The Relationship between Power and Corruption

The relationship between power and corruption is that too much power to a single
person makes them corrupt. When the authority is in the hands of an antagonist, they are well
corrupted to do whatever it is they want. “Jack [hunter] had meant to leave him in doubt, as an
assertion of power but advertising his omission made more cruelty necessary...wiped his mouth
and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to piggy” (Golding 73). This is a perfect example on
a corrupted person like jack who clearly uses his authority as the hunter to slowly demise
piggy’s hunger. His attitude toward piggy in the quote is harsh and powerful in a bad way. It also
shows piggy being omitted from jack’s group which lack of leadership and miss use of power.
Another, thing is that “Their sense of power makes it easier to rationalize away the
ethical lapse” (Lehrer). This statement explains how enough power can cross even your ethical
lapse. For example, the Nazi Germany’s gas chambers extinguished millions of Jews. This
proves that power absolutely determines the factor of how corrupt a person can be to slaughter
millions of people without a thought of humanity. Not everyone with power is corrupt but there
are enough to make a difference.

Work Cited
Golding, William, and Donna Reardon. ​Lord of the Flies​. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Lehrer, Jonah. “​How Power Corrupts​.” ​Wired​, 18 May 11AD.