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How Can Power Lead To Corruption In Macbeth

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Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy in which it's themes not only reflect on past events but can be applied to today's society as well. A Scottish general by the name of Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches which for see him becoming King of Scotland. Pushed by ambition, Macbeth is further enabled by his wife to murder King Duncan to acquire the Scottish throne. His guilt consumes him and fuels constant paranoia within him. In his flawed plan he is forced to kill more people in his way to attain the throne. Through his new power he soon becomes a corrupt tyrannical ruler. This conundrum leads to the death of both Macbeth and his wife. The biggest theme portrayed in this work is that power will lead to corruption. …show more content…

He was convicted of multiple counts of fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and electoral crimes. He used his power for his own personal gain which relates to “Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires;" (Shakespeare 44). His corrupted desires led him to steal for his personal gain. Another example could be Richard Nixon who started out as a moderate republican, but ended up thinking he had the right to break into democratic offices, bug people, and suppression of press. This relates to the quote "Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be feared" (Shakespeare 96). This is because Nixon feared the release of press that exposed his actions. Another example of modern day corruption is Joseph Stalin. He had always been a power hungry individual but he became more corrupt as a he gained more power. His breaking point started when he murdered Lenin at the age of 53. This relates to the quote “Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires;" (Shakespeare 44). Because of Stalin's desire to come into

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However, both of these presidents careers would be destroyed by similar cases and similar felonies. Nixon’s case was a matter of political coverup and corruptness known as Watergate. “On June 17, 1972, the watergate complex attracted attention as the site of a failed burglary. At around two o’clock in the morning five men dressed in business suits and wearing surgical gloves were arrested during an attempt to break into the Democrat national committee headquarters” (Fienberg 15). This is what started the entire Watergate scandal that ruined Nixon’s entire reputation and career.

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This scandal caused many Americans and Republican politicians to push Eisenhower to remove Nixon as his running mate and to question Nixon’s integrity. In rebuttal to the scandal, Nixon took the bull by the horns and defended himself by going on live national television and addressed the nation by giving the famous Checkers speech. The soon to be Vice-President articulated his speech with a perfect combination of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to turn the tables from making everyone hate him to making the American People and Republican Politicians love him. Nixon’s integrity was

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Although it is debateable whether or not Nixon knew of the break-ins, he did behave very suspiciously. He became very secretive, resentful, and defensive towards his critics, even going so far as to make

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After completing college, Nixon earned a career to be a lawyer, but this did not satisfy him. Also, his parents were not very pleased with his position as a lawyer. 2“He was always the type of fellow that rose to the top and was the president of this and the president of that,” Gerard Kepple agreed, “and always had a sense of leadership.” Therefore, Nixon knew that the only way to leave a mark in history was through politics. While Nixon was seeking for an opportunity of recognition, he met some Republicans.

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First, Richard Nixon did many things to abuse his presidential powers. Outside of the knowledge of Congress, he ordered the American military to invade Cambodia and Laos. He was responsible for multiple bombing raids there which had major repercussions for our armed forces as well as America. Nixon also bugged the oval office to listen to

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From then on the American people have started to wonder if they can trust the president because Nixon was very secretive and dishonest throughout the scandal. Nixon got the help of a couple burglars who stole many documents and recorded phone conversations. This scandal was illegal and caused President Nixon to resign. The Watergate Scandal was a major event in the 20th century and changed politics in America

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By saying this he is explaining that he can’t lead the country without the trust and support of congress, which he does not have. Congress does not not support Nixon because of his ties to the Watergate scandal, so they obviously would not support him. He would not be able to really do anything t so he thought that there was not a point in being

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He even tried to get the FBI to stop the investigation of the crime. Some of Nixon’s aides testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes. They also testified that Nixon had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office. All the prosecutors needed was to get their hands on those tapes. That would prove that Nixon was guilty.

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Nixon had an enemy list, filled with people who had criticized him, such as politicians, reporters, journalists, and others that he felt were a threat to him (Foner). To make sure no one leaked any of his campaign strategies and to know what the democrats were planning, Nixon assigned spies, called The Plumbers, to go into the Watergate Hotel. The Watergate Hotel was where the democrats were having their meetings and the Plumbers broke in to wiretap their rooms and steal top secrets documents. The spies were caught on their second attempt to break in to fix the faulty microphones. After the scandal, Nixon gave a national speech saying that the White House staff had nothing to do with the scandal (Watergate scandal).

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Nixon was paranoid and feared any man who did not agree with him (“Watergate and the Cover-Up.” 1995). He also believed that, as President, he could take whatever measures necessary to protect himself from his enemies, even if that meant he broke the law (“Watergate and the Cover-Up.” 1995). During his presidency, he actually said, “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.” (“Watergate and the Cover-Up.” 1995). In turn, he was his own worst enemy.

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He had amassed a collection of government fills, tape records, and intelligence on the common people in the Watergate building. After it was broken into, files were stolen and released to the public. It was the first real time that the general public learned just how paranoid Nixon was, but also how much he wanted to keep the power he already had. As these precious documents surfaced, one could see in full light that Nixon exhibited all the symptoms of Paranoid Personality Disorder. He was always distrustful of people, he recorded every encounter he had, so that one could twist his words against him.

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Nixon Presidency Born on 9 January 1913, Richard Nixon, or “Tricky Dick”, as he was called, started his political career in the U.S Congress where he went against a five-term Democrat named Jerry Voorhis. President Nixon used notions of Voorhis’ communist sympathy to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 1946. During his time as a member of the House of Representatives he gained a reputation of an internationalist and an Anti-Communist. From the late 1940’s to the 1950’s as the red scare was going on he employed a successful campaign tactic of using allegations and testimonies of Soviet Union affiliations to remove his enemies from Congress with hostile cross-examinations in court.

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Which at first glance looks like a positive thing but once you dive deeper into what his real motives are, it's rather eye opening. Let's start with the war on crime. During this time you had the black panthers who were people fighting for civil rights, people who were fighting for women's rights, and people who were fighting for gay rights. Nixon felt the need to fight against these movements and therefore one was more likely to get arrested for attending these rallies— for committing a crime which really wasn't a crime. He strategically blinded the public to this by calling it "the war on crime".

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All of this deceit only made Nixon viewed as dishonest and shady to the American people, making his impeachment seem almost predictable. But something that was not predicted was Richard Nixon’s

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Because Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s decision to murder Duncan, Both face the guilt of the power they abused portrays on the shadows that reflect on them as well as the natural consequences they will face. During the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth expresses her unnatural feelings and this is demonstrated through the corruption of power when she want’s to hire people to kill Duncan because she thinks that Macbeth is too scared. At first, when Lady Macbeth hinted “Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death”(1.7.78). This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth is characterizing corruption of power due to the fact that she want's to kill Duncan, therefore she can be queen of cawdor while Macbeth is king.

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