“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” Lord Acton famously wrote this quote in 1870. This proclamation is still applicable today. From Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar to the leaders of today, evidence of selfish leaders has existed since the first governments. Throughout history and in modern times, there have been corrupt leaders who have damaged their dominions even when they originally had no intention to put themselves first. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Marc Antony was corrupted by power when the people of Rome began supporting him. Initially, Antony is presented as a moral person when he moves his audience with his emotional speech at Caesar’s …show more content…
funeral. Later, he plots to steal from the Plebeians, proposing, “But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar’s house.
/ Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine/ How to cut off some charge in legacies” (Shakespeare 4.1. 7-9). Before teaming up with Lepidus and Octavius, Antony used Caesar’s will as a way to win the Plebeians over to support avenging Caesar. Now, after promising them their dues, he wants to rewrite the will so the commoners would receive less money from Caesar than himself. Though he was loyal to Caesar, he has become more concerned for his own gain and is prepared to steal from his former hero. The plotting to rewrite Caesar’s will for his benefit proves that Antony’s sudden power has corrupted him. Accordingly, when his associate Lepidus left the room, Antony considers using Lepidus and then leaving him because he considers Lepidus inferior. After Octavius points out that Lepidus is a “valiant soldier,” Antony maintains, “So is my horse… it is a creature that I teach to fight… and in some taste is Lepidus but so. / He must be taught, and trained, and bid go forth… Do not talk of him, / …show more content…
But as property” (Shakespeare 4.1.29-40). Lepidus has not been unfaithful to Antony and Octavius, but Antony urges Octavius to act against him because he believes Lepidus is unfit to rule. Antony has no reason to suspect that Lepidus would be a bad leader. Octavius even speaks for Lepidus’ valor. Antony just wants more power for himself and is willing to hurt others to achieve his goal. Clearly, after Antony gains influence, his motives shift from trying to avenge Caesar to trying to gain ultimate control. In more recent history, other leaders have been corrupted by their desire for power and money.
Sani Abacha, “the first Nigerian soldier to make full general without missing a single rank,” was the president of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998 (Sandbrook). Though he helped the country’s economy during his term, Abacha was not concerned by the people’s rights and opinion. Within a year of his presidency, Sani Abacha “issued a decree that placed his government above the jurisdiction of the courts, a move that gave him absolute power” (Sandbrook). Even though Abacha was already the most powerful force in Nigeria, he still grasped for more influence. The people were supportive of Abacha until he began his oppressive rule. The people knew Abacha was gaining power and spoke up, so Abacha stripped them of their rights. He was paranoid that the people would try to end his rule, so he did whatever was necessary to gain absolute power. The author highlights, “Abacha purged the military, banned political activity, and took control of the press” (Sandbrook). Abacha destroyed the possibility of the people rising against him because they didn’t have the resources to sufficiently rebel. He also describes Abacha’s rule as to have included, “appalling human rights abuses” in the overview of his time in power (Sandbrook). Not only did Sani Abacha take control of Nigeria’s government, but he also oppressed the people of Nigeria in order to maintain
power. Even after seeing what power can do to people of weak character, societies still allow them to gain influence. Recently, Harvey Weinstein, owner of movie franchise Miramax, was charged with multiple counts of sexual harassment. He has assaulted many famous actresses because he had the power to do so. An even more sickening detail is that he has been abusing his power in this way for decades. In light of these shocking charges, Time Magazine has published several articles addressing Harvey Weinstein’s sudden, definitive condemnation: “After decades of operating with impunity as one of the most powerful men in entertainment, Harvey Weinstein has been brought down by a flood of chilling sexual harassment and assault claims… Power seems to have been his noxious aphrodisiac. Power is why some women acceded and others clammed up, why his employees helped facilitate his assaults and why so many in Hollywood looked the other way for decades” (Filipovic 1). As Time clearly states, Weinstein’s sole means for escaping his transgressions unscathed was his major role in Hollywood. His sheer amount of power has given him the ability to ruin so many people’s lives and evade the repercussions. Weinstein has been a predator with impressive influence for over 40 years and his actions have gone unpunished for so long that he doesn’t even consider himself in the wrong. In his initial “apology” Weinstein stated, “’ I just didn’t know better, this is just how we did things in the old days’… That, even as he was allegedly apologizing, Weinstein seemed to be off-loading responsibility for his behavior- essentially standing there in his short pants with his lollipop, blinking in disbelief that women could be so damn uncool about everything- makes that behavior even more monstrous” (Zacharek 4). Time has described Weinstein’s reaction to the backlash perfectly: Weinstein simply cannot believe that anyone would even consider punishing him because people have been looking away for so many years. This is what power does to the people with authority in our society. Power leads its pawns, the significant leaders of our industries and politics, to believe that the rules do not apply to them and that no one will prevent them from destroying others or breaking the law repeatedly. Anyone who looks into the corrupt leaders of the past and today will see the negative effect a selfish leader can have on a society. Marc Antony caused a civil war, Sani Abacha oppressed the Nigerian people for years, and Harvey Weinstein assaulted countless women. Though some corrupt powers first gained influence for a good reason, having power can cause negative effects on a person’s morals. When they oppress anyone who would rise against them, corrupt leaders do whatever they want without bearing the consequences. Warning: Even the best people can be corrupted by power.
Antony is unlike other leaders who use manipulation in a bad or harmful way. By revealing these traits, he needs the Romans to acknowledge the injustice and that they ought to fight for equality before the conspirators overuse their power. From the play of Julius Caesar, we can see making decisions are hard, especially those that impacts a larger population like those that the President made, it can causes problems that are difficult to reverse, that’s why we should think twice before we speak or made an action because we might never know the results of our decision until its
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony—a loyal friend to Julius Caesar, the former emperor of Rome—gives a speech to the Roman commoners in order to persuade them to turn against Brutus, for Brutus and the conspirators had slain Caesar. Antony’s uses rough and sharp diction, a scornful tone, and honest anecdotes in order to achieve his purpose of manipulating the common people to take his side.
Antony is the trusted lietenant who is popular with Caesar because he follows Julius Caesar by his heart instead of getting wealthy. You disagree with the argument of killing Antony or not because you don’t want to make bloody. However, after Caesar’s death, Antony will be the best speaker to take the chance to speak toward the crowd in public, and he will make a great speech that make people love Caesar more than you, and it causes people to make revenge for Caesar.
William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is the illustration of the demise of many respectable men. Typical of a tragedy, one character of high social standing experiences numerous downfalls brought on by a character flaw. This character is eventually brought to his or her knees by the misery and sorrow brought upon by these mistakes. It is at this point that the character realizes their flaws and changes their outlook. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, the tragic hero is Julius Caesar. In the play, Shakespeare molds Caesar’s character into an ambiguous personality. While Caesar is depicted as an ignorant and deserving tragedy, he is an often-overlooked hero as well. The omnipotent ruler appears to be quite respectable socially in the play’s exposition. However, as the story unravels several of his imperfections are introduced. The blemishes of Caesar’s personality soon lead to his untimely death. At his fall, Caesar realizes his faults and wrongdoings. Thus Caesar is overall an effective and sympathetic tragic hero.
Power is a very interesting thing to hold. Many good-natured men have been destroyed by power and turned away from their morals as a result. When giving a man absolute power, it’s ingrained in the human brain to take it to a new level. This ideal is present in every type of government, regardless of whether it’s a dictatorship or a government supported by autonomy. Modern day government suffers from this power hungry greed.
The corruptive nature of power can be observed in both novels Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945) and The Wave by Todd Strasser (1981). In the wise words of Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Phrase Finder, 2012) The simple nature of mankind is to want power and when man achieves this, he gets addicted, wants more and thus becomes corrupt. This exploitation of dominance relates to when the dictator loses his moral values and abuses power purely for his own benefit and loses sight of what the initial goals were. Even the best intentions, such as those that were only just formed in Animal Farm and The Wave, can be distorted by the basic human instinct of selfishness
Selected for their loyalty and experience in combat, the Praetorian Guard grew in political power. They were the ones to protect the emperor and to help during times in need but they soon became lost in their own greed for power. This later caused political corruption by the Praetorian Guard, leading to instability in the Roman Empire in the late second century and the third century CE.
Julius Caesar was written in 1599 in England by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare has born in 1564 and died in 1616. Nobody really knows when exactly he was born but for the records it is assumed that he was born in April, creating an interesting coincidence with his death. He is the greatest writer of his century and probably of the modern era. He influenced many contemporary writers and created a new point of view in the poetry. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. In his work Julius Caesar Shakespeare shows us the change of power in Rome and the problems that Rome had there. Power is the ability to act with force. Shakespeare makes visible the abuse of power and the struggle to gain power in the biggest empire at the time. Shakespeare also shows that the power itself is more than a name or position. It is something that the people exercise. There is not absolute power, every power has limitations. Besides the servants every character in some way has his power. Although the biggest argument in Julius Caesar is the change of power in the rulers of Rome, Shakespeare tries to show us many different kinds of power and the use of it. As we can see during the play, people with power use power just for their convenience.
Friends are usually supposed to be loyal and trustworthy, Keepers of secrets, so when all of a sudden they turn into backstabbers it is surprising. Betrayal from a friend is by far more hurtful than by an enemy of any kind
While Brutus sees life as something to be solved with logic and guided by morality, Mark Antony views life as something that he can twist and mold into whatever he needs it to be at any given moment. Mark Antony uses the audience of the funeral speech as tools to wrench the Roman Republic from the hands of Brutus and place the crown on his own head. He inspires rage and distrust in the plebeians, and directly spurs on the Battle of Philippi. Brutus is roped into this situation despite his unselfish motives, and has to defend himself and his fellows against the armies of Mark Antony and the young Octavius. From beginning to end, the characters of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are true to their defining qualities and do not depart from the molds they have cast of
In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Brutus give a speech to the public following Caesar's death. In both speeches, the men mention Caesar's ambition. Brutus describes Caesar's ambition as a downfall, while Mark Antony disagrees. In his speech, Brutus says "... but as he was ambitious, I slew him." (Act III, Scene II, line 16.)
In the tragic play of Julius Caesar, there are multiple themes, but some are more apparent than others. The theme found to be the most significant throughout this play is how ambition ties in with arrogance. These two traits ultimately led to Caesar's end. The conspirators found him too ambitious because of his arrogance and saw him as a leader who was very hungry for power, which would've made a corrupt leader. In the play by William Shakespeare he shows how arrogance and ambition are dangerous traits.
Another character who heavily experiences regret is Caesar’s son, Blue Eyes. Throughout the movie, Blue Eyes, and adolescent chimpanzee, distances himself from his father, due to frustration with how his father trusted the humans. Due to this, and the fact that he admired Koba, Blue Eyes helps rally the apes when Caesar is seemingly killed, and leads them into battle following Koba, who, unbeknownst to Blue Eyes, was actually the assassin. When Blue Eye actually gets into battle, however, he realizes his mistake as he watches his people getting slaughtered on the battlefield; Blue Eyes goes on to greater regret his decision to blindly support Koba, after the initial battle, as the new head of the apes imprisons all of Caesar’s loyalists, and
“The road to hell is paved with good intention.” —proverb. The nuance of this proverb that demise could come forward from “honorable” decisions entitles the characteristic of Marcus Antonius (Antony) from William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”. A controversy remains about whether Antony’s action to Caesar’s death was one made by a truly concerned friend or by a political opportunist. The person in question from this play did gain political power from Julius Caesar’s death, and he did incite a riot in Rome to seek and destroy the conspirators. However, his actions can be rationally explain in the concept that it was for the sake of his beloved friend that he went so far doing so. Hence, with his loyalty shown to Caesar, the risks of total
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men,” quoting historian Lord Acton. Before reading the quote, I never noticed the relationship between power and corruption in the real world. I thought of power as a form of recognition for hard work, that in turn is a positive outcome. After putting some thought into it, I realized my mistake