The Corruption Of Power In Beowulf

“Beowulf”, by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon Poet, had a different take of power. The Beowulf poet focused on how the leaders succeeded, and did not betray its kingdom or people. The poems main character, Beowulf, is the powerful one and the hero. Denmark’s other ruler, Hrothgar, is always looking out for the best interest of his people. He has the best intentions for everyone, and intends on keeping everyone safe. Their goal is keeping Denmark safe from the monster, Grendel (“Beowulf” ). These men do not let their greed or ambition for power get in the way of their authoritative figure.

There are a lot of similarities and differences between the most evil character of a story, and the least evil character. Beowulf is known as the “man whose name

The main conflict in this play is Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth thinks that becoming the king is a dream of his, but he never would kill to achieve this goal. That is until his wife gets into his head. She tells him that the only way to his success is by getting rid of the already existing rulers. The other conflict in the play is that Macbeth struggles with his inner thoughts. As said by Lady Macbeth, he is too kind and not enough of a man to get the job done by himself (Shakespeare 1.7.2 47-55). The job she wants him to do is to kill King Duncan. This is a problem because Lady Macbeth is going to have to find a way to turn her husband around, or come up with a plan B. She takes control, and puts matters into her own hands and that only leads to her self destruction later on in the play. The tragic outcome of their immense greed and selfishness leads to the cost of many lives, including both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As the three witches said, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair (Shakespeare 1.1.1).” This could be interpreted in a couple different ways. One example being that what is good will eventually lead to bad, and what is bad will turn good. Macbeth starts off being someone who didn’t want to harm anyone, and wants to keep the peace. That is until his wife and the witches got it into his head that he could be successful and important. He, like the saying goes, is a person

The path to power could lead to corruption, greed, and/or selfishness. Three of these four books display it the best: Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, and Macbeth. Animal Farm and Macbeth are the most alike when it comes to breaking down the similarities of their leaders. Both Napoleon and Macbeth go to extreme measures to become the most powerful one. They both take advantage of their animals/people to rise to power. Napoleon tries to make his animals seem like what they were doing was the right thing to do. He tries to become friends, and then manipulate them when they weren't watching carefully. Macbeth does the same to King Duncan and his friend Banquo. Macbeth and his wife try to make the King feel welcome in their kingdom to cover up their suspicious