This essay examines the destructive nature of unchecked power through parallel analysis of two literary works separated by centuries. By comparing Macbeth's murderous ascent to the throne with Nurse Ratched's psychological manipulation of psychiatric patients, the paper argues that the pursuit and maintenance of power inevitably leads individuals to commit inhumane acts against those who threaten their authority. Through character analysis and textual evidence, the essay demonstrates how both antagonists ultimately face consequences for their moral compromises, suggesting that ambition without ethical restraint results in personal downfall.
When seeking power, people will do anything to anyone, especially to those trying to stop them from reaching their goals. People will even kill or act inhumanely toward others. In the end, however, wanting too much power and acting cynically for it leads to consequences and one's downfall. The theme of power and its effects has been evident throughout literature across time. William Shakespeare's Macbeth and Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrate how individuals negatively act toward others in the struggle to gain or maintain power through the characters of Macbeth and Nurse Ratched. When power is in the grasp of human beings, they will act inhumanely toward whoever stands in the way of achieving their goals.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Nurse Ratched is the all-powerful leader of the insane ward. Before McMurphy joined the ward, no one ever challenged her power. However, when McMurphy arrived, he did. The Nurse found herself in a fight with McMurphy to maintain her power while McMurphy was trying to take it away. The other patients are scared of the Nurse and believe that she is doing what is best for them. As Harding explains to McMurphy, "Mr. McMurphy ... my friend ... I'm not a chicken, I'm a rabbit. The doctor is a rabbit. Cheswick there is a rabbit. Billy Bibbit is a rabbit. All of us in here are rabbits of varying ages and degrees, hippity-hopping through our Walt Disney world. Oh, don't misunderstand me, we're not in here because we are rabbits—we'd be rabbits wherever we were—we're all in here because we can't adjust to our rabbithood. We need a good strong wolf like the nurse to teach us our place." (Kesey 61) In the ward, the Nurse attempts to conform the patients to how society wants them to behave. "McMurphy arrives on a static ward where all the ward members have been cowed into conformity. He immediately wants to challenge the power of Big Nurse." The patients, having little idea of what is really going on, think that the Nurse is good and trying to help.
Nurse Ratched instills fear into the patients through various methods of control to make them listen to her. From the moment a patient comes into the ward, they are tormented. Chief observes the aides: "Stand scared till the black boys come sign for him and take him into the shower room, where they strip him and leave him shivering with the door open while they all three run grinning up and down the halls looking for the Vaseline. 'We need that Vaseline,' they'll tell the Big Nurse, 'for the thermometer.' 'Tha's right, mothah, that's right,' and then shut the door and turn all the showers up to where you can't hear anything but the vicious hiss of water on the green tile." (Kesey 15) The aides are an extension of the nurse's power. She acts inhumanely toward the patients so they will listen to her. Only McMurphy sees Nurse Ratched for what she actually is. Nurse Ratched's methods of control include Electric Shock Treatment, Lobotomy, thermometer humiliation upon admission, and the logbook.
Cheswick tells McMurphy: "Maybe not you, buddy, but the rest are even scared to open up and laugh. You know, that's the first thing that got me about this place, that there wasn't anybody laughing. I haven't heard a real laugh since I came through that door, do you know that? Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. A man go around lettin' a woman whup him down till he can't laugh any more, and he loses one of the biggest edges he's got on his side. First thing you know he'll begin to think she's tougher than he is and" (Kesey 65–66) The patients are scared of the Nurse and what she does to maintain her power. She uses fear to make the patients conform to her will.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the protagonist is driven by his desire for power. Once he learns he can become King, he will stop at nothing to gain that power. He will let no one stand in his way on his path to the crown. After hearing the news about Malcolm, Macbeth declares:
"The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." (I.IV. 55–60)
Macbeth is unhappy when the king names Malcolm the next heir to the throne. Macbeth knows what he must do now if he wants to become king. Between the prophecies from the witches and his wife's ambitions, Macbeth becomes consumed with the desire for power. Macbeth becomes completely confident in his grab for power and will not let anyone stand in his way for the crown, even his friends.
Macbeth wants to become king and stops at nothing to do so. He has no problem acting as inhumanely as necessary to get what he wants. Macbeth plans on killing people to achieve his ambitions. Before he is about to kill King Duncan, Macbeth plots:
"Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell" (II.I. 73–77)
Macbeth at first fights his ambitions, but his want for power and the push by Lady Macbeth propel him into killing Duncan. Macbeth kills King Duncan so he can become king. Because of his ambition, Macbeth also kills his friends. Macbeth explains the plan to the Murderers:
"Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most
I will advise you where to plant yourselves;
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
The moment on't; for't must be done to-night,
And something from the palace; always thought
That I require a clearness: and with him—
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work—
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father's" (III.I. 146–156)
Macbeth is having Banquo and his son Fleance killed so there will be fewer people in his way. To become completely secure in his bid for the crown, he eliminates not only his competitors for the throne but their progeny as well. Macbeth wants to make sure that he will be king. His inhumane acts do make him king, but it comes with grave consequences.
"Macbeth's overconfidence leads to his death at Malcolm's hands"
Power can cause people to do inhumane things. It can cause death and betrayal. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth and Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the characters of Nurse Ratched and Macbeth exhibit inhumane behaviors because of their want to gain or maintain power. Power is a hard thing to have because it is difficult to control. It is even harder to get because everyone fights for it. It is also hard to maintain because everyone wants it. Power and control can go to people's heads, causing them to act inhumanely toward whoever is in their path. Both literary works demonstrate that the consequences of pursuing power through inhumane means inevitably lead to personal destruction.
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