The Fatal Poison Of Irresponsible Power Analysis

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“But alas! This is kind heart but had but a short time remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influences of slavery, soon became red with rage, that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord, and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” (Douglas 19) This is how Frederick Douglas describes the change in his former mistress, Sophia Auld, as slavery corrupted her whole way of life. From this excerpt we can see that people can change profoundly for the negative. The question is what could possess one to change so radically when given power over another human being. Prior to the mistress’ change, Frederick Douglas, author of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (1995) describes her as “a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.” (19) This brings us to one of Douglas’ motifs of how slavery can carry a fatal poison that if one possess’ can change their outsight to life. This poison affects some people more then others. For example, if one compares all of Douglas’ slave owners, it is easy to see that those born into a slave holding …show more content…

At first she does not seem to recognize the worth of this power yet over time and especially after her husband being furious over her teaching educational lessons, she came to know how much responsibility she possessed. When Auld realized the power she had, like Douglas describes, she started to abuse it. The sweet requests she used to make were soon followed by harsh orders and demands. The slave possessing lifestyle started out as a small poison and soon spread through her entire body from the way she acted to those demon eyes she

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