Examples Of Corruption In Power

Corruption is the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power. Those in power become corrupt for personal gain. They want to gain money, influences and more power. Corrupt individuals or businesses want to stay in power. In order to stay in power, there must be a group of individuals that are dominated or oppressed.

In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, chases after power by going after the king position in Scotland. In the play, Macbeth changes from basically not worrying about whether or not he will be king, to going after the king so that Macbeth will rule the kingdom. At the very beginning, Macbeth encounters the evil witches and the witches greet Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King hereafter. The funny part about this is that Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis but, not the Thane of Cawdor because the current Thane of Cawdor is still living, and Macbeth certainly is not the king of Scotland because King Duncan is king. The things the witches say to Macbeth gets into his head and this is where the desire for power originates. Macbeth decides to kill the current King and Macbeth continues to murder people. Macbeth hires goons to kill Banquo and Banquo’s son, Fleance, because the evil witches hint that Banquo will not be king but, Banquo will heir kings. Macbeth is a character that struggles to free himself from chasing after power due to him wanting to rule the kingdom and Macbeth will do whatever possible to keep the throne. Macbeth performs multiple murders just to keep his throne from falling into somebody else’s hand.

Lady Macbeth understands Macbeth’s lust for the throne, and lusts for it herself. She also understands his ambition, but feels that her husband might regret and decide against killing Duncan to steal his throne, as she regards to Macbeth as “full o’ the milk of human kindness” (1.5.4). Since Lady Macbeth fears that Macbeth would turn against her and not go through with the plan, she decides that it must be up to her to get it done correctly. She asks that only the “direst cruelty” (1.5.33) fill her, as she gathers everything that is evil to her in order to murder Duncan. Even though Macbeth was hesitant over the idea of murdering Duncan, his wife convinces him that acting on his impulse of killing Duncan is the right thing to do. This shown when Macbeth starts to second guess the thought of murdering his king, and that it should not be done. However, his wife verbally harasses him into agreeing. Lady Macbeth questions his love for her, questions his masculinity, and criticizes his desire to be king by saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man” (1.5.49-51). As his successfully offends him, he decides that he needs to prove his manhood, his love of his wife, and his ambition to be king, he agrees to murder Duncan.

Most people will not let their wants and desires push them to the point of hurting others to achieve these wants and desires. However, this is not the case in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In Shakespeare's 1606 tragedy, Macbeth, Macbeth attempts to control the future by using information from the witches to kill anyone posing a threat and to bury the past by blaming the murders on other people, illustrating the idea that a person's wants and desires can drive them to do anything to have what they want. Macbeth starts at a level of morality where no one questions his morality and desires to be king. In Act 1 Scene 3, the witches greet Macbeth with “All hail, Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth- the malicious mastermind, and the second driving force behind the murders done by Macbeth, had believed that by portraying a man’s ways, she would attain power-for her and her husband, and gain whatever they needed without remorse or sorrow. Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to frame two guards by getting them intoxicated and even prepares the murder scene for Macbeth to take King Duncan's life. Macbeth even questions his loyalty and righteousness in this moment by saying, “But in these cases, we still have judgment here…bloody instructions…return to plague the inventor” and . . .” He is here in double trust; first as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then as his host” (I.VII.7-14). This just

To begin, the witches are the catalyst to Macbeth’s crimes because the convince him that he will become king. Macbeth first meets the witches while returning from a gruesome battle and it is safe to say that they greet him with some audacious titles. They initially greet him as the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor, but it is their final greeting which has the greatest effect on Macbeth. The witches hail Macbeth as someone “that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53). This ignites a fire inside Macbeth, who is an immensely ambitious person. He begins to fantasize about the luxurious life he would have if he were the king of Scotland and he suddenly has the temptation to kill King Duncan. Although the witches’ prediction is favourable, Macbeth has no reason to believe them, at least until one of their other predictions turns out to be true. This

In Macbeth, a brutal tragedy by William Shakespeare, the author explores how when gone unchecked, power can corrupt all those surrounded by it. Lady Macbeth’s lust for power and Macbeth’s impressionable arrogance ultimately cost them their lives, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Notably, after hearing from Macbeth the witches prophecy, Lady Macbeth becomes obsessed with the idea of her husband becoming king. Willing to risk anything she formulates a plan and aggressively pushes Macbeth to murder King Duncan, insulting and manipulating him until he agrees. She chastises Macbeth, insulting his manhood and insisting that “when durst do it, then you were a man”. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into thinking

Lady Macbeth provides a scheme for Macbeth to assassinate the King. She is manipulative and persuasive in corrupting Macbeth s judgement. “What beast was’t then that you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.” (Act I. Sc.VII) In this quote, Lady Macbeth is agitating Macbeth by saying he is not a man if he does not do what he says he is going to do, which is to murder the king of course.

Lady Macbeth’s tyranny actions show the corruption that comes with her desperate need for power. William Shakespeare shows examples throughout the play of how Lady Macbeth shows dominance over Macbeth and the corruption that comes with the dominance. Early in the play, Lady Macbeth exclaims, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/ What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/ Art not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it” (1.5.15-20). Lady Macbeth proves to be far more powerful to Macbeth. In a famous soliloquy from the play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth dramatically begs: “He brings great news, The raven himself/ is hoarse/

In 1887, historian John Dalberg-Acton asserted, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." This theme has a prominent role in history, literature, and even current times. Certainly, many instances have occurred where once someone earns authority, they allow it to get to their head and do things they would not have done otherwise. Similarly, it is also seen that when one is inferior or beneath others, they receive a hunger for power. Specifically, a few prime examples of people who became corrupted because of their dominance include Marc Antony from Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Joseph Stalin, and Kim Jong-un. These rulers negatively impacted the places they ruled all because of their abusive tendencies that came with dominance.

     Once Macbeth possessed the power of being Thane of Cawdor he began to exhibit more greed. He has just been given such a huge responsibility and once he was given new power, he craved more; especially when he stumbled upon the witches. He liked the power that he had and wanted to gain more, no matter what he has to do to get it. Macbeth had an encounter with the three witches and they had told him that he will become the next king. Although the witches did say this it did not mean that it was certain, it was just a possibility. But when Macbeth realized the opportunity for power he knew he wanted to become the king. This passage was in part of the letter that Macbeth wrote to Lady Macbeth: “Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail, king that shalt be’” (1.5.6-10). . It seems as if the power and greed now had full control over him, he is doing things that he wouldn’t do when he did not have all this power. This is the first time that we see this side of Macbeth, the side of him that is greedy for power and is willing to kill the king to do so. In the beginning of the play the thought of being Thane of Cawdor never even crossed his mind, and by no means being

The greatest factor to Macbeth’s downfall should be attributed to his blind, uncontrollable ambition. This factor is first seen with the second appearance of the witches, upon which they meet Macbeth. Macbeth’s first thought to the prophecy “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.63) is he must murder the king. This thought provides the groundwork in which Macbeth can seed his

There is a popular saying that power corrupts. This is why those who seek power should be emotionally and psychologically prepared. This is because there is the tendency for power to make one arrogance and proud and it can lead to ego. In other words, the author believes that, Humility doesn't mean you should do wrong follow unjust rules, in fact, humility makes you have conscious and challenge these rules.

Corruption. What is corruption? Corruption is dishonest or illegal behavior by powerful people, such as government officials

The dynamic between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is clearly shown in 1.7 as Lady Macbeth being portrayed as the more dominant figure, as she repeatedly insults the masculinity of her husband. When Lady Macbeth hears that Macbeth has changed his mind about killing King Duncan, she starts to guilt him about his decision and says “Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life / And live a coward in thine own esteem / Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would. ” (1.743 - 45). Lady Macbeth is saying that wanting the crown but not doing anything about it, makes Macbeth a coward because he doesn’t have the guts to do the necessary actions to get power. She’s trying to appeal to his sense of manliness by insulting him about his reluctance to kill the king in order to convince him to go follow his word. This tactic reveals how manipulative and cunning Lady Macbeth is