Corruption of Power in Animal Farm Essay

The statement, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely", simply means that the more power one has – the more control one has over people – then the more corrupt it is possible for that person to become. This statement is certainly correct if the person with the power has certain proclivities towards corruption. There are many examples in the book, "Animal Farm", by George Orwell, of power corrupting those in charge because they had these tendencies. In the story, the most powerful animals are the two pigs, Napoleon and, to a lesser degree, Snowball. During the course of the story these pigs used their power to get more power, and in the process their inclinations towards corruption triumphed. When Old Major, the boar who came...show more content...

Napoleon went further down the road of corruption at the beginning when he and his right–hand pig, Squealer, secretly drank all the milk after the cows' udders had been relieved.

Napoleon used force to gain control of Animal Farm, and used fear to keep it. When he and Snowball both led the other animals, they had many disagreements. Napoleon saw that Snowball was better at communicating with the animals, so he used the dogs which he had secretly trained to drive Snowball away – permanently. Napoleon used these dogs to keep all the animals 'in line' and quash any thought of rebellion with fear.

Napoleon was so eager to keep his power that he used scapegoats for anything that went wrong on the farm. When the windmill that all the animals had been building collapsed, Napoleon did not want faith in him to be lost and replaced with rebellious thoughts. Napoleon relieved himself of any blame for the bad construction plans of the windmill by naming Snowball, who unbeknownst to the other animals had been killed, as the person responsible for its collapse. He told them that Snowball was a traitor and that anyone found to be in league with him would be punished.

Napoleon made excellent use of his second–in–command Squealer's abilities at speaking eloquently and convincingly to make propaganda. Squealer would make the other animals think that they were better off

Corrupted by Power "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely". This quote relates to George Orwell's allegorical novella, Animal Farm, because throughout the novella, Napoleon, one of the pigs, uses his advantage of intelligence as a way to manipulate the other animals into believing everything he told them. Although Napoleon changes quite a number of things on the farm, the changes are incremental and small so that he makes it appear that there was no changes at all. As Napoleon's power increases, he is not yet satisfied with the amount of power he is able to obtain yet. Napoleon sets high standards for himself to have complete power over every single animal, though he becomes corrupt because he gains absolute power over everyone on the farm....show more content...

Napoleon uses his intelligence as a way to manipulate the other animals who don't have the same knowledge like him into believing that they are all equal. He incrementally, changes the way the farm works, so that he gets the better of it, while the rest are working hard and not get the fair share they deserve. Napoleon as well changes the commandments, which as a result shows him as someone who is corrupted by power. By the end of the novella, only one commandment had left, but had an addition that Napoleon added. It reads, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." By this, Napoleon is implying that as the result of the rebellion, the animals weren't really equal, but he made it appear as if they were by the use of