Contaminated Motives The very essence of money creates an urge of human nature to obtain it, and have an excess of it. Fame and money go hand in hand; if you have one, you have the other. One also must understand that money equals power; people aspire to money. When people come into wealth and begin rising to the top of the social ladder, history dictates they usually become corrupted, and sometimes compromise their personal values. Do they believe this is for the common good, or merely for personal benefit? In the novels Great Expectations and The Great Gatsby, the protagonists, Pip and Jay Gatsby respectively, believe their