Mikala Tidswell
11/03/2008
Professor Bloir
First Paper
Power: Good or Bad?
There are all types of influences that play an important role on the political, economical, and cultural well-being of a society. However, when these influences take on a superior stronghold a community can be subject to unjust or corrupt power. In 1887, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton is quoted as saying: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”(Action). This can be seen as true when one thinks of past abuses of power, most notably in the reign of Adolf Hitler or throughout the Bolshevik Revolution. However, in Greek mythology power need not always lead to corruption as seen through the examples of Homer’s Telemachus from the “Odyssey” and Aristophanes’ protagonist, Lysistrata. On the other hand, in our modern society, power has the ability to cause misjudgment as seen through America’s homemaker, Martha Stewart, while at the same time, power can inspire an entire race and nation, through one man; Senator Barak Obama.
Homer’s, The Odyssey, is set in Greece and tells the story of the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, who has been missing for ten years after leaving to fight the Trojan War in order to save the Phaeacians. His son, Telemachus, is left in control of Ithaca during his father’s absence. While waiting for his father’s return, Telemachus must take hold of the affairs that his father would and take care of his ailing mother, Penelope, who longs for the return of her husband. Telemachus is subjected to the scrutiny of the suitors that remain in Ithaca. These men want to take over the land and marry off Penelope so they can control the kingdom. Not knowing how to handle the matters, Telemachus sets out in search of his father in order to gain some guidance on how to save Ithaka from the malice of the suitors. Telemachus has all the power he needs in the beginning of the epic tale of the Odyssey, however he never...