Corruption In Macbeth And Massacre Of The Innocents

A renowned American author, John Steinbeck, once said, “power does not corrupt...fear corrupts.” To twist Steinbeck’s words, perhaps it is the fear of losing power that corrupts an individual’s morals. Many works of art and literature represent the ideas of power and corruption; such works include the painting Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Massacre of the Innocents is based on a biblical scene in which the Roman King Herod learns that a new King of the Jews has been born in the city of Bethlehem. In order to prevent the child from taking his power, Herod orders a mass execution of all newborn male infants in the city. The painting depicts Herod’s soldiers mercilessly slaughtering infants in …show more content…
The literary and artistic devices included by the creators of these works are used to effectively display a central message aligning with Steinbeck’s words. As shown in Macbeth and in Massacre of the Innocents, people of authority are inclined to protect their power, and they succeed in their ambitions by silencing any threats to their power in harsh ways, which corrupts the peace of their consciences by allowing evil thoughts in.
The use of lines in Massacre of the Innocents and punctuation in Macbeth demonstrate the strong desire one feels to protect power. In the painting, lines are used to reveal the persistence of the Roman soldiers committing infanticide. For example, consider the man covered by the blue sheet in the right of the painting. By looking closely at the man’s arms, it is evident that his veins are rippling as he holds the child; the defined lines in his arms display how hard he is gripping the baby (Rubens). The man exerts a lot of force into holding the child and his tight grip illustrates his tenacity. This soldier is determined to brutally kill an innocent in hopes of protecting his