Role Of Manipulation In Macbeth

Theatre Of Manipulation

I suppose you could say that one of the methods of manipulation is to inoculate individuals with the bourgeois appetite for personal success, as said by Paulo Freire. Individuals are peppered with questions on the ways that one can so easily be manipulated and not even realize it before it is too late. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the tragic hero Macbeth allows himself to be manipulated by many methods, and though many argue that psychological complementing manipulated him the most, it really was emasculation that manipulated Macbeth past the edge.

First and foremost, Macbeth allowed himself to be manipulated by psychological complimenting. This is not the method that pushed him off the edge, rather a contributing method to the total manipulation. This

method was portrayed through the characters in the play feeding Macbeth fuel for his ambition. No doubt the witches played a part in the psychological complimenting. The weird sisters spoke of prophesies that induced his ambition, knowing very well what was to happen to him, hence misrepresenting Macbeth into going along with what seems to be their devilish scheme. The initial prophecies that are told to Macbeth addressing the titles he does not possess, machiavellian him and nourish his ambition to take action and accumulate power but this only leads to a chain of events resulting in his downfall. When Macbeth and Banquo first meet the witches, they greet him by saying, “All hail, Macbeth...thane of Glamis...thane of Cawdor...that shalt be king hereafter” (Shakespeare, 1.3.50-53). Macbeth is met with the prophecy of him becoming king and this is what triggers his ambition. The witches use the prophecy to manipulate him into thinking about becoming king and obtaining power because the prophecies compliment him in a psychological manner and influence him in a convincingly manipulative way. The witches are part of the ambitious manipulating method, they are, “instruments of destiny who give Macbeth his impulse” (Snider 213). Through Macbeth's weakness for power, he falls for the deceptive prophecies told by the witches. The method of manipulation that takes place, “drives Macbeth’s fatal self-deception; he fails to recognize the folly of taking witchcraft seriously and acting on the prophecies of the Weird Sisters, who personify his dark, innermost impulses” (Whalen 60). Macbeth was manipulated by the psychological complementing that appeared to him throughout the entirety of the play. His ambition grew, and it clouded his judgement and morality, creating the tyrant that some view him to be.

His ambition got the better of him and it was because of the unscrupulous control over him, that he became so utterly compressed, coincidently offering a piece in what led to his tragic downfall and demise.

On the other hand, arguably, Macbeth was exceedingly more manipulated by the method of emasculation. Macbeth was severely emasculated by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and this is the type of manipulation that drove him off the edge. Emasculation struck him the most in a part of his brain, maybe because of his pride and craving to be the manliest he could possibly be, or perhaps it was the fact that it was his own wife saying these things, creating his inexplicable desire to be powerful and worthy of a man. After Macbeth gets back from the war, he invites King Duncan to his household to stay the night, but his wife has incommensurable intentions. Lady Macbeth devises a plan after hearing the witches prophecy referring to Macbeth taking role as king, and decided it would be in their best interest to kill Duncan and gain power, her greed filled thirst, yearning to be quenched. Subsequently,

Macbeth realizes that killing Duncan would be immoral, and he confesses that he disapproves with the idea. Lady Macbeth gets furious and with her power hungry thoughts, she decides to emasculate Macbeth in hopes of persuading him to murder their guest. “Was the hope drunk?/ Wherein you dress’d yourself? Hath it slept since?/And wakes it now, to look so green and pale/ At what it did so freely? From this time/ Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard/ to be the same in thine own act and valour/ As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/ which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,”/Like the poor cat i’ the adage?”(Shakespeare 1.7.38-48). Lady Macbeth beats down upon her husband, telling him how cowardly he is in hopes of triggering his senses to be manly and brave, knowing that is her husband's weakness. “What beast was’t then/ that made you break this enterprise to me?/ When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And, to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place/ Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:/ They have made themselves, and that their fitness now/ does unmake you. I have given suck, and know/ How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:/ I would, while it was smiling in my face,/ Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums,/ and dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn/ As you have done to this” (1.7.52-64). Lady Macbeth is emasculating Macbeth in this method of manipulation she so strongly utilizes. She questions his manhood knowing that it is a weak point in his armour. She does not understand the concept of boundaries. Lady Macbeth is relentless in her pursuit of what she so dearly wants, and has no regard for who gets hurt along the way. Macbeth is easily manipulated by emasculation as this has obviously hit him deeply and he does not want to lose his manhood. Lady Macbeth tries to control Macbeth with emasculation telling him how he will lose his humanity if he does not do this. This strikes Macbeth and he is manipulated by something so superficial without even knowing it, as Wilson Bryan Key, Ph.D. noted in his book, The Age of Manipulation, “People generally cannot believe themselves so easily manipulated and controllable. This is precisely why they are so easy to control and manipulate”(Key). As Lady Macbeth manipulates him by laying on insult after insult, questioning his love for her as well as his manliness, he begins to think that the murder is the only option that will prove him to be strong and manly. This is exactly what Lady Macbeth wants and thus, the manipulation through emasculation works tremendously on Macbeth because it is what influences him to kill King Duncan, and sparks even more ambition, leading to his deplorable fate. The emasculation was very personal for him and so it affected him more than psychological manipulation did, indeed proving that emasculation is more powerful a manipulation method than anything else to him.