<p>A couple of things: </p>
<ol>
<li>The conclusion is short because I literally had no room left at the end.</li>
<li>To my knowledge, Jean Fourrier is not a real person, nor is Tannhauser a city (I think it’s an opera by Wagner)</li>
</ol>
<p>Prompt (Simplified and Shortened): Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power?</p>
<p>Ever since the creation of society and civilization, man has had to live (or at least, attempt to live) harmoniously with his peers. Unfortunately, as demonstrated by failed utopias throughout history (from Brook Farm and Oneida in 1840s America to the 20th century European communities of Jean Fourrier), harmony has never existed for an extensive period in society. While man’s conscience may beg him to “do the right thing,” ulterior motives supercede ethics and conscience. As shown by Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” money and power are far more powerful motivators than conscience.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2009, financial expert Bernard Madoff was discovered by United States (US) officials for having conducted a money-laundering Ponzi scheme. With guile and cunning like a fox, Madoff had planned and executed his devilish plan in 2003, during an economic boom. At the time, celebrities and plebeians alike decided to invest with Madoff, who knew that the victims of his swindling were completely ignorant to his greedy, money-motivated plan. For a while, Madoff’s plan was working; his investors were deliriously happy at their financial growth under the guidance of an investment guru, and Madoff himself lavishly spent his clients’ hard-earned money on the finest luxury items of the world–even though he knew full well that the financial securities he sold were a ticking bomb ready to explode. After an over-speculation-induced recession hit, Madoff’s worried customers asked for their money, but it had vanished; Madoff’s cruel, self-conscious plan had been discovered. During his trial, Madoff admitted that he knew of the dangers of his bonds and that he did not disclose this information, citing the possibility that nobody would buy if they knew the odds of failure.</p>
<p>The character of Marc Antony in “Julius Caesar” was an opportunistic, two-faced villain just like Madoff. Antony desired to be the Roman emperor–to have the power to control people from Casablanca to Constantinople and from Tannhauser to Tripoli. Being friends with Cassius and Brutus, Antony soon learned of the Roman senators’ plans to assassinate Caesar. Seeing a golden opportunity in this plot, Antony quickly agreed to help. On the Ides of March, Antony lured Caesar to the Forum, where a large group of senators–all jealous of Caesar’s power–assassinated him with knives. While the Roman people felt liberated by this and threw their support behind Brutus, Antony turned all of them into a mob that wanted Brutus dead through a funeral elegy in which he famously proclaims, “And Brutus is an honorable man.” Antony incites the mob violence and indirectly kills all of those who assassinated Caesar. A paradigm of an opportunist, Marc Antony allowed his desire for power transcend his conscience, which told him about the evils of his actions. </p>
<p>Money and power are both objects that we materialistic humans value very much–so much so that we are willing to give up our consciences for them.</p>