When I was in fourth grade, I had a classmate a classmate that considerate himself the king of the school, due to the fact that his parents were rich. Because he was constantly abusing of his power and purchasing the latest toys to brag about them, he made all the other students seem inferior. He made the students feel like clowns in a king’s castle with the only purpose of being the king’s entertainment.
When people obtain power, their good and evil balance is normally affected making the balance lean towards the evil side because power is a big weight and responsibility to carry that most people don’t know how to control. In ‘Viva la vida”, by Cold Play, and “The Count Of Monte Cristo”by Alexandre Dumas, the writer’s use of diction reveals the idea that power can corrupt people to the point of changing their beliefs and morality, and making people chose to follow the ambitious and dark path in life.
Power is a tremendous weight to carry that will make people change in a way that they will reconsider their beliefs that they once had about others in life. In the Count Of Monte Cristo, Edmond’s true love with Mercedes had slowly dissolved, when he received all the money that got soon transformed into power changing Edmond Dantes’ into the Count of Monte Cristo. After Dantes completes his revenge and goes to visit Mercedes, Dumas states “Monte Cristo took her hand / but he felt that his kiss was without ardor”(Dumas 494).
Similarly, in the song, when the protagonist is no longer king he realizes the kind of world that he was ruling and states “Never an honest world, but that was when I ruled the world”(Cold Play 21-22). These two quotes convey the idea that power changes the original feelings about things. The authors selection of the word “ardor” transmits the reader the idea that Dantes, after abusing of his power to take revenge, no longer feels the true love that he once felt for Mercedes. At the same time, in the poem, the protagonist discovers the truth of his kingdom that he once thought it was perfect because he was the ruler.
The author of the song very efficiently uses the words “never”, “honest” and “world” to show that power can blind a person’s eyes making them think everything is perfect, even thought is not. Power most of the times will end fully changing a person’s looks and feelings. Power, if used improperly, can blind eyes and heart making people follow the dark and ambitious paths in life. Edmond drastically changed his destiny when he used all his money and power and sworn revenge towards the people who imprisoned him and who aislate him from life during fourteen years.
When Dantes sees the pain that he had caused to mercedes and her son, and recognizes his cruel actions he questions himself by asking “I’m not considering the past correctly, / can my goal have been senseless? “(Dumas 497). Likewise, when the protagonist in the song recognizes that all the power had blinded him and he wasn’t ruling his kingdom in a correct way he states “I know Saint Peter wouldn’t call my name”(Cold Play 37-38). In both of the quotes the protagonist accepts that their actions had been abusive and that they had been following a wrong path full of corrupted power.
In The Count Of Monte Cristo, the author selects the words “goal” and “senseless” to address the fact that Dantes passed fourteen years planning his own revenge path in life and used all his money and power to overpass all the obstacle trying to stop him in these evil path. There was still some part in Edmond’s heart that stop him from taking these path, but when he acquired all these money, and with it power, his balance automatically leaned towards the evil making him walk in the wrong path of life.
Equivalently, the author of the song chooses to use the name “Saint Peter” to make a religious reference indicating that the actions he had taken as a king, where not worth to letting him into heaven. Power commonly corrupts people making them blind to the truth in front of the and all the emotional effects that they are causing to others. In conclusion, power can bring up the most dark and deep parts of a person’s heart and make him change to the point of completely affecting his feelings and his decisions that will create their future.
Many things make people change their opinions such as debates or discussions, but power changes everything, from the looks to the heart. The worst consequence of the use of the dark and evil actions that power will make people commit, is that they can only be seen when the power is lost or stolen by others. Power is like a virus, it starts spreading slowly but firmly bringing honor and glory but once is completely expanded, it takes over a person’s actions, mind and heart.