<p>Date:18/05/2013
PT 6</p>
<p>Assignment: Can success be disastrous?</p>
<pre><code>Success, the achievement of an aim or goal is a highly controversial topic. Some regard it as bliss while others view it as disastrous. However, it is not success, but rather the motive that drives you toward it that determines whether the success will be blissful or tragic. History and literature give us two individuals whose success is extremely different.
Macbeth, a Scottish general in Shakespeares play is one example of a person whose success led him to a tragic ending. He was approached by three witches who prophesized that he would become the thane of Cawdor and eventually become King of Scotland. However, instead of wating, his selfish desire for wealth and power urged him to kill the present king, King Ducan as well as his two sons. Although he did become King, his success was not only tragic but also short-lived. Guilt haunted him and he had visions and dreams of a bloody dagger. In the end, he was killed and beheaded by Malcom, a Scottish general. This example serves to admonish us that success gained through evil and selfish actions are disastrous.
Frederick Douglass success, however, is the total opposite. He escaped from slavery in Baltimore with the help of Anna Muray, a free Black women who later became his wife and ran away to New York. After his successful escape, he became a leader for the Freedom Movement with would help free other slaves. In the later part of his life, Douglass became a U.S. minister who helped the slaves in Haiti; he was the first Black man to hold such a high position in the government. We can see that success gained through kind and good intentions reaps success that is wondrous and honorable.
Thus, success is neither disastrous nor triumphant, it is the motives behind it that determine its outcome. Also these example serve as a strong warning for us to strive for success with clean and honorable motives.
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