Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutly Essay - 1130 Words

Faith Long Mr. Bradley English 10 8 December 2010 Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely? Lord Acton believes in the quote â€Å"Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.† What Lord Acton meant when he wrote this quote is when a leader is given full control over a group, whether it’s a small town or a whole country, the leader will almost always abuse his or her power in one way or another. Usually these ways consist of threatening their people, even if they’re passive threats, such as when the leader gives the people an option, but uses something they need to contradict it. There are three examples the provide evidence that Acton’s quote is true. Napoleon, for example, used the animal’s rations against them. He tells them they don’t have to†¦show more content†¦Those confessions brought the accused animals to their death. A quote that describes this is: â€Å"When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly ripped their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything else to confess. The three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion over the eggs now came forward and stated that snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon’s orders† (Orwell 75). This quote agrees with Acton’s quote because after Napoleon had taken over the farm, there were animals being killed and all of the citizens were being misled by their government. Another Example is Jack Merridew from the book Lord of the Flies. At first Jack was only in charge of choir. But toward the end of the book he separates from the group to form his own tribe, which he makes seem a lot more fun so quite a few of the boys abandoned Ralph to join Jack. The boys didn’t know what Jack really had in mind. After they had joined they couldn’t get out. The boys had to do everything that Jack told them to do or else they would be punished either by getting beaten or tortured. Jacked forced the boys who joined him to kidnap the others who didn’t, also to steal Piggy’s glasses to make a fire. A quote that proves this example is: â€Å"He’s going to beat Wilfred,† â€Å"What for?† Robert shook his head doubtfully. â€Å"I don’t know he didn’t say. He got angryShow MoreRelatedAbsolute Power Corrupts Absolutly in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay1390 Words   |  6 PagesAbsolute Power Corrupts Absolutly in Shakespeares Macbeth It is common knowledge that it is human nature to crave power. Also, that the more power that is acquired the more power hungry someone would become, and with this power they become more and more corrupt. In Shakespeares Macbeth, Macbeth showed this throughout the entire play. There was strict relationship between the amount of power Macbeth obtained and the corrupt acts he committed. When Macbeth had no