Power is the root of all evil

According to Perry Besshye Shelley, “Power, like a disease, pollutes whatever it touches.” In other words, many characters in literature become corrupted because of their quest for power. I fully agree with Shelley that power “pollutes everything that it touches” because having too much power concentrated in the hands of one person leads to dictatorship and its bad consequences. “Power is the root of all evil” is another interpretation of Shelley’s statement. This idea is demonstrated in the plays Hamlet and Macbeth, both by William Shakespeare, where major characters lead themselves to their downfall by trying to become very powerful. In fact, in both plays many major characters die because of one person’s ambition to become a powerful king.

In Hamlet Claudius murders his brother, marries his former sister-in-law (the Queen), and ascends to the throne of Denmark. These three deeds are performed by a shrewd and self-serving man. The King will do almost anything to protect the throne, in spite of knowing that he did not rightfully earn it. He resorts to underhanded tactics such as spying, manipulation, and deceit in order to overcome whatever he perceives as a threat to his supreme position

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