Comparing Power In Macbeth And Lord Of The Flies

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Compare and Contrast the Presentation of Power in Lord of the Flies and Macbeth
There are always people who, in a group, come out with better qualities to be a leader then others. The strongest people however, become the greater influences which the others decide to follow. However, sometimes the strongest person is not the best choice. Authors often show how humans select this stronger person to give an understanding of the different powers that people can possess over others. In “Macbeth” and Lord of the Flies, the authors reveal that “absolute power corrupts, and power corrupts absolutely”. This quote by Lord Acton applies to Jack, from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and the character of Macbeth, from William Shakespeare’s famous …show more content…
In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Jack is unable to kill a piglet tangled in some vines showing to the readers that in the beginning Jack was still an innocent boy and wasn’t corrupt. It’s clear that Jack doesn’t want to harm the piglet but doesn’t want to seem weak to the other boys their opinions are important to him and tries to explain his reasons for not killing the piglet, however “They knew very well why he hadn't: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.” This quote from the scene shows the taboo the boys have around killing, Golding uses the word “enormity” in this quote to highlight the importance of the boy’s taboo against killing; they know that they will eventually have to hunt to survive, but the aftermath of the blood is an unattractive addition to hunting for the boys, the blood makes the killing more real and less like a game. However, as the book progresses Jack becomes more violent and ruthless leaving behind his innocence, power corrupting him greatly that it leads him to be a part of the murder of one of the other boys and planning the murder of Ralph because of fear of his power being taken away, this
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