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15 November 2022

Power: the cause of corruption

The want for power is a human necessity. People seek it to have

control over others or themselves. A well-known quote from a 19th-century

British historian is, "Power tends to corrupt” (Acton, 1887), but is this true?

What is power? The ability to control another person's actions or the

outcome of an event is known as power. While power has its limits,

absolute power does not. Some say that power can not corrupt; it

heightens pre-existing ethical tendencies. That is incorrect. Power is the

reason for corruption, and absolute power makes corruption inevitable. You

can see that through the play Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare, and Ivan IV,

Grand prince of Moscow.

Shakespeare's plays give the greatest sense of human emotions and

traits. This is the case for Julius Caesar. In the play, Caesar makes himself

the dictator and absolute ruler of Rome. He has so much power that he

could control the freedom of the people, “I shall remember./ When Caesar

says "do this," it is performed” (1. 2. 12-13). Cassius and Brutus believe
that through having a great amount of power, he became a tyrant. If Caesar

had not become corrupt, the conspirators would not have planned the

conspiracy. Shakespeare wrote his plays usually at a different time and

place, like Julius Caesar, to comment on the issues of his time. The world

has many people who crave power. Ivan IV, like Caesar, had a great deal

of power and corruption.

The crimes of Ivan IV were so awful that he was given the nickname

that he is more commonly known as, “Ivan the terrible.” Ivan at a very early

age was put in a position of power. He was appointed grand prince at 3

years old, he was the first prince to declare himself “Tsar of all Russia.”

Ivan IV reigned for 37 years, from 1547 to 1584. Living up to his name Ivan

IV was terrible, “Ivan the Terrible was an incredibly ruthless and cruel

individual” (Slawson, 2022), he was known for slaughtering his subjects as

well as the people he conquered. During his life he killed over 60,000

people. The absolute power he possessed gave him the freedom to murder

all of those people. Being given that power at a very young age caused

immense corruption.

Corruption is caused by gaining power, and once you gain absolute

power, corruption is unavoidable. Ceaser and Ivan the Terrible are just a

few examples of the people who were desperate for power and named
themselves dictators. From their need for power death followed. Power on

its own has the ability to cause so much harm, but absolute power is a

million times worse. Would you want to lose your life over the greed of

someone else? The world itself is already collapsing on itself, if no one

realizes the harm of desiring power, the world will be locked in a war

forever. A fight for power.

Citations:

● Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Edited by Roma Gill, 4th

ed., Oxford University Press, 2010.

● “Ivan the Terrible.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ivan-the-

Terrible.

● Slawson, Larry. “The Top 10 Worst Dictators in History.”

Owlcation, Owlcation, 18 Mar. 2022,

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Top-10-Worst-Dictators-

in-History.

https://www.merriam-webster.co