Comparing Power In Macbeth And The Hunger Games

Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins are two texts written ¬centuries apart but with very similar concepts of power. In Macbeth, power is held by Macbeth while in The Hunger Games power is held by President Snow. Both of these characters are heads of totalitarian societies and used force to control anyone who opposed them. Macbeth and President Snow lead with absolute power which lead to both leaders became paranoid, scared that there power would be removed from them.

But first what is Power? When researching Power words such as authority, control, direct, command and influence all appear. These words all support the following statement “Power is the ability to influence and control the behaviour of others.” The problem with power is that it often leads to those in power abusing it. As Lord Acton famously quoted “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Macbeth

In Macbeth this happens when Macduff decides to take action and overthrow Macbeth. Gaining support from the English, “Thither Macduff, Is gone to pray the holy king upon his aid, To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward” to “Prepares for some attempt of war.” Reveals that Macduff is plotting a war against Macbeth to remove him from the throne due to his tyrannic rule. In The Hunger Games a similar scenario is seen when Katniss blackmails the capitol by threatening to kill both Peeta and herself, a sign of rebellion which leads to a larger scale rebellion. This rebellion sees the oppressed districts come up against the powerful president snow and his Capitol eventually overthrowing him. This reveals how those that are sick of their actions being controlled and influenced by those in power and have chosen to remove this power by