The Theme of Power Essay

The concept of power is one of the strongest themes within Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, given that power dynamics and authority are an immense part of what dictates female oppression. While having written a dystopian fiction novel, Attwood accurately captures the struggles of women surviving within an establishment that refuses to value their word or worth in a way that is acutely relevant. While looking through the lens of Machiavelli’s maxims, each of Attwood’s female characters…

as a joke or stupidity on the side of the humans. One of the most well-known witch hunts in history was in Massachusetts Salem. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, he discusses the seriousness and unjustness of the crucible. Major power often results in the abuse of power and corruption, is one of the things he said provoked the witch hunts in Salem. In act two, John Proctor was furious because Abigail accused his wife, Elizabeth, of witchcraft. John Proctor ripped the Elizabeth 's arrest warrant,…

Ariel, Caliban, and a host of apparitions bowed to his command. Miranda, his only daughter, was a puppet in his scheme of redemption. He cast his power on a usurping duke, an esteemed royal advisor, and even the king himself. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, not a single individual remains untouched by Prospero’s magic power. This theme of power not only pervades the original text, but was also on full display in the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival’s production (August 2016). Simultaneously,…

Dictionary, power is defined as the ability to control people or things. Not only can one understand the meaning of power in his or her own society, but she can understand the meaning of power through literature. The idea of power is explored in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Written in 1892, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a fictional story that shows a young woman’s rise to power. Although the narrator is not given a name, Gilman shows how this woman gains power by…

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses how one's greedy desire for wealth and power threatens their possibility at genuine happiness. Although money takes on the role of a lavish possession; it blinds people of the significance behind true joy. Fitzgerald renders the character, Tom Buchanan, as a self absorbed man with a sense of carelessness and belief that power leads to happiness. Fitzgerald utilizes Tom’s lifestyle to reveal that while money has the ability to satisfy…

The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon alludes to sources of power for both colonizers and colonized. Colonizers gain their power from both physical and psychological violence, whereas the colonized must gain power over the colonizers through physically violent rebellion. Hannah Arendt, in Crises of the Republic, takes a very different view of power. While she agrees that occasionally violence is used to exert power and control, true power comes from the concerted efforts of the group, not…

The strive for ambition and power can seem like true perfection for many people, but one should be careful of what they are willing to do for power, because it may be exactly what causes their downfall. This is true in William Shakespeare 's story about a man named Macbeth. By the end of this short play Macbeth has committed many murders and is willing to do whatever it takes to remain King such as murder innocent people. Each successive murder illustrates how Macbeth is changing for the worse;…

Power is the defining force in The Epic of Gilgamesh, but power comes in varying forms. In this essay, I will discuss the emphasis of power, how power is obtained, and the distinction of power in male and female characters and through this, it’s evident male power dominates due to Gilgamesh’s power as a king and his ability to defeat a god. The importance of power is what drives the tale of Gilgamesh. His desire for control over the people outside and within his country leads Gilgamesh on his…

Power is a recurring idea in Lord of the Flies by William Goulding, whether it be power from the conch, created out of the idea of hope and the idea of having order in the midst of chaos, or the sow’s head, which was motivated by fear. The conch was with the boys on the island from the start. When they landed on the island, Piggy discovered the conch and Ralph used it to summon any other boys on the island. From holding the conch at the start, Ralph was decided as the “leader.” The rules were…

Power is the key for people to satisfy man-self desire, the novel, Animal Farm, is a dystopian allegory story that was written by George Orwell that satires on the corrupting influence power. Animal Farm is about the effect of the power using animals as an example. By reading Animal Farm, readers can find that power plays an important role in Animal Farm and the effect of power is massive. In the story, power is used for selfish purposes. First of all, power leads to avarice as seen by Mr. Jones…