"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.
I agree that Shakespeare would agree Lord Acton's quote to full extent, as he believes that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely with all who it involves. The more power some has, the more their morals will alter and evolve with it. An obvious example that Shakespeare shows how he agrees with the quote is through Macbeth's evolution of his morals and what he will do to be the king and maintain his power. It all begins when he is given the prophecy by the three weird sisters, followed by him becoming a thane to another land. At first, Macbeth was going to let the prophecy carry out on its own, as he did not know the effect it would have. But after he becomes the thane, he decided that he was going to take it upon himself to become the king, no matter what. This was encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth, thus pushing the limits on what Macbeth would go to get what he wants. Lady Macbeths plan to kill the king pushed Macbeth's morals, as he was the one who had to physically kill his employer. He then went on to lie to noble officials about the work he had done.
From there, his morals only got worse and worse. Macbeth then gained absolute power, as he became the king after Duncan's death. Macbeth would go on to plot and kill his best friend, Banquo and attempt to kill his son Fleance, all without telling his wife. He also went back to the three weird sisters and demanded the they helped him out with maintaining his power. As a whole, once Macbeth got even a small taste of power, he went on a downwards spiral morally, as he would do anything to obtain more power and keep it.
This can be seen through the example of the Stanford Prison Project. The psychological project brought in 26 men and placed them in a prison like environment. 13 of the men were chosen at random to be prisoners and 13 of the men were chosen to be the prison guards. The men who were chosen to be the prison guards were told that they were chosen to be a guard for a specific reason, thus implementing them with power, as they felt superior to the prisoners during the experiment. During the experiment, the prison guards would be incredibly abusvive and do terrible things to the prisoners, even though they knew it was a experiment. This shows how power corrupts all, as once someone is given authority over someone to act in a certain way, it will change their morals and what they believe to be right and wrong.
To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.
I agree that Shakespeare would agree Lord Acton's quote to full extent, as he believes that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely with all who it involves. The more power some has, the more their morals will alter and evolve with it. An obvious example that Shakespeare shows how he agrees with the quote is through Macbeth's evolution of his morals and what he will do to be the king and maintain his power. It all begins when he is given the prophecy by the three weird sisters, followed by him becoming a thane to another land. At first, Macbeth was going to let the prophecy carry out on its own, as he did not know the effect it would have. But after he becomes the thane, he decided that he was going to take it upon himself to become the king, no matter what. This was encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth, thus pushing the limits on what Macbeth would go to get what he wants. Lady Macbeths plan to kill the king pushed Macbeth's morals, as he was the one who had to physically kill his employer. He then went on to lie to noble officials about the work he had done.
From there, his morals only got worse and worse. Macbeth then gained absolute power, as he became the king after Duncan's death. Macbeth would go on to plot and kill his best friend, Banquo and attempt to kill his son Fleance, all without telling his wife. He also went back to the three weird sisters and demanded the they helped him out with maintaining his power. As a whole, once Macbeth got even a small taste of power, he went on a downwards spiral morally, as he would do anything to obtain more power and keep it.
This can be seen through the example of the Stanford Prison Project. The psychological project brought in 26 men and placed them in a prison like environment. 13 of the men were chosen at random to be prisoners and 13 of the men were chosen to be the prison guards. The men who were chosen to be the prison guards were told that they were chosen to be a guard for a specific reason, thus implementing them with power, as they felt superior to the prisoners during the experiment. During the experiment, the prison guards would be incredibly abusvive and do terrible things to the prisoners, even though they knew it was a experiment. This shows how power corrupts all, as once someone is given authority over someone to act in a certain way, it will change their morals and what they believe to be right and wrong.
I like your real life situation, it's a great example of how power can corrupt people. Although, i'm not sure if it qualifies as your own experience. If I answered this question I would have given an example of how my older brother abused his power when we were left alone and he was in charge. Overall I agree with your conclusion.
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