Examples Of Corruption In Ahern's Flawed

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”-John Dalberg Acton. For Judge Crevan, his power corrupts him wholly because of his greed, grief, and wanted to stop people from negatively affecting society. In the real world, people have tried to control others through propaganda, education, and threats for those in power to conceive their plans for a “better world”. Cecilia Ahern explores the idea that unbridled power leads to corruption through her main antagonists in Flawed.

An example of when Judge Crevan, the main antagonist of Flawed, used his power to further his own agenda was with the Guild cases right before Celestine’s trial. When Crevan’s wife, and Art’s mother, passed away from cancer, Crevan blamed the doctor who

Furthermore, Crevan witnessed his success with Dr. Blake and became arrogant with his new decisions. The following events after the Blake trial raised suspicion within the guild & government about Crevan’s ruthless use of power to get what he wanted: “he was planning the Dr. Blake trial for some time… The outcome gave him confidence to proceed with Angelina and Jimmy Child… members of the government feel he has been abusing his powers” (242 Ahern). Crevan demoralized the Guild into an unfair, controlling faction which undermines the rights of normal citizens. As a ruler, Crevan corrupted his establishment by allowing greed, pride, and revenge to reign his consciousness. Similarly, a few police forces in the real world have been revealed as corrupt as the cities they enforce upon. The NYPD was infamous for having had multiple officers charged for drug consumption, dealing, murder, theft, DUI, etc. When a commission investigated the NYPD, they “found that drug related corruption &

When Celestine continues to fight against Crevan as he persists in demanding her to “repent” for being Flawed, Crevan loses a part of his sanity. In doing so, Crevan’s hate & emotion takes over, and the fragile shield around his corruption starts to crack. Celestine had been adamant in not giving up against the agonizing torture she was enduring, especially when faced towards her new “devil in disguise” (Judge Crevan). Through Celestine being so brave, Crevan saw how he had no power over her. Crevan says “brand her spine… (Bark) I can’t do it sir… (Crevan) I am the head of the Guild, and you will do what I say or you will find yourself in my courtroom first thing in the morning” (124 Ahern). When Crevan realizes Celestine will not beg for forgiveness, Crevan shows her his “insurmountable power”. In this case, corruption is shown through pressure to conform, exploitation, & obvious vile underlining intentions. In Texas, there was a famous judge who was convicted of bribery and obstruction of evidence. This man took requests from attorneys and the accused for favorable outcomes in return for money, favors, or investments in companies. Judge Rodolfo Delgado personally decided he was above the law, just like Crevan did. Delgado was given the power to choose the direction of someone’s life. As Judge Delgado became more and more powerful, he started to make decisions based on his benefit. An action such as