This paper examines how William Shakespeare creates the tension between the ideal and the pragmatic in his play "Antony and
Cleopatra", but ultimately approves of Antony and Cleopatra's imaginative
power over Caesar's practical but corrupted political power. In comparison, it looks at how "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding questions the power of civilisation and altruism in the face of
barbarity while the movie "Dr Strangelove", directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a product of its context and depicts the horror of the destructive nature of man, as a result of the power plays that are happening between the most "powerful" men in the world.