The Downfall of Unchecked Ambition, and Power Abusers in "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and "Corpse Bride" by Tim Burton. In literature and film, ambition and the pursuit of power are used, as not only interesting story themes but also as cautionary tales. They remind us of the consequences of unchecked desires by showcasing their characters, with unchecked ambition, learning the hard way the results of their actions. This can be seen in antagonist characters such as Jack from William Golding's "Lord of the Flies," as Jack grows more power hungry to be the chief over the rest of the children he bribes and commits violent actions to instill fear in his followers and others who are opposed to him. This …show more content…
This happens as a result of desperation as they become irrational, leading them to creating more mistakes because they are not thinking clearly. An excellent example of this is the character Macbeth in William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth". Macbeth’s ambition to become king after receiving a prophecy from witches that he will become king, leads him to murder the king, King Duncan, in his sleep. The guilt he has for murdering the king is only the beginning of his deteriorating mental state as he has put himself in a situation where he can never relax. After murdering Duncan, Macbeth becomes the King of Scotland. But it is not enough “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus”(III.i.L 52-53). He grows angry, as he knows of another prophecy that was given to his friend, Banquo, that says he will be the father to a line of kings, meaning Macbeth’s power will not pass onto his future children and he was only promised temporary power. He doesn’t accept this and orders men to kill off his dear friend Banquo and son Fleance in hopes of removing any obstacles in his path. He has grown so consumed with staying king and passing it off to his lineage he seeks the advice of the witches once more. He has shown apparitions and one of the apparitions warn Macbeth to beware Macduff, the Thane of Fife. As a result of this warning he decides to storm his castle and kill Macduff. However, when he learns that Macduff has fled for England he makes a vow “From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand”(IV.i.L 161-163) promising that moving forward he will act on every thought that comes to mind to maintain his status. A poor choice on his end as this only leads him to make more mistakes. Similarly to Macbeth, Adolf Hitler had a similar situation in 1944 and acted the same as Macbeth “Hitler survives an assassination attempt by colonel Stauffenberg, who
The influence of power, or “power hungry”, has had a huge effect on many people who feel that they must be in charge. These people often have trouble being told no or being told that they can’t be in charge. People throughout history have done it in many ways. Our own government displays this when we elect a new president every four years. These candidates often tell the public what they want to hear and how they’ll make it a better place, when, in reality, they only mean half of it and they just want to be able to have the power of the president. In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the antagonist, Jack, shows throughout the book that he craves power and feels that he deserves it more than anybody else.
“The duty of the youth is to challenge corruption,” Kurt Cobain once said. The Lord of the Flies tells a fictional story of a group of kids whose plane crashes on an island. Among these boys is Jack, a choirboy who is eager to hunt and create laws. However, in Lord of the Flies, the character Jack shows himself to be an arrogant tyrant because throughout the novel he acts in a way that is cruel, evil, and violent.
After being marooned on an unknown, uninhabited island and desperate to survive, the characters in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies are pushed to the limits of their humanity, and no one is safe from the atrocities from within, not even the seemingly innocent littluns. In an environment where civilization does not exist, the boys of the story attempt to form a society among themselves. Among the group of boys is a young boy who stands out from the rest. Jack Merridew, the leader of the choir boys, strives to take the role of leader of the boys, and he appears to be completely competent. In the beginning, Jack seems to be innocent and civilized. Jack is the cultured leader of the boys’ choir. Although the reader’s first impression of Jack Merridew may be one of an innocent leader eager to be rescued, his true, truculent nature manifests with the development of the novel, and the reader is gripped by Jack’s true schismatic, belligerent, and iconoclastic nature.
Jack, William Golding’s antagonist in Lord of the Flies, reveals through his experience on the island that it is an individual’s assertiveness, manipulative abilities, and charisma which dictate who commandeers power and privilege over others, and that possessing these traits often negatively impacts the lives of the people leaders seek to control.
Furthermore, it is clear that William Golding creates a world of increasing violence when taking accountability of the momentous characters in his novel. In the Lord of the Flies, Golding creates two characters who portray violent inclinations; Jack and Roger. Roger initially exhibits his hunger for violence when he “gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them”(62) at Henry. Yet, he threw them around him not to hurt him
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us” (Golding 80). Referencing the savagery of human nature, this statement is one with great accuracy. While reading Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, many themes and problems presented themselves. The book really highlighted the use of power, and the types of people using it. People in society, whether they want power or not, can use their authority without the best intentions, corrupting themselves and others into inhumanity. For example, Jack uses his urge for authority, and eventually his control, to create an extremely savage tribe of boys, by pushing his own wants and laws onto them. This type of power can demoralize many people, including the ultimate
Having an individual take control over a group is inevitable. Adolf Hitler took over Germany; at first he was appointed as chancellor but the Germans’ let him get away with taking over as dictator (Truemen , 2013). It was out of fear that the Germans’ let him be in power. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes Jack as the most important character in the novel because of how his psychological personality affects the plot. Jack, much like Hitler, gains control by instilling fear into the others and takes over as leader. Throughout the whole book Golding continues to use Jack to twist the story. He stands in the way of the other boys’ success in getting off of the island. Jack is motivated by his id and seeks authority at all costs, illuminating that the desire for power can eventually undermine and hide the goodness in an individual.
In Lord of the Flies, Jack is a symbol for the desire for power, in which plans to use it to treat the other boys as objects for his own amusement and gratify his own desires. Jack’s thirst for power is highlighted in his characterisation, particularly through dialogue, like in the beginning of the novel when voting for chief, Jack simply states “I ought to be chief”, emphasizing his arrogance and plain desire for dominance. This is further demonstrated when the boys are discussing about the beast in one of the meetings, and Jack, although he doesn't believe in the beast, is willing to use its possible existence as a source of power over the littluns, proven though Jack’s use of dialogue in “-not only the littluns, but my hunters sometimes-talk of a thing, a dark thing, a beast, some sort of animal”. The dialogue illustrates the way that Jack allowed himself to exploit others’ weaknesses and commit evil acts in the attempt to attain dominance, proving that intrinsic evil is brought out by one’s desire for power. Thus, in the presence thirst for power, evil is an inescapable consequence of human
In the Book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, many characters transition from good to evil. However, Jack is the quickest and has the most dramatic transformation. Golding’s presentation of Jack’s transformation into an evil person is plausible and believable. Jack follows three of the seven social processes that grease the slippery slope of evil. Those include mindlessly taking the first small step, dehumanization of others, and being in a new and unfamiliar situation.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change of character is significant as he leads the other boys into savagery, representing Golding’s views of there being a bad and unforgiving nature to every human.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding’s portrayal of Jack’s growing power on the island aligns with Thomas Hobbes’s assertion that humans naturally tend to act violently and contentiously, but Golding’s depiction of Jack as a leader also ridicules Hobbes’s idea of an absolute monarchy.
William Golding’s timeless classic, Lord of the Flies, reflects Philip Zimbardo’s observations on the power of power through the transformation and development of the character Roger and his personality. The more power available to Roger, the more savage he becomes until it reaches a point where he can violently murder a peer and put his head on a stick for all to see and feel no remorse. Power can corrupt even the greatest of men and if a man can have power and not be corrupt, he has passed the ultimate test of character.
In the “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, Golding had described Jack in many different ways. In the book, the author proves Jack is an arrogant tyrant who is revealing an exaggerated sense of his own importance or abilities. Jack has a desire for power and uses violence against others. He also represents savagery which the other boys follow. In Lord of the Flies, the character Jack shows himself to be an arrogant tyrant because throughout the novel he acts in a way that is violent, mean, and savage.
Throughout William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies there is an ever-present conflict between two characters. Ralph's character combines common sense with a strong desire for civilized life. Jack, however, is an antagonist with savage instincts, which he cannot control. Ralph's goals to achieve a team unit with organization are destroyed by Jack's actions and words that are openly displayed to the boys. The two leaders try to convince the boys that their way of survival is correct.
The message that is signified in this speech by Chief Joseph himself explained all the ideas and thoughts that he has been holding silent to himself and, accordingly, has been standing aside while his people felt distraught. After what his people had faced over time, he had enough with the suffering done to his people in result of these tragic disputes. The oppositions that he proposed in his speech entailed what the white settlers had done and, accordingly, how it will not be allowed or accepted any longer. Along with these ponderings, large amounts of treaties and treaties were lost or, consequently, broken due to ignorance of the two cultures’ disputes. Precautions among both sides were addressed to help conflict between the cultures but,