Manipulation is one of the most prevalent themes In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. This is primarily demonstrated through the way that the protagonist’s thoughts and actions are directly affected by external forces. Macbeth is easily swayed by the ideas of his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches. All of this eventually cumulates in the total exploitation of his original traits and initial motivations.
One of the first examples of Macbeth’s course of action being swayed is when he is faced with the three Witches. They greet him as “Thane of Glamis…, Thane of Cawdor…, and king hereafter…” (Act 1, Scene 3). Not even a scene later, they are proven to be a semi-trustworthy source by the announcement of Macbeth being the new Thane of Cawdor. It has already been preestablished that Macbeth is a warrior who strives for glory, and so it’s easy to see that this event, paired with his natural ambition, lit the spark for his further actions. Though he immediately becomes disgusted with himself, one
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She uses manipulative tactics such as emasculation and shame to steer Macbeth towards a different path. Without her influence, he might have chosen not to actively pursue the throne in such a violent way. This is evident in his behaviour when it comes time for them to execute their plan and murder King Duncan: “We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon” (Act 1, Scene 7). We can assume that Shakespeare was trying to demonstrate that the amount of love Macbeth has for his wife directly correlates to how effective her manipulation would be on him, as he ultimately decides to abandon his original point of view and go through with the