Power In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

“Power does not make the possessor evil; it is the possessor who uses it in evil ways” (Wilson). Since the beginning of time, power is a force that has been desired and strived for, yet feared by many. Although it often leads to harm, power itself is not destructive; “Like money, power is indifferent in its usefulness to the person who possesses it” (Wilson). In George Orwell’s, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and William Shakespeare 's, Macbeth, the desire to gain power and the fear of losing it, results in not only corruption but a malicious use of psychological manipulation and the demise of many. In George Orwell’s, Nineteen Eighty-Four, a fictional totalitarian society based on that of Nazi Germany and the USSR in the 1940’s, seeks limitless power over an impoverished population by the use of dictatorship. The novel is said to be George Orwell’s dark foreshadowing of the threat to democracy in the tense post-World War II period (Marshall). Set in Oceania, one of three intercontinental super-states dividing the world at this time, the novel follows Winston Smith and his forbidden love Julia through their struggle to rebel against Big Brother. Similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four, Shakespeare 's, Macbeth, also focuses on the struggle for power and Macbeth’s quest …show more content…
Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it” (Wilson). In Shakespeare 's, Macbeth, and George Orwell’s, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the characters fall on both ends of that spectrum. Just as Big Brother and the Inner Party use fear to brainwash its population, Lady Macbeth uses it to gain power through the acts of her husband. In the end, this use of fear to gain and maintain power results in the death of Macbeth and his wife, and the complete alteration of Winston and Julia’s beliefs, further exemplifying how dangerous the lure of power can