Agapay, Erwin B.

Prof. Kristine Marie T. Reynaldo

Eng 11 THZ
May 28, 2016
How to Make a Dictator: Comparing Shakespeares Macbeths with the Philippines Marcoses
William Shakespeares Macbeth is a tragedy which chronicles the journey of its eponymous
tragic hero, Macbeth, and his psychological and moral decline as he becomes corrupted by sheer
ambition and lust for power. Primarily set in Scotland, it is believed to have been written by
Shakespeare between 1599 and 1606. Rife with timeless themes concerning good and evil, fate and
free will, and the corrupting power of unbridled ambition to name a few, Macbeth has spawned
countless adaptations in television, film, and other media, remaining as one of Shakespeares more
popular works.
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos is the 10th President of the Republic of the
Philippines. Ruling from 1965 to 1986, he is best known for establishing an authoritarian regime
that resulted to thousands of human rights abuses, suppression of democratic processes, and
widespread corruption and embezzlement of government funds which have never been fully
returned up to this day. The elaborate cult of personality that he painstakingly built to remain in
power still remains intact even almost three decades after his death; a successful comeback to the
local political scene has since been made by his family membersnone of which has seen a single
day in prison.
Using The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos I by Primitivo Mijares published
in 1976 as its main source, this paper answers the question, What are the similarities and
differences between the Macbeths and the Marcoses in terms of their ascent to power, transition to
dictatorship, and subsequent downfall? The paper explores how the relationship between the
Macbeths compares to that of the Marcos couple considering the cultural milieus in which they
lived and ruled. The paper explores the conjugal dictatorship that the Marcoses are infamous for
and how both the Macbeths and the Marcoses managed to entrench their power in their respective
countries.

I. The Birth of a Dictator

In Act 1, Scene 2 Macbeth is first spoken highly of for his heroic efforts during the war of
Scotland and Norway. For killing Macdonwald, a traitor, by unseaming him from the nave to the
chops, he gained the confidence and trust of King Duncan who quickly orders the execution of
another traitor, the Thane of Cawdor, and for Macbeth to be given Cawdors title. This scene is
significant in establishing Macbeths positive traits such as bravery, loyalty to his country, and ability
to morbidly kill in the name of service as evidenced by the gory details of his killing of
Macdonwald.
In his effort to establish an image as a strong and heroic savior even when he was just
running for reelection as a senator, Ferdinand Marcos concocted stories of him being the most
decorated Filipino soldier of World War II who single-handedly delayed the surrender of Bataan by
three months and saved Australia and New Zealand from Japanese conquest. This is invalidated
by Mijares in The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos I:
Unfortunately for Marcos, it is not his critics who have supplied the proof that he is
a fake war hero. Probably from over-confidence or plain stupidity, Marcos' own
Department of Public Information in September 1972 published and distributed to
libraries all over the world the official pictorial biography of Marcos showing that
the dictator, in fact, received his medals "for wartime exploits" in 1962, fully 21
years after the war. In other words, Marcos received his awards (which made him
the so-called most decorated Filipino soldier in WorldWar II) when he was already a
member of the Philippine Congress. The late Macario Peralta, an authentic war hero
who was then serving as Secretary of National Defense, told newsmen that Marcos
had asked President Macapagal for the decorations because, according to Peralta,
Marcos needed the awards as props for his reelection campaign to the Senate (203).
Mijares also wrote another incident of Marcos aggrandizing himself through another lie, this
time in front of international journalists covering the Philippine visit of Pope Paul VI in 1970. Five

years into the presidency, Ferdinand together with his wife Imelda concocted another story of him
using a karate chop to save the Pontiffs life from the knife of a Bolivian would-be assassin.
According to Mijares, not only did the Pope fail to acknowledge Marcos' supposed role in saving
the Papal life but pictures of the incident showed that Marcos was hundreds of feet from the
Bolivian knife wielder and it was, in fact, a Korean bishop who stopped the would-be killer (23).
Through these accounts, it is clear that Marcos himself believed that physical prowess is an integral
part of establishing the idealized image of a dictator that he wanted for himself, and he continually
tried to fulfill this through lies.
II: The Rise of a Dictator
Act 1, Scene 7 is one of the most crucial and important scenes in the entire play. After
Macbeth became too engrossed in the witches prophecy of him becoming a king and the
probability of it coming true considering that the witches have just correctly predicted his becoming
the Thane of Cawdor, he writes his wife Lady Macbeth about it. Now that Duncan is spending the
night in their fortress, Lady Macbeth fiercely prods and convinces her husband to fulfill the
prophecy by killing the king himself. This part of the play is instrumental in establishing Lady
Macbeths character and morality. Lady Macbeth consistently subverts gender roles by assuming a
more masculine and dominating role in her marriage. Written at a time when a woman is regarded
by society as a second-class citizen and nothing more than an appendage of the men around her,
Lady Macbeth's character goes against a multitude of norms. Furthermore her actions also spur
questions regarding her life as a young woman and the experiences she had that drove her to
become the heartless and hardened person she is today.
Imelda Marcos, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, was so infamous for her ostentatious
extravagance which includes million-dollar shopping sprees and a legendary collection of priceless
jewelry to name a few that the word Imeldific was coined after her. But behind this extreme love
for wealth is a not so comfortable past that she has avoided to talk about. Mijares expounds on this
by writing about Imeldas first return to Tacloban as the First Lady.
Imelda returned to Tacloban, Leyte, where she grew up to be a young woman
before she finally found her place in Manila. It was like a triumphal return. Now

surrounded by her Blue Ladies and many other girl Fridays, of which once upon a
time she was herself one, she failed or refused to recognize a now old woman
named Estrella. The stranger approached her, wanted to greet her, if only for old
time's sake. After all, she was the maid who used to take care of her when she was a
child. But Imelda did not recognize her, or refused to recognize her. She went about
her way as if she had never seen Estrella, as if the very woman who took care of her
never existed at all. Perhaps the case of her own mother can provide a more
convincing answer. Her grave at North Cemetery in Manila up to now reportedly
remains unmarked and unmourned. Did Imelda Marcos, who now lives in her own
Cinderella fairy tale, shut off her dark past? Have the tears long dried that now she
has a heart like stone, perhaps even mad that she cannot be proud of her own dark
past, that such a past is really embarrassing now that she is rich and famous? (190)
In many instances in the play, Lady Macbeths ability to project an image and to consciously
perform the effort to hide her real motives from other people in order to achieve her goals is
highlighted. Similarly during the many events and functions of her husbands 21-year rule, Mijares
writes that all activities of Mrs. Marcos are pre-programmed as image-building moves; even the
way she should dress up or move her hands and wave on given occasions are well-rehearsed.
(191).
Lady Macbeths incessant prodding which heavily targeted his husbands masculinity
inevitably resulted to Macbeth doing the act. His killing of Duncan is what finally fulfilled the
prophecy of him becoming the king. Quite interestingly, Mijares writes that Marcos' path in life
seems to have been smiled upon by death. The death, or killing, of certain persons provided the
solutions to most of Marcos' problems. This is not to say that Marcos himself caused their deaths
(199).
The first case of a death favoring Marcos was the death of Julio Nalundasan Jr., a perennial
political rival of his father. Two days after his triumph over Mariano Marcos, Nalundasan was killed
by a single rifle shot in his house in Batac on the night of September 21, 1935. Ferdinand Marcos,
then a dashing UP Law student, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. When
Marcos signified his intention to appeal, then President Manuel L. Quezon assigned another young

lawyer, Leon Ma. Guerrero to handle the government side. Despite being in jail, Marcos took and
topped the bar exams. What worked for Marcos favor was the unusual interest that Jose P. Laurel,
then an up and coming jurist and a member of the Supreme Court when the high tribunal
calendared the Marcos case, had on him. Perceived to have been biased in favor of Marcos for a
number of reasons, Marcos was then acquitted by the benevolent Supreme Court. Mijares writes
that if Nalundasan had lived, Marcos would never had the chance to rise in Ilocos Norte politics, let
alone in national politics.
Similar to Macbeths seemingly favorable fate, Mijares writes another two incidents of death
that Marcos didnt have a hand on, but nevertheless worked on his favor:
Even after Marcos had won the Nacionalista presidential nomination in November,
1964, he was still in a very precarious position within the NP itself. He was just a
newcomer, having been a dyed-in-the-wool Liberal until his defection to the NP in
April. 1964. However, the death of the venerable Don Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez,
Sr. favored Marcos anew. Some say the "Amang" who was the NP president, died
of pain and sorrow because "interloper Marcos" had won his party's presidential
nomination. As the party's presidential nominee, Marcos instantly became the NP
titular head with the Amang dead. Then, in 1969, when rival presidential candidate
Sergio Osmena, Jr. had succeeded in creating for himself the image of "The
American boy," former President Dwight D, Eisenhower died. This gave Marcos
the opportunity to attend Eisenhower's funeral and to visit then President Nixon at
the White House. When he returned to the Philippines, Marcos said, he was
"Nixon's boy. (199)"
When Macbeth finally seized the Duncans throne, there was an explicit motive to have the
title to himself for the rest of his life. Similarly, Mijares writes that upon Marcos assumption to the
presidency on his first term in December 30, 1965, he already positioned himself for a long rule
beyond the constitutionally allowable two-term tenure which should have ended on December 30,
1973. His elaborate plan included winning the 1969 reelection at all cost and the declaration of
Martial Law at least one year before the expiration of his second and last term on December 30,
1973. (40)

While I went along with a martial regime, I never shook off my training of 22 years
as a cynical newspaperman. As I walked the corridors of the constricted center of
power in Malacanang, I utilized my cynically observant qualities. I began to discover
after the first year of martial rule that the so called program of building a New
Society was nothing but an ill-disguised plan of Mr. Marcos to perpetuate himself, his
wife and/or son, Ferdinand Jr., in power, by consolidating the political, military and
economic resources of the country under his firm control. What is now being forced
down the throats of Filipinos by the guns of martial law is a long-studied,
methodically prepared Oriental Design to take over an entire country politically,
militarily and economically for Mr. Marcos, his family and cronies, preparatory to
setting up an empire in Southeast Asia (39).
III: The Descent of a Dictator
Not long after Macbeths ascent to power, he quickly launched into a psychological and
moral decline. Not only did he suspect everyone as being a threat to his power, but he recklessly
ordered the killings of many a people around him, most notably the wife and children of Macduff,
and Banquo whose son, Fleance, was prophesied to rule Scotland. Macbeths increasingly erratic
behavior instigated terror and unrest among the people of Scotland.
Similarly, Marcos Martial Law is notorious for the suppression of democratic processes,
including the writ of habeas corpus, and the torture and deaths of thousands of students and
activists who went against the government.
Having imposed martial law, Mr. Marcos ordered the arrest and detention without
charges of his political opponents, business rivals, militant student and labor leaders,
and media men; closed down the newspapers, radio and television stations;
confiscated properties of political opponents and business rivals, proceeded to
reallocate the entire resources of the country to just a few favored families, and
sought to clothe his regime with a semblance of legality by extorting a new
Constitution from a Convention then in session (40).

In 1973, Eight months after writing The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos,
Primitivo Mijares, former chief propagandist of the Marcoses who later turned against them,
disappeared and has never been found. His son Boyet, who was 16 years old in 1977, was found
dumped outside Manila, his eyes protruding and body showing signs of torture, after receiving a
phone call from the military that his father was still alive. (#NeverAgain: Martial Law Stories
Young People Need to Hear.)
In Macbeth, the witches prophecy was that only a man who is not born of a woman will be
able to kill Macbeth and end his tyrannical rule. This man would later reveal himself to be Macduff.
In the case of Marcos, it was not a man, but a widow named Corazon Aquino who would lead a
revolution that would put an end to his 26 years of dictatorship.

Works Cited
Mijares, Primitivo. The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos I. San Francisco: Union
Square Publications, 1976. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Sison, Shakira. "#NeverAgain: Martial Law Stories Young People Need to Hear." Rappler. N.p., 23
Sept. 2015. Web. 25 May 2016.