Power In 'The Narrative Of Frederick Douglass'

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As Charles Caleb Colton said,“Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.” In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass there are many instances of someone's nature being worsened when he or she comes into power, specifically the power of becoming a slave owner. Many characters from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, including Captain Anthony, Lucretia Auld, and Mr. Severe, have become vile, mean, and downright nasty because of newfound power and influence upon the slaves. Also, many of history's most notable 'villains', people such as Adolf Hitler and Idi Amin, seem to follow this same pattern of being corrupted by power they've come upon. This subject has also been widely written about on the world of …show more content…
One example of this path is Douglass’ overseer Mr. Severe. Severe has immense power over the slaves because of his role as overseer. He beats the slaves relentlessly and is a belligerent man with a cruel personality. “I have seen him whip a woman, causing the blood to run half an hour at the time; and this, too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading for their mother’s release.”(Douglass 25) This is clearly an abhorrent act to commit. Other characters who go through this path are the overseers Plummer and Gore, who act much in the same way that Severe does. Another, more prominent example of this is Sophia Auld. When Douglass first arrived at her house he thought of her as a stark departure from any white person he’d ever met. “I was utterly astonished by her goodness...She was entirely unlike any other white woman I had ever seen.”( Douglass 44) However, the power of having a human being entirely subservient to her soon took its toll on Sophia. “The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work.”(Douglass
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