...How Are Power and Corruption Related? by Sebastian Sandoval "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." – Lord John Dalberg-Acton Macbeth and Lord of the Flies depict power and corruption. However in Macbeth's case it is his fear of being forgotten that leads to his ambitions for power and in turn corrupts him. In Lord of the Flies we see Jack's ambition to become chief corrupt him into doing whatever it takes to achieve that position. Both works seem to coincide with Hobbes theory that "man is naturally savage" and that savagery combined with the notion of power can only lead to one thing, corruption. In this essay the relationship between power and corruption will be explored through the lens of three texts: Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1623), Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954), and Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651). Let us begin with The Tragedy of Macbeth. Throughout the play, we see Macbeth change from a noble and brave soldier into a shadow of his former self. In the beginning we see an internal struggle with the decision to kill King Duncan. This is most clearly depicted in act I when Macbeth says, "We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late,"(1.7. 28-30 ). It is after the murder of Duncan that we begin to notice a sinister change. Macbeth begins to murder anyone who has or could get in his way even his friend Banquo. In act 3 Macbeth's plan is first revealed in his conversation...
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...Destruction of Mankind The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding uses the destruction of Human nature shown through the boys stranded on the island. Golding adds into the theme on how easily a society can collapse, how twisted it can be , and self-destruction of society. Emotions have a part in destruction of mankind and Golding incorporated this into the novel; it is panic, fits of madness, and demoralization. Golding uses conflict, symbolism and characters to paint a picture on how men are corrupt. Golding uses conflict to help portray his theme. The conflict Golding uses, is Jack wanting to gain power and control. Ever since Ralph called all the survivors on the island, Jack wanted to be the leader.But he had lost the vote of being leader. He has always demanded power over...
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...Macbeth by Shakespeare and Lord of the Flies by William Golding have much to say about man's sinful nature. Both of these works contain scenes in which main characters die; their deaths come about because of their sinful nature or the sinful nature of others around them. Man's sinful nature is revealed through the thoughts and actions of the characters of these works. The authors show through their works their belief that if everybody revealed their true natures, the world would tear itself apart. In both works, evil is revealed by the telling actions of the characters. In Lord of the Flies, the boys' society starts to fall apart as Jack becomes less and less civilized and the other boys gradually follow his example. Only Simon is the truly innocent one; even Ralph and Piggy expose their evil nature when they help the other boys kill Simon. Besides the murders of Simon and Piggy, evil is also demonstrated through the scenes when the pig is killed, Piggy's glasses are stolen, and the conch shell is smashed. In Macbeth, man's sinful nature is seen quite early in the story when Lady Macbeth urges her husband to kill the king after he is told a prophecy that he will become king. Though Macbeth is reluctant at first, then horrified at the murder he has committed, his pride and greed get the better of him. He starts killing more people, including women and children, and even attempts to kill his good friend Banquo. Though Macbeth started out good, his evil nature conquered in the...
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...“Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Essay “Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Over time this statement has been changed and interpreted into its own meaning. Some say power does not corrupt it only attracts the corruptible, however, past events have given proof to dispute that theory. Power corrupts absolutely. This can be seen as we look back at previous leaders, for example: Louis XIV of France, Henry the Second of the Roman Empire, Katherine the Great, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler. These names all have something in common, they were leaders, but unfortunately, power got to their heads and they were corrupted by their lifestyles and position of power. Some of the most brutal and powerful acts have happened when these names have been reigning over us. Given this, the point I am addressing in my essay is ‘how leaders corrupt absolutely and why’. Leadership is at its core, all about power and influence; however, there is a distinction between two types of power, socialized and personalized power. Socialized power is used to benefit others, and personalized power is used for personal gain. Most power that evolves starts out as wanting to help others but once the realization sets in that they can help themselves more, power starts to be used for personal gain. Examples of this have happened in history as dictators started out with good intentions but got corrupted absolutely because they became consumed...
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...evil ways.” In essence, this quotation denotes that because every human being has a brain, they also possess the ability to think and act in a malicious and inhumane manner. Considering this, William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, illustrates that uncivil behaviour will prevail on the adult-free island. In a like manner, Macbeth by Shakespeare gives insight to the lengths people will go to so that one can achieve personal profits at a rapid pace. Through similar fashions, both novels depict the true nature of human beings. Similarities between the characters of Jack from the Lord of the Flies and Macbeth from Macbeth reveal that power and greed is the root of all evil. In addition, the use of knives and representation of blood in both novels plays large roles in the quests for power. Also, similarities in plot structure help to further establish the sinful nature of humans. One can conclude that both Macbeth and Lord of the Flies give insight to the fact that human nature is predominantly evil through the characterization of Jack and Macbeth, symbolism of knives and blood and similarities within plot structure. Initially, the predominantly evil aspects of human nature show through the characterization of Jack and Macbeth. In the Lord of the Flies, the society the boys live in begins to crumble as Jack becomes less and less civil while the others follow. Jack quickly turns from an innocent young boy to an uncivil animal, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself...
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...Every now and then, one finds themselves taking a deeper look inside of their soul, often times resulting in the discovery of an inner being. This inner being is perfectly depicted through the lord of the flies. Contrary to the boys’ beliefs, the lord of the flies, or in the novel the symbol of the "beast", is not "something you could hunt and kill" (164), but rather a spirit that dwells inside of a soul, and slowly seduces one into complete and utter savagery. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives the reader a glimpse into a society composed of a group of young British boys, all raised in a civilized and orderly manner, that find themselves stranded on a deserted island. Fighting for survival, many of the boys surrender to the Beast that engulfs them. Others, like Ralph, find themselves in a much more complex and compromising battle- one that takes place inside the mind. In his novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the motifs of the pig dance, the conch, and the masks to convey the theme that man becomes a corrupt and savage being without a strict system of order and civilization. By dancing and singing to celebrate the brutal murdering of a pig, the boys enter into a society, or even a cult, surrounded by sadistic and brutal thoughts. The first time the boys perform this ritual, Golding describes their actions as “relieved and excited…making pig-dying noises and shouting” (81). Clearly, the boys feel a rush of exhilaration and excitement when they...
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...The Lord of the Flies and “Milgram Experiment” The lost boys in The Lord of the Flies have many similarities with the test subjects of the “Milgram Experiment”. The boys will listen to whoever the strongest leader is and obey them no matter what, and the subjects in the “Milgram Experiment” do the same. Obedience is focused on power and respect and many people, fictional or real, will listen to the strongest ruler due to their influence over them.The Lord of the Flies and the Obedience to Authority Experiments have many similarities, especially the idea of obedience to leaders and why some people follow orders without thinking. The boys in the Lord of the Flies were only influenced by the power of their leader. Whether they thought Ralph...
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...to literature, like The Lord of The Flies by William Golding. In the novel, a group of English schoolboys are stranded on an island, and after attempting to set up a government and fail, they revert to their base instincts, to savagery. When civilization is stripped off from us, our true inner self is revealed, the savagery, and socially constructed ‘evil’ we decided to label. We as a society are ruled by our base instincts, and are only wearing a coat of civilization that keeps us sane. In the documentary 13th, educated people all come together to call out the flaws in the United States government; pointing out its corruption, especially within the presidency. Presidents have been known to force mass incarceration (Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and even Bill Clinton), and there are bystanders there who allow such laws to pass. This Bystander Effect is the root of this evil. It is as natural as it can become, simply no action done to change an otherwise imperfect world. We look up to the government and always expect that it is doing the...
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...clearly demonstrated in stories such as The Stanford Prison Experiment and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The Stanford Prison Experiment is a film about a group of scientists and psychologists who gather up young college boys and place them in a simulated prison, several boys acting as the guards and the rest acting as prisoners. Almost immediately after the experiment began, the guards turned extremely manipulative and violent because they think they can abuse their power and get away with it. It is not just the...
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...William Golding, in 1954, wrote the Lord of the Flies. Written after WWII portrays the inherent evil of mankind. Being evil is just easier than being good because there are no rules to follow and people get to do whatever one chooses to do, and a side effect of evil is power. Power then corrupts the brain into thinking people need it, then people just want more and more. All because of evil, respect then comes from fear, power comes from respect. Golding shows how evil and power is what corrupts the brains of the children on the island which makes them do horrible things that cause fear in the children. Evil is easy and because people get to do whatever they want, rules are the only things that contain evil within us and keep us human, Evil...
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...10 February 2015 Lord of the Flies Essay "Humanity has evil tendenc[ies] within its nature" (David Wilson). Jack, a choir boy from England, represents the evil incarnate and explains that within human nature, evil lies in oneself even when it is not projected. In Golding's Lord of the Flies, Jack, the Devil Figure, expresses the ideas about one's inner evil as he evolves from a choir leader to a ruthless varmint while spending time on a deserted island. In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Jack, who emerges from the jungle dressed in black, possesses a dominant trait of a controlling personality. When Ralph first blows the sound of the conch, Jack and his choir come from the jungle, and as they approach Ralph, Jack tells them to "stand still" (Golding 20). The reader can identify his authoritative nature as he demands these words, which establishes his significance and rule in the choir, and the other boys can sense this superiority as well. Moreover, the audience can analyze that Jack has a manipulative influence in the novel due to the fact that he claims he "ought to be chief because [he is]...head boy"; therefore, he is making himself out to be the most qualified for the position as he points out his role of control in the choir (Golding 22). Likewise, the other boys on the island describe Jack to be "the most obvious leader," which in return proves to the reader that Jack's commanding attitude is not the only reason that defines him as a leader; the other boys' perspective...
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...Synthesis Essay: Archetypes As a person progresses in age, or experiences traumatic situations, it is common that the innocence once possessed as a child can dissipate. Innocence can be easily viewed as temporal due to its tendency to falter in a myriad amount of people. Loss of innocence is a prevalent archetypal theme in Star Wars, Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace, and Swing Kids. Although all novels display this archetypal theme well, the character Tom in Grapes of Wrath suffers the greatest loss of innocence due to the tragic effects of the Great Depression and the crime he participates in. In Star Wars, a young man, Luke Skywalker, who has lost his parents, lives with his aunt and uncle and is brought into a world of violence on his mission to become a Jedi. He encounters the ultimate archetypal devil figure, Darth Vader. Darth represents the darkness humanity possesses. Although Luke’s encounters with supernatural beings and death are frequent in the film Star Wars, this sharply contrasts with the isolation Tom Joad faces in Grapes of Wrath. While Luke’s loss of innocence is accepted as a way of life in Star Wars, including killing clones and destroying an entire planet, Tom’s inability to tolerate injustice, resulting in violence, is a crime in the world of his character. Essentially, Luke’s loss of innocence brings him closer to the people in the world he is surrounded by; his destroying of the Death Star is an act of bravery. Tom kills men who...
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...The novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, is about a group of boys who are stranded on a desolate island. They begin their struggle for survival by organizing and cooperating with each other. They elect a chief, a boy named Ralph, and a leader of the hunters, a boy named Jack. These two boys are the dominant figures of their newly formed society; however, two dominant males are by nature, unable to coexist and share power, therefore a struggle between them arises. Each of the boys wants to lead the society in the direction of their choosing. Ralph believes it is important to maintain a fire in the hope of rescue, while Jack emphasizes hunting for game and gratifying his killer instinct. Through the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding...
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...“Trust in the Lord with All Thine Heart” Proverb 3:5 : “Easter Wings” Easter is arguably the most inspirational holiday celebrated by Christians for it embraces the concept of a new beginning, a tabula rasa, a blank slate. This marks the day that Jesus Crist was resurrected from the dead, washing man of his sin and granting him eternal life. Hope was lost with no other fathomable solutions in sight, yet on the third day the righteous God returned life to his son, a victorious day for man. With temptation constantly trying at one’s will and sin seeming so easy to virtue, one can venture off the path to redemption and lose faith. One must seek the Lord’s assistance for a new beginning is often in need. In George Herbert’s poem “Easter Wings” he outlined his recovery from a corrupt life of sin to a now strong and virtuous life of faith through the use of metaphors and contrasting diction. The poem opens by listing the fortunes that God has credited man. He granted man with a surplus of “wealth and store,” supplying him with all that he should need to sustain life and more. But man “foolishly” wasted this and allowed it to “[decay] more and more.” He did not appreciate what God had given, but instead depleted the resources frivolously. He continued to abuse until he could abuse no more for he was “poor.” As Herbert uses this negative diction to describe man’s flaws and sins the lines are retracting inward, getting shorter and shorter until the line can only include a few words...
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...Caleb Alexander Mrs. Walls AP Literature May 8, 2015 Lord of the Flies Boys Fighting Man’s War I. Introduction Greed, jealousy, and murder three of man’s original sins. Since the time of Cain and Able, humans have had an inner hunger for power and savagery. Over time this nature has been hidden, but not totally erased from Man’s nature. In today’s world politics are filled with corruption in every corner of the globe, yet they hide their nature of greed for power. William Golding served in the Navy during World War 2 where he witnessed human tragedy like no other. Inspired by what he saw, Golding wrote his most popular novel in 1954 titled Lord of the Flies. The novel is set on a remote island where a group of young boys had survived an airplane...
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