An Essay on Manipulation in Macbeth

manipilation as a tool for power desire

Society has few resources, or those that exist have to be fought for by the members of that community. In the process of having to achieve or utilize these resources, most people tend to outsmart each other through various strategies. One of the ways that people society use in attaining their ambitions is through manipulation. In Macbeth, there are several events that exemplifies the idea of manipulation. Mainly, Lady Macbeth using her marriage to Macbeth to manipulate him, and Macbeth using the murderer's poverty to push them into killing Banquo.

William Shakespeare demonstrates the effect of manipulation in marriage through the activities of Lady Macbeth. In the text, Shakespeare exposes readers to a situation where Macbeth has just returned from a battle that he has won. Shortly after, the witches had told Macbeth that he had an opportunity of becoming the king which Macbeth happens to share with Lady Macbeth about prophecies that the witches had told him when they were coming from the battle. When Lady Macbeth hears these assertions from her husband, she persuades him to hatch a plan of killing King Duncan. However, Macbeth is unequivocal against the need to kill the king for the sake of inhering the King Duncan's seat. However, Lady Macbeth is determined, and she pushes him into the idea of killing King Duncan.

In the above scenario, Shakespeare displays an example of a decision-making process in marriage. In the text, Macbeth is an adult and the head of the family and such it was expected that he had the upper hand in deciding what should be done regarding the issue. However, Lady Macbeth usurps this very expectation and convinces Macbeth into the ploy of killing King Duncan-- bringing into parallel likeness the biblical story where Eve used her power as a woman to convince Adam of sin. In both stories, women pushed men into committing an act which he was reluctant to do. Women are known to be charming because of the beauty that is associated with them. As such, when a woman threatens with the withdrawal of her affection, it becomes a concern for the husband and this may make the man to rescind on his principle. The situation in this scenario is an epitome of how a person can use her relationship into compelling the other to take a decision which originally was not his or hers. Evidently, Macbeth tries to contemplate the idea of not participating in the death of King Duncan, fearing not only mortal repercussions, but also ecclesiastical fallout that he will face in "the life to come." However, due to the threats from his wife, he continues with the plan. From this situation, it is clear that Lady Macbeth wants to enjoy the aura brought by power and status associated with being a queen; making this her motive to see King Duncan dead. Therefore, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth because she is intended to become a queen; this is a clear example of how a person the twists the minds of decision-makers in order to attain their intentions.

Moreover, in the same scene, Lady Macbeth attacks the perceived image Macbeth has of himself as means of convincing him to kill his king. Macbeth comes from a warrior society where men pride themselves on their honour and manhood, and Macbeth is no different from this.

Macbeth's desire for power pushes him to manipulate the power granted to him by kingship to ensure the continuity of his reign. At first, Macbeth did not display any outright intentions of being power hungry. The very thought of committing regicide makes seated heart knock at my ribs However, when Lady Macbeth succeeds in manipulating him, Macbeth becomes obsessed with power and manipulates every situation to protect his leadership. It seems that he has noticed the significance and sweetness of power. As such, King Macbeth realized that the witches had also indicated that after some time the children of Banquo would also ascend to power. With such prophecy, King Macbeth felt threatened, and he knew that if he does not act, then leadership will get out of his line

After such thoughts, King Macbeth plots a scheme of killing Banquo but through proxies. However, the murderers are not ready to engage in the act before King Macbeth gives them a clear explanation about the reason for killing Banquo and his son. However, using manipulative tactics, Macbeth convinces them to believe that Banquo is their enemy. In the text, Shakespeare says that "That it was he, in the times past, which held you so under fortune, which you thought had been our innocent self.... And are you so gospel led to pray for this good man and for this issue, whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave and beggared yours forever?" From these sentiments, King Macbeth appears to convince the killers that the poverty that they are enduring is because of Banquo. As a result of such lies, Macbeth manages to convince the killers who accept to go and murder Banquo. From this scene, the writer shows some of the strategies that people use in actualizing their manipulative tactics. Here, Macbeth decides to be deceptive and make the killers accept his plan. Deception makes the killers connect their poverty to Banquo. One of the ways that people manipulate others is by making certain people believe that certain persons are the cause of the pain that they are enduring. As such, when people who are enduring this pain gets fooled by these deceptions they act according to the interests of the manipulator. In this case, what Macbeth does is to ensure that he makes the killers believe that he cares about their needs and is one of them. However, in the whole scenario, it is Macbeth who will benefit. He wants to use these murderers as a platform of protecting his power.

From the above scenarios, it is evident that King Macbeth and Macbeth use manipulation to achieve their intentions. In the case of Macbeth, she influences her husband to kill King Duncan because she wants a particular status. It appears that Lady Macbeth wants to be the queen and she uses her position as a wife to lure his husband into the killing of King Duncan. Women are known in some cases to use their beauty to deceive and influence the decisions of their spouses. Beauty is a tool that most women use, and this is one of the strategies that they use to execute their agenda of manipulation. On the part of King Macbeth, he uses lies to make the murderers believe him so that he retains power. The revelations in this text demonstrate two tools that people use for their manipulative missions, and they include lies and beauty. In most cases, women use their beauty, as manifested in the case of Macbeth, and lies on the part of men. Importantly, one notices that in this scenario the impetus for the manipulation and control is power. Both Macbeth and his wife have developed a desire for power, and they manipulate situations to favor their ambitions.

I am not a native speaker of English so I found Shakespeare's work kind of hard to understand. However, I had to write an essay on it for my class. This is the first draft of the essay and I was hoping that someone could look over it to see what I can improve. I'm also trying to improve my writing overall so feel free to give feedback not necessarily related to my essay. Thank you.

Hi Angelo. your essay is good but lacks a punch that will show that there was a serious analysis on your part regarding the events that unfolded. I know, it is extremely difficult to understand the writing of the greatest Bard, but you should be able to get a better understanding and feel for his writing if you look up other analysis and reports regarding Macbeth online.

What you wrote is a good draft. It allows the reader to see the superficial and most immediate considerations for the manipulation that occurred on both sides. What you need to present, in addition to that, is information about the mindset of the two characters that drove their desire for power at the expense of manipulating those around them. What was the psychological factor that each character faced that led to their desire to manipulate others or their internal weakness that allowed them to be manipulated as well by those around them. If you can factor that discussion into your essay, then the basis for the manipulation, in relation to their desire for power will have a better foundation for the reader to grab on to as he reads further into your essay.

By the way, look out for your spelling. You accidentally typed "inhering" when I think you meant "inheriting". Small mistakes like those distract big-time from the discussion you are presenting. You want to keep the reader focused on what you have to say so make sure you proof read and edit the paper before you submit it for scoring.