Power Corrupts Essay

Power is used by people to show personal strength and help create order in society. Sometimes, when people abuse power, it can give them an advantage that others strive for and will do anything to obtain. The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place during the Salem witch trials. In the play many innocent people are accused of witchcraft and lose their lives because of the way that certain community members abuse their power. It takes a few brave, morally driven individuals to stand up for the rest of this community and challenge this abuse of power. In the play, the town becomes corrupt due to their fear of the government because Abigail, Hale, and Parris abuse their power in order to protect their reputations.

Power is the ability to manipulate and control whatever one desires; to do what one pleases to do without answering to authority. The power that corrupts the characters plays an extensive role throughout Shakespeare’s play, King Lear. Goneril and Regan are corrupted by the power that Lear offers them. Edmund’s corruption comes from the trust of his father. Absolute power corrupts absolutely with the characters, because once have full control, they are so cold that they will do anything to keep the power – or to gain more. The quest for power corrupts, but when absolute power is attained, treachery and deceit is the only path to take.

Finally, Parris is a paranoid and fearful man. He thinks that everyone is out to get him and relieve him of his position as minister. He thinks that there is a faction within his church that wishes to overthrow him and would do anything to get him removed. He knows that if this faction discovers what his niece and daughter did it could lead him to be fired from his job, as he says to Thomas

In Act II Parris states, “...I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you for now my ministry’s at stake…” to Abigail (Act II). In this scene Parris is trying to compel Abigail to tell him the truth about what he saw, something that she does not do. Parris, on account of his insecurities, never tells of his encounter as he fears this will taint his good name. Instead of telling the people of Salem the truth, he keeps it in, making him somewhat liable for the deaths of innocent men and women. Eventually, when it is known that he withheld information he loses respect from the

Reverend Parris’s main motivation is to preserve his reputation at any cost, whether by unbelievable behavior or through falsehood. For example, when Reverend Parris discovers the girls dancing in the forest, he hastily warns Abigail that his reputation is in jeopardy by conveying, “Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it” (10). Since Abigail is family, Parris has no tolerance when it comes to his reputation so he willingly enforces discipline to maintain his status. Also, as a minister, his role is

Although Abigail kept her reputation in a different way; she lied. Abigail kept on acting and lying throughout the entire play by screaming and pretending that she was being attacked by something. On page 834 Parris says to Abigail, “Your name in the town - it is entirely white, is it not?” Abigail replies, “Why, I am sure it is, sir. There be no blush about my name.” Abigail is lying in that quote, there is some “blush about her name”. She had an affair with John Proctor and just wants to hide it by lying. Abigail acts much different than she should because she needs to lie and to pretend to try to keep a good

Throughout the world`s history, conflict and power has being an important topic to be discussed and analyzed among scholars and researchers. Conflict and power can be found in several areas and levels such as colonization process, wars, inside an organization, and even in our own family, and it can have political, economic, social and cultural reasons. However, there are different types of power such as Reward, Coercive, Referent, Expert and Legitimate, and three perspectives of conflict as Traditional, Interpretive and Critical. Based on these concepts, this paper will explain the conflict and the resolution pointed in a case study, then it will identify the type of power and the perspective of conflict presented in the case, and lastly it will relate the case study with the cooperation and competition model.

He will do anything to protect his youngest daughter and little niece.in the begginging of the play we see Parris being proctective over parris and making sure Tituba doesnt come near her: “scrambling his feet in a fury: Out of my sight! she is gone”(832). We could also see by the stage directions that he is very soft when it comes to his little girl. He doesn't stop praying or weeping. He tries to wake her up and get answers: “ Betty. child. Dear child. Will you wake, will you open up your eyes! Betty, little one...”(803). Parris is also the minister of the town so many people will of course believe what he tells them. Towards the end of act one we see Parris becoming frustrated with Tituba “Pressing in on her: Who? who? their names, their name!”(848). He is mad that she hurt his little girls and won't confess what the peoples names are. Abigail has power over the other girls that are also in the lie. She threatens them and says she'll kill them with no remorse because she saw her mother get parents get killed by the natives “Let either of you breathe a word, or edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(837). The girls have no choice but to do as she wishes. Mary Warren's only goes against Abigail and the other girls because she has John Proctor to protect her.

Parris knew of Abigail's infidelity with John Proctor but denied it in court, “ Your Honor, this is all a -” (Pg 1309) He was interrupted but it is obvious in the setting of his words that he meant to say that this was all a lie. Parris lied because he knew that if his niece were caught whoring around then his good name would be soiled forever. During the Court hearing Parris says, “Your Excellency, this is a trick to blind the court!” (Pg 1306)

He cares only about wealth and his reputation in the town. He says to Abigail in Act I, “And I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you, for now my ministry’s at stake…” (17). Parris gets very concerned that others will blame him for witchcraft. He also points out to Abigail that he worked for a hard three years to gain some respect from the people in town; thus, he does not want Abigail to ruin everything for him. He also focuses a lot on worldly possessions, when that is not something a minister should ever be concerned about. Later in Act I, Parris explains to Giles, “I am not used to this poverty; I left a thrifty business in the Barbados to serve the Lord. I do not fathom it, why am I persecuted here” (35)? It is evident that he cares about his wealth in Salem and one can infer that he regrets becoming a minister because he has less money in Salem. Parris likes to talk and defend based on his emotions because his goal is to keep his name holy in the

The body, mind, and soul of an individual are capable of becoming corrupted by power. Power makes one feel as if that person was a God, which is a sign of the corruption in that individual. According to Lord Actin, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," states that power can make an individual vulnerable to corruption. The second portion of Lord Actin?s quote discusses absolute power corrupting absolutely which implies that absolute power can corrupt an individual as well as the individual?s surroundings. This idea of corruption can be located in fictional novels such as Animal Farm by George Orwell. Animal Farm is a story about animals dictated by a former animal comrade. The dictator in the novel, Napoleon,

During the time The Crucible was set, the community of Salem was awry. It did not have the solid characteristics of what a healthy town should look like. Instead there was no trust between people, everyone was watching out for only themselves, and most of the townspeople were turning their backs on the disastrous deeds of the court. The people of Salem feel like they have no one to turn to, so fear crept into their minds and hearts. They developed hysteria which caused the town to slowly disintegrate. This panic allows other people in their community to take advantage of them and manipulate them for their own purposes. In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows how vengeance and greed destroy the community through the characters of Abigail Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, and Reverend Parris.

David Brin states that, "It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible." This statement is true; Power does not produce venal people, but it pronounces their corruptness. For example, Source D, which includes selected scenes from the movie series The Lord of the Rings, a scene from The Fellowship of the Ring displays the origins of the all the great rings of Middle Earth. Rings were given to Elves, Dwarves, and Humans. All the races were given this power with good intentions.

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton said that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This has been seen numerous times throughout history. From Hitler’s ideological world and his slaughtering of six million Jews in attempt to reach it, to Mohamed Suhato’s embezzlement of somewhere between fifteen and thirty five billion US dollars, which then led to the complete collapse of Indonesia’s economy; the world has set gaze upon some nefarious dignitaries. Clive Cussler has completely agreed with Lord Acton and his famous quote in the novel Sahara. The antagonists in this story become totally deleterious in there lust for absolute power, which leads to the deaths of innocent soldiers, the crippling of his country through

Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. Absolute power corrupts absolutely in many ways. Firstly, having too much power could change your actions in many ways. Secondly, having a lot of power could also change your thoughts or ways of thinking.Thirdly, it can also get out of hand or out of control if you have too much power. Some people,with too much power, use it to do bad things. On the other hand, others use it to do good.Absolute power corrupts absolutely.