Tyrant In 1984

794 Words2 Pages

Tyrants have existed throughout history and each of them go through similar phases before their reign ends or they die. Hitler, Stalin, Xerxes, Saddam Hussein, and Antoninus Caracalla are all examples of tyrants who have consolidated or inherited absolute power and eventually lost it all. In the book “1984” we are not given much information about Big Brother, the leader of the party, but by comparing his methods and actions for ruling with tyrants of the past, we can speculate on the future of the party. Betty Glad, author of “Why Tyrants Go Too Far: Malignant Narcissism and Absolute Power”, defines a tyrant as “one who seeks and exercises powers for his own rather than the general interest, does it outside the law, and creates a political order based on extreme cruelties and mistrust” (Glad 2). There have been many …show more content…

Does Big Brother, the leader of the party, and Oceania’s ruler rule as tyrants? Everyone who has read “1984” would agree that Big Brother is a tyrant, and their reasoning would just be that he rules like a typical tyrant. This paragraph provides definitive proof that Big Brother is a tyrant by comparing his actions with those of past tyrants. Starting with the secretive eyes and ears of the party, the police thought. In Nazi Germany, “Hitler's secret police network. blankets Germany with thousands of informers, spying on the opponents of the Nazis as well as members and leaders of the Nazi party itself” (Glad 11). Both Hitler and Big Brother ruled over their people by instilling fear in them, which is a very tyrant-like thing to do. According to Glad, tyrants normally rule without laws, do things for their own gain rather than that of their people, and use extremely cruel tactics against their enemies (Glad 2). Big Brother recently took over power, so he “must act as cruelly as necessary to secure himself, and establish a reputation for harshness,” (Glad

Open Document