"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.
Shakespeare would agree to a large extent with this statement. I too can agree with this statement. For instance, many relationships break up due to power. In teenage relationships the key for success is a balance of power. If one feels minuscule compared to the other, then a break up is inevitable. If one feels superior than the other, they gain absolute power. This causes a large separation between the two individuals which will cause the relationship to corrupt.
This same concept is represented when Macbeth meets with the three witches for a second time. The first time he meets them, they tell him that he will become king, the third witch says, “all hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter” (1.3) This has a great impact on Macbeth’s ideology for he just gained a lot of power from this knowledge. This marks a major turning point in the characterization of Macbeth. He no longer relies on the encouragement of Lady Macbeth for assurance that he can be king for with his new found confidence from the witches, he himself believes that he can be king. With this new power he starts to become corrupted. The second time he meets with the witches we can tell he is corrupted with power for he goes to the extent of cursing the witches. Also, Macbeth begins to go insane for he becomes paranoid and kills Banquo. Where there is an unbalance of power there is always corruption.
