Manipulation In Twelfth Night

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The 12th Night of Lying Proved She couldn’t be the Man and Get a Man
Being able to influence another person’s behavior in a way that benefits one’s self is emotional manipulation (Grieve and Panebianco, 2013) which was something Viola in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is familiar in, as was her counterpart in the 2006 film adaption She’s the Man directed by Andy Fickman, whether she meant to be or not. In the beginning it becomes obvious that Viola did not care about anyone else in either the play or the movie, her only priority was to benefit herself and it didn’t matter who she had to lie to (Marelich, Landquist, Painter, & Mechanic, 2008) as long as she was getting what she wanted. As a man she discovered that she wanted something that …show more content…

Viola would have answered four for strongly agree to the following statement that was used to measure psychopathy in its relation to manipulation: “I don’t plan anything very far in advance” (Grieve and Panebianco). This becomes painfully clear when Olivia fell in love with Viola’s male counterpart in both the play and the movie. Viola’s focus was on the short term survive the shipwreck (I, i), get back to playing soccer (Fickman, 2006), what happened after or during these goals being met wasn’t even thought about. It’s clear that Viola maximized her rewards and minimized the costs (Etcheverry, Le and Hoffman, 2013) by lying about her identity. She also let Olivia fall for someone who doesn’t exist and continually confirmed the existence of said fake person. At one point Olivia asks Cesario if he is an actor, Viola answers: “No, my profound heart; and yet—by the fangs of malia I swear—I am not that I play” (I, v, 174-177). This not only says that Cesario is telling the truth, but swears that he is not an Actor, which by definition, she is. It also confirms that Cesario is what he looks like, even though he isn’t, thus confirming to Olivia that this attractive person is, in fact, a man. lf-serving people tend to fake who they are to get into a relationship (Marelich et, 2008), not avoid one. Viola’s appearance isn’t the only thing to cause …show more content…

All Viola has to do to get what she wants is to tell the truth. Once Viola tells the truth she is able to have a romantic

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