Question 2.
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
The quote by Lord Acton bears a very striking resemblance to a quote from spiderman saying that "with great power comes great responsibility". Both quotes talk about the corruptive nature of power and how it affects people. Whether you are a senior in high school or a playwright in the 16th century England named Shakespeare you will agree with Lord Acton's quote. Shakespeare definitely would have agreed with Acton's quote based in his play Macbeth, the idea of gaining absolute power corrupts the main character Macbeth and causes him to commit some nasty actions.
In my own experience power tends to have a negative affect on those who hold it. Rather than to cite an example from my own life I would like to bring up how the power of the Ring of Power in the The Lord of the Rings corrupts anyone who wears it. The ring enhanced the powers that the wearer already had, but it came at a cost. The ring corrupted anyone who wore it into becoming evil and selfish to their own desires. This was demonstrated by Gollum who would do anything to retrieve the ring. This just shows that having large amounts of power is very dangerous and the wielder of absolute power will lose themself while trying to keep it.
Based on Shakespeare's play, "MacBeth", he would have agreed with Acton's quote because of the way Macbeth is corrupted by power. When MacBeth first hears from the witches that he will be thane of Cawdor, Glamis and be king he doesn't believe it, but when he becomes thane of Cawdor and Glamis, he begins to desire the throne. The power of being the king of Scotland corrupts Macbeth before he even takes the throne, because he had to kill King Duncan to do so. And he grows even more corrupt still when he orders his best friend Banquo to be killed, stating that he had to because the Witches "hailed him father to a line of kings. Upon my [Macbeth's] head they placed a fruitless crown" (Act 3 Sc 1 lines 66-67). He is so worried about holding onto the power he has as king that he is willing to kill his best friend and his best friend's son so that no one can take his spot on the throne. Had it not been for the corrupting power of the throne he would never have killed his friend, who he fought alongside in many battles. Shakespeare wrote in the play that Macbeth's position as king is the reason he killed Banquo so therefore Shakespeare definitely believed in the corruption caused by absolute power.
Power is tricky, it is the thing most people will spend their entire life in search of (because wealth is a form of power), yet it is something that can rob us of who we really are. Through Shakespeare's works it can be concluded that he too agreed with Lord Acton's adage, that "absolute power corrupts absolutely".
I like how you connected the quote to spider man and lord of the rings. I feel like power in real life is very similar to the ring you described because all of your actions are to maintain that power. Also, you did a very good job in connecting your experiences with corruption due to power with how Shakespeare would have felt about power and corruption. I feel as though the only thing you could have done better was describe the difference in the quote between absolute corruption and corruption.
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