicts and has been used extensively around study institutes for presenting
and discussion real human-being scenarios with various context- cultural and political that
conveys a strong life lesson. In lieu of this, the project has been taken to understand and
reinterpret one of his famous play- Macbeth.

ABOUT THE PLAY

Macbeth is Shakespeares shortest tragedy, written in 17th century. It was first performed on
stage in 1606 and was published in Folio in 1623. [2] The play is partly based on a true
historical figure, Macbeth, a king of Scotland during the medieval period differing
significantly from the real history of Macbeth. [3][4] The play is intense in terms of action and
depiction of human emotions and relationship. It dramatizes the tragedy of an individual in
pursuit of his ambition through deceit and murder which ultimately culminated into his
existence being ultimately ridden with guilt and insanity, lead to his downfall.
The play is about a Scottish general, Macbeth. He is earlier known for his bravery and valor.
Upon receiving a prophecy of becoming King of Scotland from his encounter with a trio of
witches, he murders King Duncan during his sleep with a little help from his wife. He is then
crowned king and is consumed with power and guilt for the rest of his reign. Out of suspicion
and enmity, he commits more murders to defend himself from potential threats. In the
process, he turns into a tyrant and leads his kingdom into realms of disarray, bloodshed, war
and death.

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PLOT OF THE PLAY

The play is organized into five acts and twenty-nine scenes. In Act I, the scene begins with
the appearance of three witches amidst the storm and malignant supernatural environment
and then moves to military camp where King Duncan is being informed about the heroism
and gallantry shown by Macbeth and Banquo by an injured captain. He describes how they
were able to stop the invading army of Irish led by Macdonwald who was ultimately slain by
Macbeth. This ends the Scott battle but the army again faced invasion from Norwegians
which was dealt with greater vigour than the last by Macbeth. King Duncan upon being
informed about the treachery of the Thane of Cawdor who had sided with the enemies, orders
execution of Cawdor and declares the title to be passed to Macbeth. While returning from
battlefield, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the three witches who narrate them their
prophecy. They foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and King while
Banquos future generation would rule Scotland but Banquo will be devoid of any such
privilege. The witches first prophecy comes true when Ross and Angur enter the scene to
deliver the message of Macbeth being given the title of Thane of Cawdor. Still preoccupied
with the turnarounds of event after their small encounter with the witches, Macbeth and
Banquo go on to meet King Duncan at their palace. Upon their arrival, King Duncan receives
them dearly and informs about his succession as king by his son, Malcolm. He is informed
about the execution of former Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth writes a letter to Lady Macbeth
mentioning about the prophecy and how it came true. He also mentions that the king will be
paying a visit to Iverness. After reading the letter, she devises a treacherous plan of killing
the king during his sleep and conveys the same to Macbeth upon his arrival. Thereafter, the
king arrives at Iverness and is received well by the hosts, Macbeth. Macbeth is seen
pondering over the plan and its implication on his morale and reputation. All his inner
turmoil is dismissed by his wife by her taunting about weakness and reassuring him with the
efficiency of her plan.
In Act II, Macbeth comes across Banquo on his way to Kings chamber and discuss about
the prophecy. Macbeth starts hallucinating about a ghostly dagger but then composes himself
before moving ahead according to the plan. Lady Macbeth drugs the chamber guard and
comes to inform Macbeth. But she finds his conscience being shaken and disturbed by the
whole plot and helps him to gain firmness again. Macbeth thereafter goes to kill the King and
brings the dagger along which is supposed to left along with the guards. Lady Macbeth goes

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back into the chamber and rectifies the mistake, thereby soaking her hands in blood. They
hear a knocking at the door and soon run off to their rooms to clean the blood. Lennox and
Macduff had arrived to arrange for kings departure as per his instructions but discover him
lying dead. Macbeth kills the guard of the chamber to proclaim his anger and love for the
king and his act was beyond suspicion. Malcolm and Donalbain fled to England and Ireland
after realizing that their lives are at risk then. The second prophecy of witches comes true
when Macbeth is named King after the death of Duncan and flight of his sons.
In Act III, Banquo suspects Macbeths involvement in the Kings death but finds comfort
after thinking about the witches prophecy regarding his bloodline. After realizing the futility
of his line with no successor and the prophecy of the three witches regarding Banquo,
Macbeth plans and summons two murderers to murder Banquo and his son, Fleance later in
the evening on their way back to the palace at Forres for the grand feast. The hired murderers
were able to execute the plan partially. Banquo was killed while Fleance escaped. Prior to the
feast, one of the murderer informs Macbeth about their failure to kill Fleance, to which
Macbeth is shocked and outraged. Later, Macbeth and his wife welcome the Thanes of
Scotland to the feast. During the celebration, Macbeth goes into a fit of despair and courage
as he hallucinates Banquos ghost. The Thanes are asked to leave because of the paranoid
mind of Macbeth and his wife tries to soothe him. Macbeth again plot to murder Macduff
after doubting his intentions since he didnt show up for the feast. For this purpose, he plans
to meet three witches again to know about his future. Lennox reveals his suspicion of
Macbeth in Duncans death to the other lords and talks about the state of turmoil Scotland is
in due to the tyranny of Macbeth. He comes to know that Macduff has fled to England to join
hands with Malcolm who is currently under King Edwards refuge and wishes the duos
success in bring peace to the country.
In Act IV, Macbeth pays a visit to the three witches to know about his future. They foretell,
with aid of apparitions, that while Macduff would seek revenge, Macbeth cannot be killed by
any woman born and he would not be defeated until Birman Wood moves towards
Dunsinane. He also witnesses the sight of kings apparitions lead by Banquo. Being agitated,
he decides to kill the family of Macduff. Elsewhere, in Macduffs castle, the Thane of Ross
warns Lady Macduff and his son about the possibility of their murder due to his fathers
traitorous. She dismisses this warning as she has done nothing wrong but eventually
encounters Macbeths hunch-man who kills them both her and the son. Meanwhile, Macduff
meets Malcolm in England where the latter is suspicious of the formers intentions and

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examines them. After being convinced of his loyalty, Malcolm empathizes with Macduffs
concerns for Scotland and they both devise plan to defeat Macbeth. Ross appears and inform
Macduff about the ill fate of his family, on hearing which Macduff gets extremely angry and
swears to seek revenge.
In Act V, Lady Macbeth is suffering from the guilt of her actions and had gone mad.
Meanwhile, Lennox, Angus, Caithness and Menteth plan to join Malcolms forces who were
currently marching towards Scotland. Macbeth is informed about the invasion but he
dismisses the news due to his trust in the prophecy shown by the apparitions. Macbeth swings
into action and orders his servant to help him put on the armour. The rebel army of Scotland
and English army meets at Birnam Wood where Malcolm orders each soldiers to cut a branch
each and conceal themselves so as to hide the actual size of the army. Meanwhile, Lady
Macbeth died and Macbeth laments over his lonely future and its insignificance. He is
interrupted by the news of the marching of Birnam Wood towards the castle but he shuns
away the prophecy. Convinced that no woman born can defeat him, he goes to the battle and
kills Siwards son. Macbeths army have surrendered Dunsinane palace but the war was not
over. Macduff finally comes face to face with Macbeth and reveals that he was ripped from
his mothers womb during the exchange of word. Macbeth becomes aware of his predestined
end, curses the witches for their wicked half-truth prophecies and battles with Macduff.
Macduff finally kills Macbeth putting an end to the war and Malcolm is now crowned as the
new king by all the Thanes of Scotland.

CHARACTER SKETCH

Macbeth

Macbeth is introduced in the play at a time when he has just defeated the allied forces of
Norway and Ireland led by Macdonwald, the Thane of Cawdor. He is portrayed as a great
warrior, whose heroics and bravery on the battlefield wins him great praise and honor from
King Duncan. He is portrayed as a loyal thane to King Duncan at the beginning. Eventually,
he succumbs to his own personal ambitions encouraged by the prophecies and Lady Macbeth.
These ambitions and thoughts often conflict with others opinion of him, which he describes
as "golden".

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Macbeth is seen to oscillate between acting towards his own ambitions and falling back
because of his conscience. He seemed to be very concerned by the witches prophecy and
goes on to inform Lady Macbeth about the prophecy through a letter. When Duncan
announces that his intention is to pass on the kingdom to his son Malcolm, Macbeth appears
quite frustrated. When Macbeth is about to kill the king, he goes through terrible pangs of
conscience. All these concerns are but taken care of by Lady Macbeth who has him
convinced that eliminating the king is the action required to achieve kingship.

Once he has killed the king, his ambition completely takes over. We see in subsequent acts
that he is without any remorse plotting to kill Banquo and his son. He is aware that he is on
the path to destruction as he says the following line O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear
wife! Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.

He also commands to kill Macduff and his family, after his meeting with the witches where
he was informed to beware of Macduff. Macbeths ambition and guilt began to spur him
toward more and more terrible deeds. Each successive murder seems to have reduced his
human characteristics, until he becomes more dominant than his wife. Due to the appearance
of Banquo's ghost, he swings from one state of mind to another until he is unsure of what is
and what is not. But Macbeth's excessive ambition became his dominant character trait. This
feature comes out when he is willing to fight till his last breath for the throne.

Lady Macbeth

Macbeths wife is one of the most powerful female characters portrayed in literature. Unlike
her husband, she is extremely rational and lacks all traits of humanity, as in her opening
scene, where she calls upon the spirits to deprive her of her instinct to care. She motivates
Macbeth to follow the course of action of murder as planned when he seemed to be hit by his
conscience. She was the one to have conceived the idea of murdering the king in the first
place.

Shakespeare developed her ambition to be queen as the single most dominant feature of hers
than that of her counterpart in the historical story. Lady Macbeth constantly keeps convincing
her husband that the path they were onto was indeed the one required. Women in Elizabeth
England yielded power through the influence on their husband, which is what Lady Macbeth
also did.

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Lady Macbeth has no trouble putting on masks of innocence, kind hostess. This was
something Macbeth himself was not able to do so easily. Lady Macbeth is able to project
herself as the consummate hostess, enticing the king, into her castle. Her fainting after the
murder of Duncan also makes one wonder if it was a part of her act.

Ultimately we see that Lady Macbeth fails the test of her own ruthlessness. Having scolded
and controlled her husband one last time during the dinner, the pace of events becomes too
much even for Lady Macbeth. She becomes mentally weak and deranged; a mere shadow in
front of her former commanding self. She gibbers in Act V, Scene 1 as she "confesses" her
part in the murder. Her death is the event where Macbeth ruminates for one last time, the
nature of time and mortality.

Duncan

Duncan, the king of Scotland as he should be was an epitome of a good ruler. He speaks
graciously and formally, whether on the battlefield in Act I, where he speaks about matters of
honor, or when he is greeting his hostess Lady Macbeth in Scene 6 of the Act 1. Duncan also
expresses and shows humility (a virtue which Macbeth lacks) when he accepts that he failed
to notice the previous Thane of Cawdor's treachery: "There's no art to find the mind's
construction in the face". He praises Macbeth and Banquo both for their bravery on the
battlefield.

Duncan is most importantly the representative of ethical and moral ruler. This virtue of
Duncan is reflected in several occasions in the book, most notably when Macbeth says that
the murdered king has "silver skin laced with his golden blood....

Duncan also comes out as a person who trusts people and doesnt worry much about his
personal security and ambitions. His failure to recognize the treacherous behavior of
Macdonwald, when he was the Thane of Cawdor and also his overly trusting and praising
behavior towards Macbeth is proof of this.

Macduff

Macduff is portrayed as the avenging hero. He is not simply out for revenge but has a holy
and good purpose. Macduff as a character has two very significant roles in the play: First, he

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discovers the murdered king Duncan's body. Second, the news of the ruthless murder of his
children and wife spurs him toward his desire to wage a personal vendetta and revenge upon
the tyrannical Macbeth. When he knocks at the gate of Macbeth's castle, Macduff is being
equated with the figure of Jesus Christ, who before his ascension into Heaven harrows hell by
releasing the souls of the damned from hell.

Macduff, like Macbeth, is also shown as a mere human being. When he gets the news of the
death of his "pretty chickens," he has to think straight and hold back his emotions. Even
when Malcolm urges Macduff to "Dispute it like a man" his reply "I will do so. But I must
also feel it as a man" helps the audience to compare him to Macbeth, an unfeeling man. Even
in the final combat between anti-hero and hero, this humanity is seen once more when he
cries out, "I have no words; my voice is in my sword." It is at this moment that his
wordlessness contrasts with Macbeth's hollow rhetoric.

Banquo

Banquo, as originally written in the source for Macbeth was Macbeth's co-conspirator in the
killing. But in Shakespeare's play, we see him as Macbeth's rival; the role of co-conspirator is
passed on to Lady Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo is also open to human desires and
yearnings: He is just as keen to hear what the Witches have to say about him. He cannot sleep
because of dreams of the Witches. And in his monologue "Thou hast it now . . . " we
see a hint of the same raw ambition that leads Macbeth astray and relentlessness. But, at the
same time, he is not on the same plane of Macbeth when it comes to thirst for greed. When
the 3 witches first appear and Macbeth is very curious, it is Banquo who asks questions about
them:

But tis strange.

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray s
In deepest consequence.

Notice that he is naturally suspicious when free favors are done by suspicious characters.
This shows the astuteness of the character of Banquo.

Unfortunately, Banquo is also an extremely sympathetic figure due to his blind trust on and
reluctance to suspect Macbeth. He is ignorant of what other people suspect about the murder

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of Duncan and of his own forthcoming doom. Only after getting stabbed by Macbeths
henchmen does he realize his friends true colors. However, he is an affectionate father as is
clearly depicted by his relationship with his son.

Malcom

Malcolm quickly senses the danger of staying in Scotland and flees the country with his
brother Donalbain. By the time he reappears, he has won the support of king of England,
Edward the Confessor. He has also mobilized the army under Siward and Northumberland,
and he has proven himself to be "every inch a king."

If Macduff can be termed as the stereotypical revenger in the book, Malcolm is the
personification of all that is good in kingship. This is seen when he tests the allegiance and
faithfulness of Macduff. His testing of Macduff is psychologically accurate although
dramatically of tedious length. By pretending to be somebody else, he hopes to extract a
confession of loyalty from Macduff. In his featured character; he is playing a part to
strengthen the idea and prospect of good in the world, which is in stark contrast to Macbeth,
who plays a part so that he can advance his own evil. Malcolm is presented as the future king
in the end. His phrase "by the grace of Grace shows the importance that he gives to the
service of good and reminds us of his rightful place as the direct descendent of the one who
ruled by divine right, unlike Macbeth who forcefully took the throne. Like King Duncan,
Malcolm is a propagator and representative of order.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER CHARACTERS

A parallel can be drawn between Macbeth and few of the characters studied in the LVMR
course- Okonkwo and Tughlaq while a contrast can be drawn between Macbeth and Saint
Joan and Gandhi. Both Macbeth and Okonkwo had ambition but without any purpose and
this led to their downfall. Okonkwo ambition is fueled by his fear of not portrayed as a weak
personality like his father and had no purpose behind it. Similarly, Macbeths ambition is
propelled by the prophecy of the three witches and the wish of his wife. Okonkwo and
Macbeths ambition lacked any larger purpose behind it and was supplemented by absence of
any value system. Both trod on their path to killing to sustain their ambition and kept it doing
till the end. Both failed to reconcile between ends and means. Macbeth, after becoming king,

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didnt know what to do next just like Sancho and the similar would have been the case with
Okonkwo.

In contrast, we see that St. Joan and Gandhis vision was filled with a noble purpose giving
them strength and conviction in pursuit of their goal. It also lends them credibility and
authenticity to communicate to the followers. They had strong value systems and didnt allow
the ends justify the means. Gandhi withdraw his non-cooperation movement after Chauri
chaura incident which went against his non-violence value. Similarly, Saint Joan refused to
recant about the voices that was against her value and opts for martyrdom.

Like Macbeth, Tughlaq to faced difficulty in finding acceptance from his followers. His
legitimacy and authenticity were not realized by his pupil because of his involvement of
killing his father during his prayer time for the throne. Similarly, Macbeth was not liked by
his people because of his involvement in the murder of King Duncan. Both wore faade to
conceive their true intention and was suspicious of everyone. They found it difficult to gain
others trust as well as trust anyone. Their hands were covered with the blood of their former
king to fulfill their purposeless ambition. Unlike Macbeth, Tughlaq had a vision but it was for
his own self-interest to gain the acceptance of his followers. Both started as a good human
being and was known for ones intelligence and valor but their fame was tainted by one
malice act. Their conscience suffered a lot because of their guilt and this drove away their
peace and sanity. They lost touch with the reality and was not cognizant of the state of mind
of their people. They corrupted their values for achieving their ends and ultimately turned
into a whimsical tyrant.

THEMES

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Need for Power

One of the important flaws of Macbeth is his lack of an overarching deeper purpose to his
actions. On the contrary, his actions are motivated only by an overleaping ambition, which
is self-perpetuating unto itself. In the famous soliloquy of Act-1, Scene-7, before being
convinced by Lady Macbeth he acknowledges that even-handed justice would eventually
make him accept the consequences of his actions.

.this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.

He acknowledges the virtuous nature of King Duncan and even speaks about how he is
doubly bound to the service of his king as His Thane and His Host for the night. He
concludes this soliloquy by saying that if anything could make him fall for these darker sides
of his intent, it can only be his overleaping ambitions.

I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th' other.

The play Macbeth is the tale of a man who ignores his better nature, conscience and sense of
justice in the light of a basic instinct: need for power. The influence of Lady Macbeth and the
witches is undoubtedly present, but that doesnt take away his share of mistake: harbouring
unbridled fires of ambition. In Eastern philosophy, these fires are signified by the term Rajas
(Rajo Guna), which if left uncontrolled will blur individuals judgements and lead them
down disastrous paths.
Needless to say, this purposeless quest for power eventually leads him down a path of
increasingly grotesque crimes culminating in his death at the hands of Macduff. This phase of
Macbeths life is comparable to Okonkwo whose emphasis on masculinity and differentiation
from his father led him to two murders and his own suicide.
A leader should be immune to the arousing scents of power and focus on setting and
achieving meaningful goals. The reason is that even if such lofty positions are achieved
through some means, what follows will be a function of purely his/her deeper purpose. In

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summary, a meaningless pursuit to the leadership position would imply a meaningless path
thereafter as well. Such a path never leaves a beneficial lasting impact.

Leadership and balance:

Shakespeare seems to be suggesting the need for a balanced approach to virtue in leadership.
A leader should undoubtedly have a pure and virtuous character, but at the same time he/she
should be fully aware of the darker aspects as well. On one extreme, the character of King
Duncan is portrayed as the epitome of virtuousness and justice. But he doesnt recognize the
darker aspects that lurk within human minds. This is demonstrated by the way in which he
blindly trusts both his Thanes without displaying even the slightest suspicions. It is this
weakness of his that gets him brutally murdered in the middle of the night by Macbeth.
Moreover, he is portrayed as a much weaker ruler, given his dependence on the Thanes for
the suppression of rebellion.

On the other hand, we find Macbeth himself who is a very powerful and brave Thane. He
leads the battle against the rebellion from the front and brings the head of the usurper on a
pike. He is also actively aware of the darker thoughts of the people around him as he could
figure out instantly if someone could potentially have grudges against him and took pro-
active (albeit brutal) steps to suppress these. But his weakness was that he rapidly loses his
milk of human kindness as we move into the play. This loss results in him committing
grave mistakes which come back to haunt him later in his life.
Malcolm has been portrayed as the ideal character in this regard as he has been shown to
have achieved true balance between Virtue and Strength. Malcolm uses a long method to
assess the true nature of Macduff, wherein he accuses himself (Malcolm) of many vices in-
order to test if Macduff still supports him. Upon Macduffs disillusionment and withdrawal
of support, Malcolm smiles, reveals his precautionary plan and declares that Macduff indeed
has noble passion and integrity.
Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts
To thy good truth and honor.

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Here, we can see two-fold qualities of leadership in Malcolm: While testing Macduff, we can
glance at his acknowledgement of humans darker aspects and his precautionary approach
towards it. This is a sign of his mental and emotional strength. On the other hand, while he
accuses himself of vices, we can view his knowledge of the virtues a king must possess. Only
one who has such clarity of the vices can take active steps to avoid them. Therefore, in
Malcolm we see the ideal balance between strength and virtue a true leader must possess.

Resistance to Manipulative Persuasion

A leader must be aware of his own weak points and thereby be self-aware of the various ways
in which different stakeholders might manipulative him/her. Macbeth failed miserably in this
regard, on many occasions.

He was a warrior of great repute, who led the army of King Duncan to victory against the
rebellion. But during his indecision before killing Duncan, he succumbs to the taunts of his
wife the moment she questions his manhood. She skilfully pivots the entire argument on his
courage isolating the factors of ethics and fairness.

And live a coward in thine own esteem,

Letting I dare not wait upon I would,

Notice that she uses the words I dare not to signify his current state of thought while his
actual thoughts were more along the lines of Is this ethical?. She falsely represents
Macbeths thought process to himself. Macbeth falls for this bait, because of his inability to
think critically. The reason for this inability, of course, is the prior mentioned thirst for
power.

Much earlier, Macbeth falls for the words of the 3 witches, while Banquo retains his critical
thinking. The witches cleverly start the conversation by praising Macbeth as the Thane of
Cawdor and King of Glamis in addition to this current title. This immediately sounds
favourable to Macbeth and opens him up to further talks with them. Later when their
prediction of Thane of Cawdor immediately comes true, they find credibility in the eyes of
the unsuspecting. They misleadingly give false assurances to Macbeth and take payment for
these predictions. Macbeth, for his part grows blind to these persuasions in his blind thirst for

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power, leaving Banquos warnings to no avail. The 3 witches hit on the weak spots of
Macbeth: near immortality (tress mobilize as an army and killer cannot be any man born of a
womans womb) and illusions of power and grandeur.

A leader must not allow himself/herself to be manipulated into actions that are contrary to
ones true nature. The stakeholders might use various means to manipulate us, most effective
of which being leveraging our mental and personality weaknesses. To circumvent such
problems, a leader must be aware of his weaknesses (i.e. self-aware) and be on guard at all
points of time, so as to spot any attempts to take advantage of these weaknesses.

Appearances and Reality

The most iconic scene of the whole of Macbeth play is, arguably, the imaginary blood-
cleansing from the hands of Lady Macbeth. While the doctors and servants watch on, Lady
Macbeth sleep-walks into a room and starts cleaning her hands and muttering something to
herself. The doctor eventually deduces what we (readers) already know: this weird action of
Lady Macbeth is in-fact a manifestation of guilt from a gruesome incident and not simply a
physical illness with her body.

Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.
Heres the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh,
Oh, Oh!

This is the authors way of conveying that outwardly innocuous symptoms can in-fact be
manifestations of deep tectonic clashes of memories and ethics. Apparently, Lady Macbeths
conscience can still distinguish between right and wrong. But her memory is filled with
bloody murders resulting from decisions with grave loss of judgment. This consolidation
(union) of memories and ethical conscience is bound to happen at some point of a humans
lifetime. Since, Lady Macbeth is unable to admit this union consciously, it gets manifested
unconsciously, which the untrained eye perceives as a fit/anxiety-attack. Only a sharp
observer will distinguish the outward appearance from the reality it represents.

In various other incidents, there are abnormal appearances turning up in inappropriate

circumstances: the bloody dagger hallucination of Macbeth before murdering Duncan and the
incident of dead Banquo appearing in the dinner thrown to Thanes. In the setting of the play,

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these can be attributed to the mischief of the witches. But, as a psycho-analytical explanation,
both these are expressions of guilt: Guilt of Future actions (planned murder of Duncan) and
Past actions (murder of Banquo). This is Shakespeares way of conveying to the reader that
in reality Macbeths conscience is crying out loud against the actions committed/to-be-
committed and the outward hallucinations are just manifestations of this inward battle.

Thus, various instances incidents that outwardly appear to be magical or without explanation
are in-fact the authors way of conveying deeper, hidden conflicts.

Character in Leadership

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him
power.

- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Adversity can be thought of as harsh, difficult, overwhelmingly challenging job at hand. It is
natural to think of adversity as harsh and damaging. Prosperity on the other hand can consist
of power, success, wealth, fame. Prosperity is easy and beneficial.

One may think that a mans true test of character may be adversity, how does he face the
hardships and challenges in life. Does he choose the easier way of crime, deceit, cheating and
fraud or does he fight his way through the right path of legal and ethical means. While it may
be so that a sizeable number of people do fail in this test itself, Macbeth seemed to have come
passed the character test of adversity with flying colors. Macbeth was faced with the allied
forces of Norway and Ireland led by the traitorous Macdonwald, the Thane of Cawdor. He
displayed his loyalty towards his king and displayed great bravery and valor to defeat
Macdonwald.

But more often than not, the true test of a mans character is what he does in prosperity and
not how he handles adversity. Many men when in power become corrupt and show their true
character. This is what Lincoln meant when he said to test a mans character give him power
not adversity. Macbeth certainly could not face the test of power. Once he achieved the fame
and success of defeating Macdonwald, he became greedy and finally murdered the king and

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ascends to power. While in power he hires assassins to kill Banquo and his son. The theme
that is brought out is that men can stand adversity better than prosperity.

Fate and Free Will

Was Macbeths tragedy a result of his own fate or was he completely in control and
responsible for his own tragedy.

"All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!"

This is the first time the three witches give Macbeth the idea of his own fate and set things in
motion. The first thing Macbeth does after this is write a letter to Lady Macbeth.

The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step

On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:

Macbeth learns that Malcom is named Prince of Cumberland, and also the heir to the Scottish
throne. This is the time when Macbeth accepts that fate will not bring him anything but it is
his actions that will overleap the obstruction to his throne. Hence, he realises he cannot leave
fate to chance.

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem

To have thee crown'd withal.

The above words are those of Lady Macbeth where she gets an idea that fate alone will not
make her queen, but actions will. All this shows that actions were necessary for Macbeth to
be king.

Macbeth then seems to challenge fate of Banquos children one day sitting the throne.
Knowing that previous prophecies have come to be true, he goes forward to stop this
prophecy from seeing the light of the day.

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Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;

Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.

Once again Macbeth challenges fate by trying to kill Macduff but ends up killing his entire
family.

While one can say that had not the witches prophesized about Macbeth would have not ended
up in this tragic state of affair. And that fate did play a part in shaping the destiny of
Macbeth. But it is not the fate that actually led Macbeth to his downfall. It is his actions that
led him to kill King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduffs family. Hence, it is was definitely not
fate alone which was responsible for his destiny. There are enough instances as we saw above
where even Macbeth himself believed that fate will not lead him to his desires but his own
actions will. It is clear that Macbeth made the wrong decisions which led to his downfall.

As Aristotle has said, Choice not chance determines your destiny. Which was true even in
this case.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

King Duncan has been seen as a kind and generous ruler. He keeps his subjects happy and
amply rewards them. He honors and rewards Macbeth and also praises him by calling him the
worthiest cousin. He also praises Banquo equally for his bravery in the battlefield. He is
portrayed as a mentoring figure to his followers. King Duncan represents an ideal leader with
a transformational leadership style, who empowers his followers and sets challenging goals
and achieves better results.

Macbeth is portrayed as someone who compromised on his morals for ambition. Not the
ambition of him as a thane or later as a ruler, but his personal ambitions. This situation has a
lot of relevance in todays corporate scenario where there is the dilemma between morals and
targets. Leaders need to be ambitious in setting and achieving goals, but does compromising
on morals and laws be seen as an option and pursued. Limits of ambition have to be realized.
We have seen numerous such cases where management has decided to go ahead with the
ethically and sometimes even legally wrong decisions just to achieve the firms ambition of

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growing shareholder value. For example, the unethical leading of Satyam Computers by
Ramalinga Raju to the unethical and illegal Volkswagen emission scandal all reflect the
choice of ambition over morals. In both these cases, the ambition of driving more profits
crossed thresholds of moral and societal acceptance leading to their eventual downfall.

Malcom acts intelligently and leaves Macbeths shelter for his own safety instead of grieving
for his father. He takes the right decision to take refuge in England where he is treated with
respect. He also wisely tests the loyalty of Macduff by pretending to be devoid of virtues.
When Macduff expresses his concern for Scotlands future, Malcom is convinced that
Macduff can be trusted. Malcom turns out to be a good strategist leading the soldiers to a
disguised attack. He took his decisions without haste as opposed to Macbeth. Malcom comes
across as a calm and calculative manager who understands the situation and task and hand
and uses the resources effectively to achieve the objective. He is both strong and emotionally
mature like Macbeth while at the same time kind and virtuous like Duncan. The character of
Malcolm therefore signifies the ideal mind-set to be shown by an effective leader in todays
business, political or social setting.

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Reference:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth
3. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/macbeth/about-macbeth
4. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/facts.html

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