Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutly? Essay Example
Faith Long
Mr. Bradley
English 10
8 December 2010
Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely?
Lord Acton believes in the quote “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.” What Lord Acton meant when he wrote this quote is when a leader is given full control over a group, whether it’s a small town or a whole country, the leader will almost always abuse his or her power in one way or another. Usually these ways consist of threatening their people, even if they’re passive threats, such as when the leader gives the people an option, but uses something they need to contradict it. There are three examples the provide evidence that Acton’s quote is true. Napoleon, for example, used the animal’s rations against them. He tells them they don’t have to work on Sundays, but their food rations would be severely cut if they don’t. Napoleon makes it seem like he is giving the animals more options and freedom, but really they don’t have much of any other choice except the option to starve. Also, Jack Merridew abuses the power he has over his followers. He tells them to do things that they don’t really want to do. Such as gathering wood for their fire, stealing Piggy’s glasses and going against Ralph. And if they don’t obey and do everything he says, then he either beats or tortures them. Another person that has abused his power over other people is Adolf Hitler, a German warfare leader from the 1900’s. He brutally took over Germany, washed out all Jews, and formed a Nazi Party in July of 1921, who he gave up to war against the Prussians.
The first example, Napoleon from the book Animal Farm uses many ways of abusing his power over the animals on Manor Farm, now called Animal Farm. One way he abuses his power is getting the animals to believe everything he says is right. Napoleon uses squealer to spread all news and tell all the lies to the animals. At first, to do this they used the fear caused by Napoleons specially trained dogs. Later on he used a more passive way, which was making
Mr. Bradley
English 10
8 December 2010
Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely?
Lord Acton believes in the quote “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.” What Lord Acton meant when he wrote this quote is when a leader is given full control over a group, whether it’s a small town or a whole country, the leader will almost always abuse his or her power in one way or another. Usually these ways consist of threatening their people, even if they’re passive threats, such as when the leader gives the people an option, but uses something they need to contradict it. There are three examples the provide evidence that Acton’s quote is true. Napoleon, for example, used the animal’s rations against them. He tells them they don’t have to work on Sundays, but their food rations would be severely cut if they don’t. Napoleon makes it seem like he is giving the animals more options and freedom, but really they don’t have much of any other choice except the option to starve. Also, Jack Merridew abuses the power he has over his followers. He tells them to do things that they don’t really want to do. Such as gathering wood for their fire, stealing Piggy’s glasses and going against Ralph. And if they don’t obey and do everything he says, then he either beats or tortures them. Another person that has abused his power over other people is Adolf Hitler, a German warfare leader from the 1900’s. He brutally took over Germany, washed out all Jews, and formed a Nazi Party in July of 1921, who he gave up to war against the Prussians.
The first example, Napoleon from the book Animal Farm uses many ways of abusing his power over the animals on Manor Farm, now called Animal Farm. One way he abuses his power is getting the animals to believe everything he says is right. Napoleon uses squealer to spread all news and tell all the lies to the animals. At first, to do this they used the fear caused by Napoleons specially trained dogs. Later on he used a more passive way, which was making