The Representation of Power in Macbeth, V for Vendetta, and Dan

Many easily manipulate the ideology of power. People tend to use power for personal gain. Most cannot handle such responsibility; yet ultimately let power be their shortcoming. Many have attempted to abuse their power with varying results, usually not leading to a positive outcome. On the contrary, using their power for the greater good has yielded them a much more preferable outcome. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is a play about a lord named Macbeth, who performs many terrible actions in order to become the new king of Scotland. However, every bad action that is made by a character in the play, ends up coming back to haunt them. V for Vendetta (2006) is a drama film directed by James McTeigue. It is set in a dystopian future United Kingdom, where V, a mysterious radical anarchist wearing a Guy Fawkes costume, works to bring down an oppressive fascist government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters. Dan, by Gregg Segal, is a powerful photograph from a series entitled “7 Days of Garbage”. People like Dan, acknowledge a week worth of their own waste, and pose by surrounding it. It mainly reminds us by the frightening amount of garbage we consume and discard. In Macbeth, V for Vendetta, and Dan, William Shakespeare, James McTeigue, and Gregg Segal strive to make a statement about power and how it plays a major role in their content. There are many similarities and differences in how they contribute to the theme of power; McTeigue uses many elements of film to reinforce the thematic ideas related to power. Similarly, Segal puts a lot of meaning to his portrait when using things we see on daily basis. For instance, in Macbeth and V for Vendetta, both protagonists demonstrate their powers differently towards their societies. Furthermore, in V for Vendetta and Dan, the central characters use their powers for the sake of spreading awareness to their people. Lastly, in Macbeth and Dan, both protagonists, when following individual ambitions are corrupted by management and power. In fact, the representation of power is a common thematic topic that can be compared in all three topics due to power’s corruption, demonstration, and impetuosity.

Firstly, the representations of power are compared between Macbeth and the film V for Vendetta in terms of different power demonstrations. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth, the protagonist, commits treason not for the sake of the greater good. He ends up killing anyone that comes in his way to the thane. Macbeth is honest and in a generous mind, when stating, “We will proceed no further in this business: He hath hounour’d me of late”. At first, Macbeth does not want to kill the king because he is happy with the reward Duncan, The King of Scotland, has given him. He wants to take advantage of his new title and honors. He then self declares his deed and purpose which surely is to commit the crime that he conceived. Apparently, Macbeth is yet to use all of his power to satisfy his ego, knowing it is his selfish apprehensions alone, which elicited from him the doubts, expressed in the soliloquy referred to. Differently, the film V for Vendetta, displays different power demonstrations towards the people in the film. V, the protagonist, commits treason for the sake of the greater good. He is more like Macduff and Malcolm when comparing him to Macbeth. For example, V is ambitious and determined, when speaking about justifying violence, “Violence can be used for good. Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. However, because you betrayed it, you found something true about yourself”. V shows his reason for committing treason. His power signifies to stop the corruption that is ongoing by the government. In fact, this also brings up the element of symbol, where McTeigue uses roses as a symbol of kindness and violence. V places roses on the dead bodies in resemblance to Valarie’s letter, in which she notes that the government destroyed her and “took away the roses”. V brings back justice and peace to the people, as well as Valarie, who dies relentlessly by the hands of the government. After all, V and Macbeth act upon desires. One focuses on aiding his people, and another prioritizes aiding himself due to selfish nature. Similarly, in the play Macbeth and the art Dan, corruption plays a major role in the life of the protagonists, yet both reflect their individual causes.

The play Macbeth and the significant art Dan, both attaches to the idea of corruption due to excessive power. Both central characters become unethical, because of power. From Macbeth, Macbeth wants the power of the throne, but attaining it would be through evil deeds. Macbeth hesitates a lot to carry his design to execution. For example, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife and guide mentor, shows her wicked and artful personality, when stating, “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it”. Lady Macbeth explains to us how Macbeth should act to attain what he wants. This shows how this is corrupting Macbeth’s character, which would lead to his demise. Later on we see that all the trust that Macbeth had for others is now completely gone and it is all due to corruption. After killing the king, Macbeth is in complete guilt and shame. That supported – unworthy power has driven Macbeth to lose his sense of reality, when stating, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine”. Truly, the power of guilt is already over him. Similarly, in the art Dan, Dan limits emotional and mental power. She craves to feel that power, yet decides to fulfill this by corrupting her environment, which eventually could lead to the corruption of others. Gregg Segal adds a lot of meaning to his portrait. For example, the use of disposable items in that picture shows her uncontrolled eager, knowing that this kind of stuff can be controlled and minimized in usage. Moreover, the fact that Dan is using smokes to comfort her, adds to the idea of controlling her impulsive power. Moreover, the film V for Vendetta, and the art Dan, reflect their possessed power for the sake of spreading awareness to the people.

The film V for Vendetta and the art Dan, both show representations of power in terms of wielding power. Both protagonists in each of the film, and art, utilize their powers for awareness. In the film, V uses internal power to stop the spreading of fear towards the people, yet sets freedom to them. For instance, V’s superhuman strength allows him to overpower most enemies. Furthermore, V’s skill in art of demolition allows his revolution to grow, spreading his message to thousands of people. This relates to the idea of being charismatic. V’s charisma allows him to invoke feelings of rebellion in the nation with his speeches, and inspire numerous of people to don his mask and join his cane. V is iconic and ambiguous, when stating, “Did you think to kill me? … There’s an idea. Ideas are bullet proof”. McTeigue tries to make a statement about ideas, and how ideas are every human’s sword and shield. The moment that an idea manages to create doubt to our reality and instigates rationality in a captured mind, a person becomes enlightened and sees new purposes, new beliefs. Furthermore, he uses “The Mask” as a symbol of anarchism and revolution. People’s acceptance for wearing the mask, shows their support to V and his anarchy. Similarly, in the art ‘Dan, Dan’s low self-esteem and lack of ambition, in addition to her lying down in garbage show her impetuous power. Yet this power made her exaggerate her usage of junk. This acknowledges the amount of garbage that can be controlled by a person in an environment. She tries to show people how the causes of such power that cannot be controlled or even managed. Segal features an individual, where most people in that age attempt to consume excess and unnecessary waste. Moreover, he uses a wide camera shot angle, to highlight the meaning of the portrait. It shows how garbage is actually overcoming us. Not only-but also, to show that the subject in that case, is both victim and perpetrator, which makes most audiences uncomfortable.

Lastly, all three items can be compared in terms of wielded power, and how each individual resulted in such events. These three items have many thematic topics that are in common. All items contain content related to dissatisfaction, suffering, and lack of freedom. However, one of most important and common point is the presence of impulsive power. In Macbeth, Shakespeare seeks to talk about how the protagonist, Macbeth, uses his impulsive power to attain the throne. Similarly, in V for Vendetta, V uses his impulsive power to set freedom and stop fear in London. In addition to the art Dan, the central character, Dan, uses her impulsive power to aware many of us from our wasteful habits, knowing that most people cannot visualize what they are doing. Overall, the representation of power can be correlated in the play Macbeth, the film V for Vendetta, and the art Dan due to power’s corruption, demonstration, and impetuosity. In all three mediums, we clearly see how one abuses power and sustains loss. This ideology is common throughout all three pieces.