How Does Napoleon Corrupt In Animal Farm

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William Gaddis once said “Power does not corrupt people, people corrupt power.”, a statement that is very true regarding a certain pig named Napoleon. In the Animal Farm by George Orwell, Napoleon, a fickle-minded pig, is arguably the most diabolical character throughout the entire book. After the rebellion against the farm’s human owner, Mr. Jones, Napoleon becomes all but a dictator and works the animals mercilessly. In addition to being a harsh dictator, Napoleon also is very cunning and devious, as he changes his positions frequently to get whatever benefits he can get his hoofs on, and to ruin all those who oppose him. Because of these two reasons, it can be reasoned that Napoleon is a very selfish, cruel, and above all, a diabolical pig. …show more content…

After this event, turmoil occurred within the farm, as many animals feared Napoleon. Once again, Napoleon had managed to sway the crowd of animals in his direction, and at the same time, brought hate and anger towards Snowball, by instructing Squeaker tell the animals that this was all “Comrade Napoleon’s cunning. He had seemed to oppose the windmill, simply as a maneuver to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence. Now that Snowball was out of the way, the plan could go forward without his interference” (George Orwell, 58). Originally opposed to the windmill because it was created by Snowball, Napoleon took advantage of Snowball’s absence and convinced the animals that he was the one to build the windmill and not Snowball, who was ‘bad’ from the start and had stolen Napoleon’s original plans for the windmill. By completely twisting the events of Snowball’s expulsion, and turning all the animals in his favor, Napoleon expresses a kind of destructiveness and ruthlessness unlike the others on the farm, yet again displaying his devilish