Manipulation in Relationships: A Study of 'The Tempest' and 'Lady Susan'

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What would it be like to live in a world where you are manipulated by someone taking care of you and someone you trust? A manipulative relationship is one-sided and unbalanced, advancing the goals of the manipulator at the expense of the person being manipulated (Gadsden 1). Although both Miranda and Frederica enjoyed a small amount of freedom, a majority of their lives and decisions were influenced and manipulated by those they trusted and loved. After reading The Tempest and Lady Susan, we have come to find that there is one character from each narrative that is experiencing the same type of manipulative lifestyle. We have Miranda from The Tempest and Frederica from Lady Susan. Although the times and the locations may be different, we can see throughout both narratives that they live their lives being manipulated by others close to them. In The Tempest we see Miranda being manipulated by her father and in Lady Susan we see Frederica being manipulated by her mother. It doesn’t matter what sex you are or what position you are in, you can be subjected to manipulation. This type of coercion was done at the hands of someone who was probably insecure and done for the primary purpose of achieving a self-centered goal (Gadsden 1). To begin, in The Tempest, we find a very young …show more content…

Both parents believed they had their daughter’s best interest at hand but they were only thinking about themselves and what they could do to better their situations. Their behavior wasn’t just to influence their children, it was to attempt to coerce another person to do something they might not have wanted to do. By having their daughters coerced into doing something, they were actually using this time to achieve something they wanted for themselves. Prospero wanted his life reinstated back in Milan and Lady Susan wanted to get remarried and move on with her

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