In 1984 Winston has to deal with power through his government named The Party. The Party wanted the power over Oceania and no one else to have it even over a person’s own body and mind. This is where the main character Winston has a problem, in the book everyone must love The Party and they must never do anything the party denounces. They have telescreens and microphones all over and Winston hates the party and goes against it in his own little way but the party puts out his little fire and remain in power even over him. In Hamlet the struggle for power is by Hamlets uncle Claudius wants to have power so bad that he goes and causes the deaths of multiple people. With Claudius he wants power but he does not retain what he earns because in the end he winds up dead also. He tries to get power but he cannot keep it because of the way he took it and tried to retain it. Through their use of how power and control make people selfish for power, makes people do things that are irrational, and how it makes people paranoid, Orwell and Shakespeare both demonstrate how power will take control of the lives of the people being affected by it and how it will eventually lead to death.
Power and control are the strongest feelings to have in this world. In 1984 Orwell is trying to show how power can make people become very selfish with it and think of nothing but themselves having power and how they could even possibly get even more power. Orwell really gets into how power makes The Party be out of control with the way they handle things. The Party does not care how many lives are lost they just do not want to lose any power by any means at all. They have perfected a way to get and keep power all through the motivation of having power. "The Party ...
... middle of paper ...
...h of these each author has a different ending with power leaving a different moral for what power is and what it does. In the end power and control does do damage and kill people and make life much harder. In 1984 Orwell shows that power and control will end with the person with power defeating anyone who tries to stand up to them. “He loved Big Brother” (Orwell, 298) was the last sentence that Orwell had put and in this we know that The Party has now won and will always win. In Hamlet Shakespeare shows that if you try to pursue power through corrupt means you will die with Claudius causing the death of his brother, his wife, and his step son all for the pursuit of power. These two different morals mean that power can have different results but in the end it is very disastrous and it can cause people to be selfish, do irrational things, and become very paranoid.
Fear played the most crucial role in George Orwell’s novel 1984. In George Orwell’s 1984 scaring people was the most exercised and effective method that the party used to be able keep people under their control, keep them always obedient by warning them continuously that they were being watched and will be punished if they show any sign of rebel by their action or even by thinking of it. It is fear that worked as a dominating element to dictate the society and was the most exercised tool that the party used to manipulate the citizens of Oceania.
What is power to a human? As time has gone by, there have been many forms of control and influence in the world. Many strive to achieve total rule over a society or group of individuals. Yet the question still presents itself to the average man. Why does man desire power so greatly even though there is visible trouble that follows? Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, whether through the situation or the character themselves, depict the evils and hardships due to an imbalance and poor management of power.
The corruptive nature of power can be observed in both novels Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945) and The Wave by Todd Strasser (1981). In the wise words of Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Phrase Finder, 2012) The simple nature of mankind is to want power and when man achieves this, he gets addicted, wants more and thus becomes corrupt. This exploitation of dominance relates to when the dictator loses his moral values and abuses power purely for his own benefit and loses sight of what the initial goals were. Even the best intentions, such as those that were only just formed in Animal Farm and The Wave, can be distorted by the basic human instinct of selfishness
If you delve into the content of almost any novel, there is almost always some kind of struggle for power. It could be for rightful integration into society; power over an island; power over a country; or in some cases, even power over the minds of others. These not at all uncommon struggles for power are what keep us interested in the plot of a book. The ongoing battle between a character and his cause makes it impossible to put down a good book. For instance, the novel 1984 by George Orwell is about the struggle of a man and a woman to somehow find a way to get out of the constant barrage of cameras and mind control conducted by their government. Although the two of them eventually lost the battle, there was still a victor in the struggle for power: their government.
Power. It is defined as the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. Throughout time, certain individuals have acquired power in their society as a way to govern and keep order among their community. Power is not a new concept; it was used in the past by many emperors, kings, and queens, and is still being used by presidents, prime ministers, and dictators. Although, it has been used to further progress societies into what the world is like today, not all power has been used for the best of mankind. But what goes awry to make power turn corrupt? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is illustrated how power can turn corrupt, when authoritative figures, who possess power, abuse it for their personal gain, rather than for the common good of the society.
Ultimately the characters strive for power does not end well. In particular the story of Gilgamesh the main character Gilgamesh has power and abuses it. Gilgamesh is a greedy king who gets what he wants. He often has no consideration for his people that are looking up to him. The quote stated above about Gilgamesh can also speak for his power. Because Gilgamesh had a lot of power he is able to do anything he wishes. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu meets Gilgamesh is trying to sleep with a bride before her husband can. Gilgamesh has power but he abuses his power and his people are the ones who are punished. Claudius also thrives for power. It is ultimately Claudius’s need for power that urges him to kill his brother so he could marry his brother’s wife and become king. Claudius does not even stop his wife Gertrude from drinking the poisoned wine. He does say “Gertrude, do not drink” (Shakespeare. 5.2. 262). Claudius does not but tell her not to drink the wine but by the time he tells her that it is too late. Both Gilgamesh and Claudius have power. They do not use their power to benefit others. Both Gilgamesh and Claudius’s power harms their
Power is very dangerous, as shown in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The novel explores the use of power in both the hands of good and evil and for success and for failure. Also, how some characters respond to having power. An examination of William Golding’s LOTF will show how fear is powerful and how the characters use that to their advantage. Also, the power shifts between the characters and the aftermath of that.
Orwell has real concerns about the way in which society worked, particular when considering hierarchies and the way the powerful manipulate information. As can be seen there is a strong hierarchy system in the novel 1984 with references to poor and wealthy classes, the proles being lower class and the inner party members being higher class. Orwell spent time in boarding school, wasn’t wealthy and saw disparity between people who had and hadn’t, there are many references towards headmaster and control “ When he spoke it was in a schoolmasterish kind of way” (3.5.297). Orwell also used Hitler’s actions as a leader and incorporated them into 1984; this is evident through the propaganda of Big Brother, dictatorship and the way the Inner party was able to manipulate society to change their beliefs. “The German Nazis and the communist came very close to us in their methods…” (3.3.276) Orwell’s values and beliefs about communism and democracy have strongly been developed through his trepidation in power and historical references to Hitler.
Power- power is the complete domination of others, and since all men want to dominate those around them, power is valued as one of the most important possessions. Power is highly sought after, thus the correct decisions must be made to obtain it, and this is clearly proven by Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar". Power is obtained much easier than it is kept. "Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!" The conspirators celebrate the death of Caesar, because they believe that they make the right decision in killing him, and so far they have, but the decision to spare Mark Antony is one that will haunt them in the end. Power is not always beneficial, it can be a very dangerous possession. "You shall not stir out of your house today." Calphurnia makes the decision to persuade Caesar to stay home, and not go to the Senate meeting. When one has power, there are those who want it, like Brutus and the other conspirators. Calphurnia makes the right decision, yet Caesar makes the wrong one by deciding ...
Friedrich Nietzsche once provided one of the truest opinions on power that the world has ever heard when he said, “All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth”. The promises and truths that those who gain power spread to their people are not always for the greater good. The worst leaders of people are the ones that put more effort and thought into jerking off their own ego rather than putting any real heartfelt effort into helping their people. These sociopathic evil dictators use their power to try and brainwash the minds of people who have to live under them with their own beliefs and hidden agendas, foolishly believing that they are a “savior”. There has yet to be a situation with a leader of a community who has this type of unchecked power and influence with a happy ending. Perhaps the greatest story ever written about good vs. evil, madness, abuse of power along with influence, and nature just might be Heart of Darkness. Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad tells the story of an agent named Marlow, who experiences hellish conditions and behaviors whilst trying to rescue a man named Kurtz, who turns out to be quite a handful. Throughout this journey the moral ramifications of both Kurtz and Marlow’s actions are left to be interpreted by the audience after Kurtz goes mad and becomes the catalyst of the events that transpire throughout the plot. Conrad uses his real life events along with themes of greed, power, and obsession to show what causes Kurtz who acts a symbol for the leaders of the real world to go mad and abuse power.
The reader at this point sees more and more that the quality of life is low and almost akin to that of a prison. This strategy used by Orwell is a strong pathos argument as it plays to the emotions of the reader to cause the association of The Party and negativity in the mind of the reader. 1984: A Rhetorical analysis 2 1984: A Rhetorical analysis 5 The way that The Party, Big Brother, and many of the other foreign concepts are referred to are quite vague at first which Orwell does on purpose.
The desire for power is prevalent in our day to day life from wanting control over little insignificant aspects to control over others. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is
Power is more than a word; in all areas of life power is able to shift the balance between good and evil. When we look at written works it is able to make and break heroes, open doors for the wicked and advance their intentions or squash them where they stand. In works like Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure we see that the word power is the deciding factor in whether a play can be a tragedy or comedy. The villain and heroes in this play each have their own power but throughout the story it shifts. As a villain’s power amasses we see the heroes’ power diminish over time leaving them in situations where they can seem almost powerless. However the opposite can happen as well in which we see towards the end of the play when the heroes have all the power while the villain is left powerless. Although the balance shifting was a side effect of the word power it also came at a cost to both the heroes and the villain. Some of the heroes’ morals were lessened while the villain became corrupt and obsessed regretting his poor choices in the end.
Authors often use their works as a way to express their own opinions and ideologies. However, it is the skill of the author that determines whether these ideas are combined with the plot seamlessly, making a creative transition of ideas from the author’s mind, to the reader’s. There is no doubt that George Orwell is a masterful writer, and one of his most popular works, 1984, clearly expresses his negative views of the Totalitarian government. A common theme in the dystopian society in 1984 is betrayal: The Party is very intolerant towards any form of disloyalty, and anyone who plots against them or Big Brother will eventually either betray their own mind and accept Big Brother as their leader, or be betrayed and revealed to The Party by one of their so-called comrades. Overall, Orwell is using this constant theme of betrayal to show how alone and alienated the protagonist (Winston Smith) is in his quest against Totalitarianism, thus showing how flawed and hopeless the political system is.
Power is a person’s capacity to influence and control. In Shakespeare’s time and in the modern world, power is something that is sought by many people. When used for good, power can inspire change, help society and unify a nation. However, in William Shakespeare’s play King Lear, it is a force strong enough to turn family against each other, and drive people mad. Goneril and Regan are corrupted by the power their father gives them. Edmund is corrupted by the power of his new position, Earl, and King Lear is blinded by his belief that he is the all-powerful King. The greed for power, plays an extensive role in the play because it corrupts most of the villainous characters and ultimately leads them to their demise.