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LADY MACBETH AND TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP 1

Lady Macbeth and Transformational Leadership


Following the American Psychological Associations Guidelines
Clarissa Smith
Bioscience High School

LADY MACBETH AND TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP 2


Lady Macbeth and Transformational Leadership
Fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direlest cruelty! Make thick my blood; stop up
thaccess and passage to remorse (Shakespeare, 1.5.49-51). These words in the mouth of a
leader are a terrifying thought. There are different styles of leadership and Shakespeares play
Macbeth features a character who leads her follower with evil intentions in her soul. Lady
Macbeth is what is called a pseudo transformational leader because she does not meet the
definition of a transactional leader, she embodies the characteristics of a transformational leader,
and because the forces of evil are behind the goals she strives for.
There are two main types of leaders: transactional leasers and transformational leaders.
Transactional leaders are what the connotation of the word leader traditionally refers to. They
complete transactions with their subordinates and give them rewards for following their
authority. The character Duncan from Shakespeares Macbeth is an example of a transactional
leader. He held the official title of King of Scotland in a traditional top-down leadership
structure. As king he rewarded his subordinates for their performance in battle. This type of
leader puts emphasis on meeting specific targets or objectives and rewards followers for
meeting specific performance criteria (Aarons 2006). Ross reports that Duncan hath happily
receivedthe news of thy success after reading of Macbeths ventures in the fight, hearing
many praises of Macbeth, and viewing [Macbeth]in the stout Norweyan ranks (Shakespeare,
1.3.93-99). Macbeth fought valiantly against the Norwegians and in exchange, King Duncan
rewarded him with the new title of Thane of Cawdor. Since transactional leaders monitor their
followers based on predetermined criteria, subordinates of transactional leaders are not
necessarily expected to think innovatively (Aarons 2006). People follow transactional leaders to
gain something specific from the transaction; Lady MacBeth praises King Duncan for those

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honors deep and broad, wherewith [the] majesty loads our house (Shakespeare, 1.6.21-22) and
Macbeth admits that the golden opinions from all sorts of people received as a follower under
King Duncan are a reason to leave him as leader (Shakespeare, 1.7.36). Ultimately, King
Duncans transactional leadership qualities made it so that he did not anticipate his subordinate
Macbeth would plan to murder him. The transactional leader was unable to intervene in a timely
manner because he was not working alongside Macbeth, he was working above him.
In contrast, transformational leaders do not necessarily have official titles such as King. They
work closely alongside their followers to instill intrinsic motivation and success into them. As
stated before, transactional leadership is based on reinforcement and exchanges while
transformational leadership inspires and motivates followers (Aarons 2006). A
transformational leader is unique in that they create other leaders (Bass 1990). This type of
leader mentors their followers as they change and develop into leaders. They do this by
responding to individual followers needs by empowering them and aligning together their
objectives and goals with each other (Bass & Reggio 2006). Lady Macbeth fits this definition of
a transformational leader, meaning Macbeth is her follower. Transformational leadership works
best in close supervisory relationships (Aarons 2006). As his wife, Lady Macbeth has a stong
and close supervisory relationship with her follower. She cultivates him into a leader, and
increases his intrinsic motivation. In Act I, Scene 7 of Shakespeare play, the duo are thinking
about the proposed murder of Duncan. Macbeth is troubled at the prospect of failure and lacking
the motivation within himself to follow through with the plan. Lady Macbeth knocks sense into
him saying, Screw your courage to the sticking place, and well not failWhat cannot you and
I perform upon Thunguarded Duncan? She gives him a pep talk to gather his resolve, making
him realize that there is nothing they could not do since the king is asleep and unguarded. The

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scene ends with Macbeth settling to continue with the plan. He says he shall bend up each
corporal agent to this terrible feat, in other words, he will devote everything he has to their goal
of killing King Duncan and becoming the new leader of Scotland (Shakespeare, 1.7.92-93). Lady
Mcbeth leads without need for a transaction, and motivated her follower, Macbeth, to go beyond
what he originally thought possible.
Even though Lady Macbeth fits the definition of a transformational leader, scholars would
actually consider her what is called a pseudotransformational leader. Transformational leaders
pay attention to their individual needs and personal development, helping followers achieve their
own leadership potential (Bass & Reggio 2006). Lady Macbeth paid attention to her husband
and helped him develop from a crazed, hallucinating and fearful man into a strong king who
murdered anyone that threatened his place on the throne. Despite meeting the definition of a
transformational leader, her actions were evil and her strategy as leader had no ethical
legitimacy. This brings up what scholars refer to as the Hitler problem. Scholars, like Bernard
Bass, initially considered Hitler a transformational leader because the definition initially included
that transformational leaders work to create any fundamental social change without regard to
moral values (Bass & Reggio 2006). According to the initial works of these scholars, leaders
like Lady Macbeth meet the definition of being a transformational leader despite doing
immoral, brutal, costly in life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness to [their] victims
since they made a transforming change regardless of whether they did it for good (Bass &
Reggio 2006). After reading the letter from her husband Lady Macbeth knows he has too good of
a nature. She plans to help him overcome his morals, stating how she will pour my spirits in
thine ear, and chastise with the valor of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round
(Shakespeare 1.5.29-31). Lady Macbeth works to achieve her evil plan and even says that she

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would be ashamed to be as pure as he was. She tells her husband to consider it not so deeply
(Shakespeare, 2.2.41) when Macbeth is feeling troubled about the plans, and after staging the
daggers and smearing the blood at the scene of the murder, she says my hands are of your color;
but I shame to wear a heart so white (Shakespeare, 2.2.82-83). A well respected scholar, James
MacGregor Burns, believed that the term leadership should be reserved for the forces of good
(Bass & Reggio 2006). After discussing the Hitler problem, Bernard Bass, who had researched
leadership for decades, crafted the concept of pseudotransformational leadership (Bass & Reggio
2006). Lady Macbeth falls into the category of pseudotransformational leader. The murder of
King Duncan eats away at [the Macbeths] psychologically (Harvey 2014). First Macbeth, then
later in the play after the deed is done, Lady Macbeth is disturbed from her unethical and
immoral murders she schemed. After witnessing her sleep walking: trying to wash non-existant
blood from her hands with unconscious motions and cries, the Doctor concludes What a sight is
there! The heart is sorely charged (Shakespeare 5.1.56-57). The actions the two did were
ruthless and cruel from the start when Macbeth met the witches, to the end when Macbeth
disregards his wifes death and dies in battle (Harvey 2014). Because her actions were to achieve
an evil, murderous goal, Lady Macbeths leadership style is pseudo transformational.
In conclusion, Shakespeare play Macbeth, features a character that shows a leadership style
scholars call pseudotransformational. There are two types of leaders; Shakespeare incorporated
the more common transactional leaders, but crafted Lady Macbeth into a character whose actions
are those of a transformational leader. Despite meeting the criteria of a transformational leader,
scholars would actually consider her what is called a pseudotransformational leader due to her
being driven by evil powers.

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References
Aarons, G. A. (2006). Transformational and Transactional Leadership: Association With
Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice. Psychiatric Services (Washington,
D.C.). Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876730/

Bass, B. (January 1990). From Transactional to Transformational Leadership: Learning


to Share the Vision. Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 18 (3), pp. 19-31. Retrieved
from: http://strandtheory.org/images/From_transactional_to_transformational__Bass.pdf

Bass, B., & Riggio, R. (2006). Transformational leadership (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: L.
Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved from:
https://books.google.com/books?id=2WsJSw6wa6cC&printsec=frontcover#v=on
epage&q&f=false

Harvey, M. (2014). Macbeth: Delivery without vision. In Interactional leadership and


how to coach it: The art of the choice-focused leader. London: Taylor & Francis.
Retrieved from: http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/790518643.pdf

Shakespeare, W. (2014). The Tragedy of Macbeth. (Mowat B. & Werstine P. Trans.)


Folger Shakespeare Library. (Original work published 1623). Retrieved from:
http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/PDF/Mac.pdf

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