The Power of Wealth

Act 2, Scene 2

How comical life is.  How the tables turn so swiftly. How erratic our species is, inconsistent in our faithfulness and our judgments of others. It’s because of these unfortunate characteristics of our kind, that I hardly find it strange that my country’s people, just as my mother has done, had accepted their new king with open arms, failing to see that he does not come close to the status of their previous king. What nincompoops! To accept what’s in front of them, as if they hadn’t perceived it as trash before. “It is not very strange. For my uncle is King of Denmark, and those that would make mouths at him while my father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is something in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out.” Power most certainly does attract praise and tension, irrespective of whether that power was obtained in an immoral and spineless way. The man in which our town once bantered constantly, and neglected is now praised. His portraits make children happy.  The world is funny in this fact that nonentities can become important individuals with the acquiring of wealth and power. What a crude world this can be, and how unfair it can treat certain individuals. How low it is for these leeches and insects feed on pretense. Does his wealth and possession make him any better than the ones he rules. Do we not all end up in the same position when death decides to put our bodies to rest? Do they know of what a low man he is in honesty? Just as they had once praised my father cheers and attention, they now dish the same nonsense on my uncle.