Shakespeare

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Shakespeare
Comparison between Richard and Lady Macbeth in Manipulating
In his books Shakespeare has created female and male to compare their characters in different scenarios. At first he introduces Richard III who manipulates Anne during her husband’s burial procession. Anne constantly blames Richard for the death of King Henry VI, as she sees the body of the husband bleeding when Richard comes close to the corpse a traditional belief that the community refer to. It was believed that when a murderer gets near the corpse the wounds bleed afresh. Richard uses the opportunity to manipulate Anne so that she can forgive and accept even though he constantly denies being involved in the murder. On the hand, the author has a woman character Lady Macbeth whom he introduces as a dangerous, frightening and mighty woman. Lady Macbeth on the first encounter she is presented as a ruthless and ambitious when she is planning the murder of her husband Duncan the king. This paper will compare the manipulation of men by women and women by men when they both need to achieve their selfish deeds.
In as much as Anne is accusing Richard, he ignores the insults and instead starts praising her beauty and gentleness. He even goes to the extent of using religion to get to her heart by asking her why she hasn’t forgiven her yet she was a Christian but goes insist he did not kill the husband. He gives her the opportunity to murder him and when she stabs him he confesses that he killed the husband because he loved her and was jealous which makes her the sword.

Consequently, Richard takes his ring and he puts in her fingers and begins to promise her happiness if she agrees to marry her. It is clear that Richard is manipulating Anne by playing with her psychology especially when she is now lonely and in pain of losing her husband. It is easier for Anne to fall for Richard since he has offered comfort to her when clearly has ominous skill and lying to her.
On the other hand Macbeth on the battlefield appears to be a man who has courage and brevity. However, the physical courage is influenced by his ambitions, bravery and self-doubt and he starts a plan to murder Duncan. Coincidentally, he gets the support of Lady Macbeth who is Duncan’s wife to plot and execute murder. Lady Macbeth, unlike her husband Duncan she had no humanity and this is achieved by her using spirits to deprive her any human feminine character that would make her care. Apparently, she would despise the husband for lack of course in the battlefield though in the public she acts as a sex-goddess who consequently entices her husband to her castle. It is ironical that after the murder of Duncan she faints, which shows failure in her hardened ruthlessness. The turn of events is too much for her, and she eventually becomes mentally unstable and speaks to herself. Later on she is forced to confess her deeds in the murder of her husband.
In the play, it is evident that women do manipulate men but their effect is quite mild as it is Duncan was still in control of the kingdom in as much as his wife wanted to be the queen. Scorning him did not have an effect and she would just manipulate him using intimacy which was easier way to prey him. However, Richard uses words and deeds and promises to win Anne and let her forget the pain yet he is responsible for her husband’s death. Conclusively, it is not dangerous for women to manipulate men as in this case.
Richard III and Macbeth
Shakespeare’s “Richard III” and “Macbeth” show a lot about power in the early days. They are interesting pieces that clearly describe how these different rulers ruled their kingdoms. Both rulers were aggressive tyrants who openly abused the power. Two passages that best talk about the abuse of power include the scrivener’s complaint in 3.6 of Richard III and Lennox’s complaint in 3.6 of Macbeth. These show that there was an abuse of power, hypocrisy and tyranny.
In Richard III, scene 3.6 the scrivener complains of the bad state of affairs where they knew that there was tyranny but no one dared to mention it. This shows that King Richard may have tried his best to be a good manipulator but was no longer fooling anybody in the kingdom. In this scene the scrivener knows that the death of Hastings was uncalled for. He was totally outraged by the fact that Buckingham and Richard tried to justify this execution which did not even have a trial. This outrage by the scrivener shows that the people of London were very concerned about what the corrupt government was doing. The fact that no one was bold enough to say what was happening did not mean that there was no tyranny. The scrivener states that “Yet who’s so bold but says he sees it not?” Showing the fact that the people did not really express what they felt.
The scrivener also shows that there was a lot of hypocrisy among the people. He condemns this hypocrisy that was there in the world. The scrivener was one who made a living out of writing and copying papers. He had just finished an assignment, to copy a paper that was to be read to all the people of London. This paper described Hastings as a traitor. However, the scrivener condemns the fact that the people were so hypocritical; they could see that the paper had a false claim but did not do anything about it. The death of Hastings was simply a lie brought about by Richard only to justify the merciless death of his rival.
We also see tyranny in Macbeth’s 3.6. Here there is a conversation between Lennox and another Lord, showing that they knew that Macbeth was lying and was responsible for the death of Banquo and King Duncan although he blamed it on other people. This shows that clearly Macbeth was a tyrant who was brutal enough to kill others for his own political ambitions. Macbeth was an absolute ruler who ruled unjustly and oppressively.
Macbeth was very hypocritical in the way he ruled the people. Macbeth personally murdered Duncan, after being urged by his wife. He also sent people to kill Banquo. Duncan was killed in Act II and Banquo in Act III. Later on Macbeth hypocritically behaves as if he is remorseful of the two deaths. After both murders, there was a problem in the natural order of things and it was clear that there was an abuse of power and hypocrisy.
Both these excerpts show that there was an abuse of power by the tyrants who ruled at the time. This is because they used the fact that as rulers, they were supposed to take care of the best interests of the public. Instead, they went on to use their power to do all sorts of injustices to ensure that no one opposed their leadership.