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David Weeks

Mr. Walters

English IV

21 May 2019

Abusive Governments’ Impact on Citizen in British Literature

British Literature consists of dark and dreary thematic books and novels, with authors

such as: William Shakespeare, George Orwell, and Philip K Dick. Williams Shakespeare’s

Tragedy of MacBeth tells a story of a king who rose to power through murder and collusion, but

eventually backfires. George Orwell’s 1984 shows a dystopian society that has total control of its

citizens, however one citizen goes against the party and pays for it. Lastly, Minority Report

written by Philip K. Dick unpacks an eventful adventure of a man accused of murder, by a

society that predicts crimes before they happen. Each author writes a completed different story

but the themes of the books and the character's hardships are quite similar. The authors had a

common idea in mind that humans can be quite savage once pushed to a certain point in

humanity.

All three books focus on societies abused by their governments. For example in Minority

Report there was a “Pre Crime” unit of the police force where precogs (mutant people with a

special ability to see into the future, but are harassed for there visions into the future) would

predict a crime before it was going to happen. The main character Anderton was a chief at the

unit when he found his name for murder from the pre cogs. This government in minority report

pushes its citizens to be so worried about if there name gets called for a future crime they do not
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know they will commit that it drives them almost crazy. When Anderton name is called he leaves

his family and wife to go escape the police but decides to defy the law and ends up murdering

someone because he believes it is right.

George Orwell’s 1984 is an extremely distinct when looking at how the futuristic

government abuses its’ citizens. The party in 1984 controlled everything so much in detail it

heard what you say with microphones, saw what you do with cameras, and would not let you

own anything. “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull”

(Orwell, 1948). The Protagonist, Winston Smith, states this after he is fed up with the

government for not allowing him to do anything. Then he gets worried that the thought crime

would come and arrest him. The government is so controlling they threaten their citizens with

thought crime so it makes it illegal if you think against the ways of the government. The ways of

the government affected their citizens by influencing the youth. “What was worst of all was that

by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable

little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline

of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it…. All their

ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors,

saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their

own children (Orwell, 1948). This quote by Winston Smith emphasizes the innocence of the

youth being taken away, furthermore pushing the human nature to a point of breaking. These

human rights being taken from the citizens turned the humans into barbarous, sexually

orientated, monsters. Winston Smith has thoughts and dreams about raping and murdering

woman in deep detail. When he finally meets a girl who wants to rebel like him they go to a

special place in the woods where there are no cameras and no microphones. He says how he
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wants to rape and murder her. This just shows how a abusive government that controls

everything affects humans psychologically.

William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of MacBeth peeks into what the other two authors forced

their audience to ponder, how savage is man capable of ? His story of MacBeth cheating his way

to the throne by killing the current king so he could overtake. In Act 1 Scene 7 “f it were done

when ’tis done, then ’there well It were done quickly… He’s here in double trust: First, as I am

his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against

his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself (MacBeth). This quote proves that

MacBeth killed Duncan (the old king). This emphasizes the point that humans will go to barzare

levels to get what they want or think is right. Shakespeare also touches on the danger of the

innocence just like George Orwell as MacDuff’s family is caught between the crossfire of

MacBeth and MacDuff’s feud. MacBeth sends a group of assassins to kill the whole family

which portrays that human nature allows a person to become this cruel with power. MacBeth

abused his power by killing anyone and everything that stood in his way for example the

MacDuff family and King Duncan. This boastfulness lead to his demise as he was told his fate

just like Anderton from Minority Report but tried to change the future. Shakespeare and Philip K

Dick bring up another question of, “Determinism vs Free Will”.

In conclusion all 3 authors promote questions to the audience to be answered; Is life

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determined path or is it a free joy ride? Both Philip K Dick and Shakespeare books’ would argue

that it is a determined path as the witches told MacBeth to beware of MacDuff and MacDuff

killed him. The Precog said Anderton would murder, Anderton did murder. The other question

that is brought up in these books is, how far will mankind go to get what they think is right or

what they want. All three authors have a common theme of main characters going to extreme

measures to get do what they think is right. Anderton murders the head Leopold Kaplan,

MacBeth kills Duncan to presume the throne, and Winston Smith thinks of raping woman

because he feels it is right to defy the government. In solution these books all are brought by the

everlasting effects after reading, as you learn just how capable humans are of terrible things and

understand how to deal with determinism versus free will.

Works Cited

Dick, Philip K. The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick: the Minority Report. Carol Pub. Group,

1987.

Orwell, George. 1984. New American Library, 1955.

Shakespeare, William, and Daniel Fischlin. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Rock's Mills Press, 2017.