Tragedy and The Human Conditions Essay:
Abusive Power

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ” In a statement by Abraham Lincoln it is identified that the greatness of man is tested by how he utilizes his power. As demonstrated in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and The Time Magazine article Adolf Hitler, one can see how the abuse of power creates chaos in society. By analyzing the actions of the characters Macbeth, Abigail Williams, and the character Adolf Hitler, it is evident how the misuse of power will lead to the loss of structure in society.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” A statement by Lord Acton which illustrates that those who gain power ultimately become corrupted by it - thus leading one to abuse their power. This statement is well demonstrated in the actions of the character Macbeth, from William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, in his rise to power from Thane of Glamis to the King of Scotland. Within the first scene of the play, Macbeth is given the gift of knowledge of the future, by the three witches, which he ultimately uses to gain more power. “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis ... All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (I.iii. 48-50). When given this prophecy from the three witches, Macbeth utilizes this information, once he becomes Thane of Cawdor, to plan the death of King Duncan. The power of knowledge is not the only power that he possesses, “ He’s here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman....against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself”. In this quote Macbeth demonstrates that he is trusted by Duncan for two reasons. Firstly because he is "his kinsman and his subject," so he would naturally be repulsed by the idea of killing Duncan. Secondly, Macbeth is hosting the king in his home; Duncan would assume that Macbeth would be sheltering him because of this, so he would not suspect his host to be the murderer. Macbeth is a beloved cousin and trusted friend and King Duncan provides him with the power of trust; he uses this to an advantage to gain the perfect opportunity to kill Duncan at his manor. When Macbeth murders Duncan, the natural order is disrupted in the kingdom as demonstrated by the quote by Macduff “Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thence the life of the building…Murder and treason!” (II.iii. 70-74). Macbeth has committed an immoral and unjust act which marks the beginning of disorder as the great chain of being is seen to be corrupt causing the natural world to be chaotic. This treacherous act initiates the breakdown of law and order in the kingdom since the King is slain and the rightful heirs do not ascend the throne. The initial murder of Duncan leds to other murders, so Macbeth can maintain its power. As shown by the following quote “I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash is added to her wounds. I think withal there would be hands uplifted in my right; and here from gracious England have I offer of goodly thousands.” (IV.iii. 40-45), it is evident that the society has lost its structure and the subjects are also suffering. Overall, the actions of Macbeth unleash a chaotic kingdom and society, and ravish its populations, all due to his abuse of power. Unfortunately this would not be the last time in history that the abuse of power by one individuals disrupts the structure a society; Abigail Williams is another character that possesses this damaging trait.

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” Edmund Burke stated that the more power you have, the more capable you are of using it for your own benefit, or worse, for the non-benefit of others. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the character Abigail Williams demonstrates how her actions and abuse of power created absolute chaos within her community. Abigail Williams is a character in the play who commits adultery with John Proctor, a married man. Once the court questions her about witchcraft and possible witches, she is given an opportunity to get rid of her enemies since she has the power over the court. Within the first act of The Crucible, Abigail Williams is given the opportunity and the power to blame others in order to redeem herself, when her uncle Parris, interrogates her about the rumors which blacken her name and reputation. He also tells her about the condition of his comatose daughter she says“… I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget with the Devil!…” (Miller 48). Abigail is later given the power by the society, who has become obsessed with the fear of witches, and misuses it to fulfil her ambition of becoming John Proctor’s lover once again. This is identified in a discussion between John Proctor and Reverend Hale. “I never knew until tonight that the world is gone daft with this nonsense.”“Nonsense! Mister, I have myself examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and numerous others, that have confessed to dealing with the Devil. They have confessed it.”“And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you ever thought of that?”(page.68-69). Using the power given to her by the church and the courts, Abigail abuses her power once again to have Elizabeth Proctor thrown in jail with charges of being involved in witchcraft. “What say you? A warrant for my wife? Who charged her?...Abigail Williams? On what proof, what proof!”(The Crucible. Act II). The above mentioned conversation reveals that even the characters most active in the witch trials have noticed that Abigail has been given too much power and that her actions have greatly and negatively impacted the community. Her devious actions have secretly influenced the community to the point where she abuses her power. Other members of the community also realize that by accusing innocent people of witchcraft they can gain from the accused losses. This eventually leads to total chaos in Salem. As judge Danforth explains “Them that will not confess will hang. Twelve are already executed; the names of these seven are given out and, and the village expects to see them die this morning” (pg 129). The community is in state of panic as Abigail’s actions have lead in widespread panic and animosity within the people. Arthur Miller’s play demonstrates that abuse of power by one person can break down the law and order of the community resulting in panic and magnification of the situation. After thoroughly analyzing the play The Crucible, it is apparent that Abigail Williams fully abuses her power within the community in an attempt to, firstly clear her name, but more importantly to become the desire of John Proctor’s affections once again.

“The challenge of power is how to use it and not abuse it. When you abuse it, it reverses on you and it hurts you” When you gain power, you are responsible to use it properly for the betterment of your community and not abuse it for your personal gains. Abusing power not only hurts the society, but in the end it will also hurt the individual abusing it. All these hold true in the case of Adolf Hitler, “he came to power in January 1933 by the most legitimate means. His Nationalist Socialist Party won a majority in the parliamentary elections. The aging Field Marshal Paul ...the beginning of the Third Reich, which, according to Hitler, would last 1,000 years” (time magazine 2). Once in power, Hitler swiftly removed members of other opposing political parties such as communists by imprisoning and executing their leaders. Hitler later blames the Jews for Germany’s defeat in WWI and Germany’s constant economic problems after the war. “And finally, why did he invest so much energy in his hatred of Jews? Why did the night trains that took them to their death...will be long remembered, for it has evocative names that paralyze men's hearts with terror: Auschwitz, Treblinka and Belzec.”(time magazine 3) As demonstrated in this quote, by accusing the Jews for Germany’s problems and removing the political opposition, Hitler managed to gain absolute power for himself. He used his power in an unreasonable and unintelligent manner; he abused it by making irrational and inessential decisions. Hitler’s power was further expanded by the policy of appeasement pursued by the foreign nations in order to keep Germany happy . This led to build up of Hitler’s power and Germany’s military power and the result of this is the invasion of Poland and start of WWII. The people of Germany did not oppose to Hitler’s reckless decisions which gave him the confidence and motivation to continue with his rulings; he abuses his power and the world suffers for it. Hitler’s ambitions and unchecked abuse of power lead to deaths of millions of people, near complete destruction of Germany, genocide against the Jews and other minorities and many other horrific crimes. Hitler’s abuse of power broke the political, ethnic, and financial structure of the entire world.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ” As Abraham Lincoln once identified, one’s inner intentions do not emerge until they gain power. A man’s personality is expressed by how he uses his power for either the betterment or deterioration of his society. When one is examining the characters Macbeth, Abigail Williams and Adolf Hitler, one can see that their abuse of power ultimately causes chaos to society. Their irrational and destructive decisions completely and utterly corrupts the structure and sanity of their surroundings; their need for power causes them to misuse it in order for them to attain what they desire most while neglecting the thoughts of the people in society.

Works Cited

"William ShakespeareQuotesMacbeth." Famous Quotes by William Shakespeare from the Play Macbeth. Amazon.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012.
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"The Crucible." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 10 June 2012. .

Wiesel, Elie. "Adolf Hitler." Time. Time, 13 Apr. 1998. Web. 10 June 2012. .