In society globally citizens live under the rules of someone or something, but many of those people who have that power use it in the correct way. A quote once said by Abraham Lincoln states, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if want to test a man’s character, give him power”. What Lincoln is explaining here, is that he is telling many have difficulties, and people could be rulers, but if one were to have more power than others, those who don’t have equal power, would be able to see that power isn’t good. Instead of one using power for good, it has been proven throughout history, the more power one has, the more corrupt they become.
Marie Antoinette is someone abused the power she had. She and her husband King Louis, used their power to take money from the poor and use it to fit their own wants instead of needs. As an article states from History.com, “The people who owned most of the property in France, such as the Catholic Church (the “First Estate”) and the nobility (the “Second Estate”), generally did not have to pay taxes on their wealth; ordinary people, however, felt squeezed by high taxes and resentful of the royal family’s conspicuous spending” (History.com,2018). Since the lower class had to pay for their taxes, they didn’t have much money which then, then, France was a place meant for higher classes. Marie Antoinette used her power that she had to take money from her citizens and used it for her wellbeing instead of using it to help the economy which then leads later to the French Revolution causing her to be sentenced to the guillotine, and she isn’t the only person who abused the power she had. Of course, many people rule this way, but it’s important to know that of fairness and being equal, living under these circumstances wasn’t the best way to go for many of the citizens.
So of abused power, Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, can show one that power still corrupted the people of the town. Since power was the only way for people to believe in one in a higher standing from the rest, Reverend Hale said, “While 1 speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering … I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes” (Miller, 129). The power here is from Reverend Hale and he is abusing his power by eliminating the citizens whom he thinks are witches. Since he has power he can do what he wants when he wants which isn’t a way for someone to use their power, especially if they don’t use it in a way to help everyone. Along with not having a fair amount of power and history Joseph Stalin didn’t use his power in a way that was fair for others. In an article from history.com, he uses power to help just him versus helping everyone out and also ended up hurting others.
Stalin, “prosecuted a reign of terror, purges, executions, exiles to labor camps and persecution in the postwar USSR, suppressing all dissent and anything that smacked of foreign–especially Western–influence. He established communist governments throughout Eastern Europe, and in 1949 led the Soviets into the nuclear age by exploding an atomic bomb. In 1950, he gave North Korea’s communist leader Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) permission to invade United States-supported South Korea, an event that triggered the Korean War.” Joseph Stalin used his power in the same way that another dictator, Hitler, used and did the same thing by starting wars, putting people into labor camp, and lead Soviets into the nuclear age, but not everyone did bad things with power.