Pragmatics and manipulation in three shakespearean tragedies
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Wyman, Chris
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The power of language to shape perception and the consequences of its misuse are a common theme throughout Shakespeare’s tragedies. Time and again the playwright tells stories of cunning manipulators who pursue their goals through their influence over others rather than through direct action. This study considers examples of manipulation in Othello, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar through the lens of linguistic pragmatism’s Speech Act Theory and Relevance Theory. Using these theories, I seek to understand how Shakespeare constructs tragically plausible manipulative discourse. Analysis of the discourse between three manipulator-manipulatee pairings – Iago and Othello, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, and Antony and the plebeians – reveals a pattern of discourse wherein the manipulator seeks to constrain the context in which their manipulatee interprets information via strategic violations of the Co-operative and Politeness Principles, thus allowing the manipulatee to believe that they have drawn their own conclusion when in actuality the manipulator has coached them to it. In all three plays, manipulators abuse the principles of Speech Act and Relevance Theory in their discourse in order to privilege contexts beneficial to themselves, and in so doing, gain dominance over their manipulatees.
Description
Keywords
Shakespeare, Pragmatics, Manipulative discourse