Examples Of Manipulation In Macbeth

In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth challenges her husband by saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man and, to be more than what you were, you would.” (1.7) By insulting his masculinity, she makes Macbeth feel defensive and manipulates him into killing King Duncan to prove his strength. In the works Macbeth, Jekyll and Hyde, and Part Time Indian, people trick others in order to obtain what they want. However, the characters who have used deception or manipulation ultimately experience consequences ranging from mild to severe. When people deceive or manipulate others, they ultimately don’t just hide the truth, but hide their true form in order to conceal something much larger.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both use deception to benefit themselves, each suffering terrible results. First, Lady Macbeth

manipulates her husband into killing the King because she was power hungry. At first Macbeth was unwilling to kill for her, but she got to him and made him do the deed. She convinces Macbeth by saying, “But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep— Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey Soundly invite him” (act 1, scene 7). Later in the play, she can’t stand her self-guilt and feels suicide is her only option. Right before Lady Macbeth commits suicide she cries out, “out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to

account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (5.1) While Lady Macbeth sleep walks, reminiscent of her past sins, she tries to wash her bloody hands. Upon realizing that no amount of cleaning can rid her of her guilt, Lady Macbeth on the brink of insanity, loses a part of herself by the fact she’s unable to think rationally or sleep.
Macbeth also plays a deceitful character in the Shakespearean play. In the beginning of the play he was a loyal subject to the king. However, he tricks everyone by betraying his loyalty and listening to his manipulative wife and murdering King Duncan. Macbeth initially admits "as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” (1.7) He is expressing that he is a loyal servant to the king, however he deceived and assassinated him all in the name of power and ultimate goals.
Macbeth was obsessed about ruling over his kingdom that he goes so far as to betray even his best friend, Banquo. He prioritized power and kingship over friendship. In Act 3, Scene 1, Macbeth convinces Banquo’s murderers that Banquo was the enemy and he has made everyone’s lives more difficult. In building up their rage, Macbeth suggests that to prove ultimate worth and masculinity, they must fill their duties and murder Banquo in revenge. Furthermore, Macbeth challenges them, saying if they are truly loyal to the kingdom, they will kill Banquo.
Another novel filled with the art of deception is “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Dr. Jekyll constantly lies to those around him concerning whom Mr.
Hyde is and his whereabouts. His constant games of deception fools everyone around him, even up to the point of death where he finally admits he is the true Mr. Hyde.
The first example where deception is seen is when Enfield, Mr.

Utterson’s distant cousin, refuses to tell Utterson that Jekyll was the name on the check. He did not want

his friend Utterson, to think anything wrong about Jekyll. Another example of deception is Dr. Jekyll himself. He does not reveal his secret even to his best friends until after his death. In order to cover up his secret, he either makes it seem that everything is fine or he pretends to be ill. Even though Mr. Utterson was always suspicious, he had no clue the extent of the secret that his best friend was keeping from him.

The lie of not knowing who Mr. Hyde is spans the entire book. Dr. Jekyll lies about not knowing Hyde, leads to giving Utterson, a very good friend to Jekyll, a big shock when he finds out that his best friend had been deceiving him the whole time. Also the shock of the lie, kills Dr. Lanyon, another dear friend of Jekyll.

Another example of Jekyll using deceit is when he tells Utterson “the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde.” This lie effects Dr. Jekyll because it gives him false hope that he can stop turning into Hyde, but really he is not in control

anymore.
The novel, “Absolute Diary of a Part Time Indian” also displays some form of deception. The plot is about a boy named Junior who lives on an Indian reservation, but attends an all-white high school off the reservation. Junior constantly deals with racism at his new high school and back on the reservation being called a “traitor” by his ex-best friend. Also, Junior must fight to improve his social standing both at his new all-white high school and back home.
Junior has to use the technique of deception in order to conceal his identity to protect himself from dealing with racism and social expectations. On the reservation,he gets picked on and bullied for being somewhat different than the others. When he goes to his new school he has to lie who he really is and basically starts a new life there. He becomes a star basketball player on the all-white high school team.