Power corrupts?

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -- Lord Action

Shakespeare has written numerous plays about crazy kings or kings going crazy.  Prime examples of this claim are King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, all of whom begin as (debatably) sane human beings, but by the end, they have gone mad.  Even in Romeo and Juliet, the parents of the two are overstepping their bounds and becoming overly involved when addressing the topic of marriage of their children.  Shakespeare writing multiple stories on the topic of "good people gone bad" supports the idea that Shakespeare agrees with the idea that power corrupts.

The best example of Shakespeare's work to pull from is Macbeth.  (There will be spoilers, but this work has been out for about four-hundred years, so I really am not spoiling anything.)  Once upon a time, Macbeth was completely happy with where he was in life, and then these witches told him he could have more power.  Enthralled, Macbeth decided to pursue this prophecy and, with some persuasion from his wife, killed King Duncan.  With this new-found power, and the shock of killing someone, Macbeth goes a little bit... mad.  In order to maintain the throne, he hired other people to kill his friend, Banquo, whose sons are also a part of the prophecy.  He also indirectly (but purposefully) kills Banquo to cover up his crimes.

I think it's important to note that Macbeth hires other people to do his dirty work.  Before, when he was in the right mind and had less influence, Macbeth killed King Duncan himself with great moral distress.  By involving other people in his crimes, he was able to divert some of his guilt.  A part of Macbeth's downward spiral is his intense amount of paranoia, but he was only able to act upon this paranoia quickly with the power he had.  Therefore, Shakespeare's work, especially Macbeth, supports the idea that he believed that power corrupts.

I also agree with this statement.  In history, we can look back at the different ways in which countries were run, and the governments in which all of the power was concentrated in one person are usually remembered because the reins were horrendous.  Some examples of these people are Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, and Vladimir Lenin.

An example drawn from my personal life is found on the track, more specifically, in pole vault.  In the sub-culture of pole vault, we have all of the new people (also known as the "rookies") do all of the dirty work.  By dirty work, I mean removing the mat cover or cleaning out the water-filled pit.  When I was a rookie, I was pressured to do all of the work by the more experienced participants, but now, starting my fourth year, I am the one applying the pressure.  Now that I don't have to do the work, the underclassmen are being forced to by myself.  As I have gained more influence and power in the world of pole vault, I have definitely put in less effort towards the maintenance of the area, and forced that effort upon others.

All in all, I definitely agree with the idea that power corrupts.