From FDR to Spiderman - with Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

With great power comes great responsibility. It is not precisely clear where this quote has originated; some credit President Franklin D. Roosevelt, while the more popular reference belongs to the relatively recent "Spiderman" film. Regardless of its origin, its truth is evident when discussing various literary works in terms of disadvantages that accompany being the authority figure. The more power an individual wields, the farther the reaches and effects of this power, the more responsibility comes with it, and this responsibility almost never leads to positive developments. Despite the increased responsibility, however, the person in a position of authority tends to grow to like this power and to be loath to give it up. The consequence is pervasive fear that others are scheming to wrest this power for themselves, which in turn leads to the development of highly negative personality traits, such as suspiciousness and jealousy. Even this is not the end of disadvantages accompanying being in a position of authority; individuals in this position also tend to acquire a belief that their position automatically means that they are always right, robbing them of the ability to give due consideration to opinions of others.

The great responsibility falling on the shoulders of persons in positions of authority comes with the territory, so to speak. A solitary person usually is responsible only for oneself. A head of a household is responsible for this household. An officer in the army is responsible for the well being of his unit. A king is responsible for his entire realm and often must do things that ultimately prove detrimental to himself in order to fulfill these responsibilities. Even then, a king is not always successful in advancing the interests of his subjects.

Examples of increased responsibilities for persons in positions of authority, both mortal and divine, abound in art and literature. In the Aeneid, for example, Aeneas does his best - and often fails - to ensure the well being of his troops and fellow Trojans on their predestined trek to Italy. The anguish he experiences when he loses comrades clearly shows how seriously he takes his responsibility toward them. In the same work, Jove, the king of the gods, is forced to deal with conflicting interests and rivalries of other gods, sometimes ending up going against his self-interests. In Gilgamesh, both the earthly royalty (Gilgamesh) and the divine one (Anu) are repeatedly inundated with supplicants and take time and effort from personal pursuits to resolve conflicts and fulfill requests. In Antigone, Creon's edict to forbid the burial rites to Polyneices can be seen as an act in furtherance of the interests of the state, as Polyneices has led a foreign invading army with the goal of sacking Thebes. His decision - and especially his obstinate refusal to repeal it despite arguments brought against it by his niece Antigone, his son Haemon, and the Chorus - eventually prove disastrous for him personally. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus embarks on a quest to find Laius's killer so as to lift the apparent curse hanging over Thebes until the murder remains unresolved. Even as his realization that the discovery will be catastrophic to him personally grows, Oedipus does not stop the investigation. On the surface, it appears that he still hopes that the truth will be something other than the horror he suspects, but in essence, Oedipus sacrifices himself and his family for the good of Thebes; his wife commits suicide, he blinds himself, and his children become an abomination, but the realm is saved from the plague.

Despite the brunt of added responsibilities, no individual in a position of authority in any of the texts is ready to let go of it (Oedipus indeed does so in the end, but at that point, with his wife dead and his house disgraced, it does not matter anymore). They all enjoy their power and jealously guard against infringements on it. In the Aeneid, a good example of it is the gods who often are incapable of collaborating on anything because they are constantly guarding against other gods' infringement onto their personal domains.

At times, the fear of losing power borders on paranoia, as happens with both Oedipus and Creon. Faced with a difference of opinion, the first thing that comes to mind to either one is a conspiracy to rob them of their royal station, and each one throws accusations around indiscriminately and without any evidence. Oedipus, faced with a prophecy from Teiresias that points at him as Laius's murderer, immediately thinks that the well-respected prophet is conspiring with Creon, Oedipus's brother-in-law and co-ruler of Thebes, to shoulder Oedipus aside and rule on his own. Once Oedipus gets this into his head, he appears blind to any argument, no matter how logical, that Creon brings forth in his defense. Seemingly forgetting his own experience, Creon does exactly the same thing when faced with differing opinions coming from Antigone, Haemon, and later the same Teiresias who confronted Oedipus. Refusing to listen to reason, Creon accuses Antigone of breaking the law, Haemon of betrayal, and Teiresias of false prophesizing.

What makes the situation even worse is that neither Oedipus nor Creon fully realizes that their decisions and actions eventually led them to their respective catastrophes. Instead, both lament that they receive divine punishment. Creon, for one, exclaims while carrying Haemon's body in his arms: "Some god clutching a great weight struck my head, then hurled me onto paths in wilderness, throwing down and casting underfoot what brought me joy" (1417-1420). They find it difficult to accept that just because they are in a position to issue the final ruling on any matter governing their realm does not mean that all or even the majority of these rulings will be the correct ones. This belief in their own infallibility is the likeliest reason for their dismissive attitudes toward opinions and arguments of others, and it takes the terribly tragic events beyond their scope of influence to bring some humility into their lives.