Masters of Manipulation
William Shakespeare, a master of drama, knew all too well how to portray the conflicts of his characters. Just as in life, a few key persons control the tension on the stage. The constant is to control or be controlled. Three of his plays deal differently with the concept of manipulation by a single character. In “Macbeth,” it is Lady Macbeth who fiddles with her husband’s head and encourages him to act out. In “Othello,” it is the evil Iago who feeds the title character with falsehoods to achieve his mischievous agenda. And in “Antony and Cleopatra,” Cleopatra has Antony wrapped around her finger for reasons both complex and simple. How do these actions of manipulation differ?
Iago is by far the coolest, the most prepared, and the most subtle manipulator, Cleopatra is the most blatant, and Lady Macbeth falls somewhere in between the two extremes. Furthermore, Othello eventually realizes he is being manipulated, Antony never really acknowledges it (most likely from stupidity and infatuation), and Macbeth somewhat sees it and somewhat does not see it. Let us examine these ideas further.
“Othello” is a play mainly void of subplots. Its main struggle is the process Iago goes through to demean and destroy the title character. If we examine every action of every character, most of them are incited or encouraged by Iago.

The rousing up of Brabazio, the quarreling between Cassio and Roderigo, and the planting of the handkerchief, which are all integral parts of the drama, are inspired by Iago. Most significant, however, is his control over Othello. While the others may be pawns at his will, it is most important for Iago to be the master of Othello, since that is who he is trying to trick into treachery. He does this by a calm and calculated manipulation. It is the demented deviance of brilliance. He pretends he is Othello’s friend. On a scale of manipulation, this is about as subtle as one can get.

At the play’s opening, Iago declares, “I follow him to serve my turn upon him” (Oth., 1.1, 42). He identifies himself as a man who follows others only to take advantage when the time is right. For this he “has soul.”

To earn the trust of Othello, Iago quite ingeniously sets himself up to “diffuse” all of the catastrophes he creates in the play. For example, after he engineers a scheme to anger Othello with Cassio, he instructs Cassio to visit with Desdemona, to ask her to persuade Othello to forgive him. This fuels the thoughts that Iago plants in Othello’s mind that Desdemona is untrue. Iago employs reverse damage control. To be this manipulative, one must be totally involved in the lives of those he seeks to dominate. Iago is by far the one of all three manipulators who puts the most time and energy into his endeavors. He has prepared well.

Lady Macbeth has had less time to prepare, though she has certainly thought of being queen before, as her husband has dreamed of being king. Iago works on vengeance, but she is fueled by ambition. Preparation seems very important to Lady Macbeth, who is extremely concerned with how others view her. However, as soon as she receives Macbeth’s letter, she must quickly snap into manipulative mood to get her husband to do what she wants. Her reasonings are persuasive, but she is not as good at masking her true ambitions as Iago is. She builds her argument for Macbeth to kill the king like this: After her husband declares he will not kill the man, she immediately calls him a coward. Then her argument becomes a bit more sophisticated when she says to him that if he thought about it once, he really ought to go through with it. Her manipulations really hit home when she tells her husband that there will never be a better time or place to do the dirty deed. It is this argument that finally pulls her husband in. He stops resisting and simply asks, “If we should fail?” (Mac. 1.7. 59). After that, Lady Macbeth blasts into her plan to kill the king. While it sounds well, it is not as clever as most of Iago’s schemes. It backfires. She never really thinks about what to do with Duncan’s sons. She is not as rehearsed as Iago.

Even more important is the fact that this woman loses control soon after her deed. Unlike Iago, who almost walks away free, Lady Macbeth is not strong enough to continue. Pretty soon, it is Macbeth’s show, and Lady Macbeth only returns to kill herself in a daze of regret and hallucination. This woman has lost control of others and of herself. Perhaps she seems more human than Iago. She starts off at his demonic level but quickly sinks down. Iago knows when, where, and how hard to hit. Lady Macbeth is a bit more clumsy.

If Lady Macbeth falls into the middle, Cleopatra is the other extreme. She is blatant and sometimes very unrehearsed in her manipulations of Antony. Her actions demonstrate a brash and uncalculated woman who is trying to test her lover to see what he will take. Then again, this may be just the surface. Who knows what is really going on inside of her? She gives very few clues.

There is a certain supernatural manipulation by Cleopatra that must be mentioned. When Antony meets the “rare Egyptian” (A & C, 2.2, 224) he is drawn to her, as are all those around. He invites her to dinner, yet she insists on having him as her guest. There is something about this woman that makes men obey her. It is obvious and it is sudden.

The first instance in dialogue of Cleopatra manipulating Antony is when he is about to return to Rome. Like Lady Macbeth, she offers a list of reasons as to why he should not go. She is so over-the-top it is funny. First she says she is going to faint. Then she draws the conclusion that Antony is going to visit his wife and pretty much yells, “Fine, go to her! See if I care! Never come back!” Of course she does not mean this. Then she goes into self-pity mode, and then she says he never loved her. For one character to display so many faces in such a short time is remarkable. Even when Antony says his wife is dead, she is still hollering at him, saying something like, “But she is dead and you don’t even care? What happens when I die!” Poor Antony cannot win. Cleopatra may be this ridiculous because she knows she already has Antony no matter what. She has room to flex her muscles. Iago is one unbelievable extreme and Cleopatra is the other.

A testament to Cleopatra’s whimsical nature is seen when she fakes her death to sway Antony’s opinion but then changes her mind. One who seeks to control someone must stick to the plan, or else it may backfire. Iago never decides he will not use the handkerchief at the last minute. Then again, Cleopatra knows she does not have to stick with the plan. She has this man already. What is her agenda?

Othello, in the end, sees he has been betrayed by Iago. He sees his own foolish contributions to the fiasco, such as believing Desdemona was saying words of love to Cassio when she really was not. He asks to be remembered as he is, one who acted on what he was told, “perplexed in the extreme” (Oth., 5.2, 355). Othello is even aware enough to ask Iago why he has behaved in such a manner, though Iago will give away no secrets. The viewer sees that Othello has seen the horror found in acting brashly. Othello finally understands what has happened.

Macbeth is by far more a mystery. At the end, we really wonder what he has learned and how much of the manipulation he has realized. However, Macbeth is different from Othello and Antony anyway in that he grows from the manipulation into something strong-willed and terrifying. He takes the manipulators’ causes (Lady Macbeth and the witches) as his own. In the famous “tomorrow” soliloquy, Macbeth admits that he can make no conclusions of what just happened to him. He recognizes everything but he knows not what it means. He is half aware.

Poor Antony never realizes the extent of the manipulation. He leaves a battle not once, but twice after his mistress. Because of this he loses the war. Would Macbeth leave the battle for his wife? Not at all. By that time he is rather disconnected from her and her passing is more of an afterthought to him. Even in death Antony is still being toyed with. Cleopatra does not even let him speak his last words until he finally begs her, spurts them out, and dies.

It is now evident that these three Shakespeare plays deal differently with manipulation. While Iago is well composed and subtle, he seems unrealistic at times. Most of the play revolves around him. However, his tormented subject eventually realizes all. Lady Macbeth is somewhat prepared and subtle but also somewhat transparent and ill equipped. Her husband eventually sees what has happened but cannot make sense of it. Cleopatra is blatant and brash. She knows she can afford to be this way because she has Antony for life, whether it be supernatural or not. And poor Antony never really realizes the spell this woman has over him. If he does he does not often admit it or try to resist.