An Evaluation of the Evil Characters in Shakespeare’s Four Principle Tragedies in terms of Machiavellian Principles

Deriving from Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, the term ‘Machiavellian’ refers to a ruler type, whose features are described in Machiavelli’s work The Prince (1513). The character type is constructed in the Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge tragedy for evil characters. The study asserts that some Shakespearean tragedies also includes Machiavellian characters. William Shakespeare’s Othello, King Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth are regarded as his “four principle tragedies” (Hazlitt, 2009, p. 21) The study aims at examining Iago in Othello, Edmund, Regan, and Goneril in King Lear, King Claudius in Hamlet, the Macbeth couple in Macbeth in terms of Machiavellian principles and discuss to what extent they are Machiavellian within the context of the plays. The study takes Machiavelli’s The Prince as a guide to seeking the Machiavellian features in the characters in question. It reveals that some characters such as Iago and Edmund embrace the Machiavellian principles due to their high intelligence by combining them with the capability of responding to unexpected developments and manipulating truths for their own benefits. On the other hand, the other examined characters, such as Regan, Goneril, Claudius, and the Macbeth couple fail in the way of Machiavellianism even though they are also evil in nature. The study asserts that Shakespeare dissents from Machiavelli by showing that an evil ruler, who is a successful Machiavellian or not, fails sooner or later by leading to a social chaos in monarchy