Machiavellianism in Literature

The podcast discusses Machiavellianism in three different forms of literature: Othello, New Boy, and Rumpelstiltskin. In Othello, Iago's career ambitions challenge the value of career. In New Boy, Ian's obsession with authority leads to negative consequences. In Rumpelstiltskin, both Rumpelstiltskin and the farmer manipulate others for personal gain. Overall, Machiavellian characters manipulate protagonists and lead to the downfall of their relationships. Hello and welcome back to Talking Tales. Today we're discussing Machiavellianism in three different forms of literature, a play, a novel and a fairy tale. I find Machiavellian characters really interesting and I'm so happy one of our Tattletailers requested we talk about it. Every time you say Tattletailers, Jackie, I completely lose it. I love the name you chose for our Talking Tales fans. Anyway, like I said, we are bringing in three texts to consider. William Shakespeare's Othello from 1604, Tracy Chevalier's New Boy published in 2017 and the classic Rumpelstiltskin, this version by Malachi Doyle in 2005. We're not going to give a summary of the texts but we do recommend you read them in your own time before listening to the rest of this podcast. Spoilers! A Tattletailer sent us an article that said because of Machiavellian characters in literature, audiences are led to question the value of career. What do you think of that claim? I've got to say I agree with that Harriet. Career is often seen as a good value to have but in terms of Othello, Iago values career and I don't like Iago. Does that mean I don't want to value career anymore? I guess we'll find out. We're going to start in Act 1, Scene 1 of Othello to argue this claim. The play starts in modius res, in the midst of things, meaning the audience gets to see Iago's true nature from the very beginning. Iago is complaining about someone else's promotion in line 19. A great arithmatician, one Michael Cassio, a Florentine, Othello almost damned in A Fair Wife and never set a squadron on the field. An arithmatician is a mathematician, a thinker, not a doer. According to Iago's words, Othello promoted someone above Iago. This person, Michael Cassio, is not good at combat or controlling men in the field. This shows how Iago values his career. But this quote, where the character is monologuing and ranting on and on, also shows Iago's true nature of being a gossip, being rude, being very jealous and especially being misogynistic. At the time this was published, belittling women could have been seen as comic relief. But in today's context, that's definitely not the case. This quote, and Iago as a character, actually challenges our values of career, instead of affirming it. Iago is someone who values his profession, and although this is often seen as good, because of Iago's character, valuing a career is tainted by association with his other negative attributes. Moving on to Act 3, Scene 3, Iago has a moment alone to express his thoughts in a soliloquy. In line 330, in a quote taken out of the soliloquy, he says, This quote is a biblical allusion, suggesting hellfire reign in Othello's blood. As Othello is already suspicious of Desdemona, his jealousy will turn into extreme anger and make his blood boil. This suggestion of hellfire, something abhorrent to all audiences across time, indicates how villainous and Machiavellian Iago is. All of this happens because of Iago's professional jealousy, because he values his career enough to manipulate others. We've just discussed Othello, now let's talk about New Boy. New Boy is described as William Shakespeare's Othello retold, with the same concepts as Othello apply. The way that it differs includes the setting, where the characters are children in Year 6 in America, and the timeline of events, where everything happens within a day. Shakespeare's five act structure is still prevalent, with before school, morning recess, lunch, afternoon recess, and after school. Similar to the play, Ian can be described as a Machiavellian character. He is so concerned with power and being controlling, as shown in part 1, page 16. Ian would always notice anyone new who stepped into his territory, for the playground was his. It had been all year, since he started 6th grade, and there were no older boys to rule it. He'd had months to relish this domination. Any new boy posed a challenge, and this new boy, well. High modality, animal imagery, these are both techniques used in this extract. The reference to the playground being Ian's territory shows the power he has over others. His remarks about the playground being his domination show how Ian acts and thinks with animalistic qualities. He is jealous of others, he is controlling of others, he wants the playground to be his. Exactly. As the novel is set with the characters being children, I wouldn't exactly say he values his career, but he values his authority and is scared of it being taken away from him. Like in the play, he's scared of someone being promoted above him. Ian remained half standing, his eyes shifting from side to side to see if anyone had noticed he'd been cut off. Like when someone speaks, but others don't hear them and carry on their conversations, leaving the speaker hanging. That quote is from part 3, Lunch, page 91-92. It was just after Osaya avoided Ian's offer and sat down in the cafeteria with Cusper instead. Someone had been promoted above Ian. This similarly connects what is happening in this setting to an experience that others may have had. Ian is experiencing a feeling of embarrassment. It's already been shown how Ian experiences professional jealousy in the playground, and now he has been made a fool of by someone he's intimidated by. What will this lead to? What will he do? The audience already can see how being obsessed with authority too much is bad. What Machiavellian characteristics will come out next? Let's talk about Rumpelstiltskin. This well-known German fairy tale was collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm. The version we'll be discussing was retold by Malachi Doyle in 2005. In terms of Machiavellian characters, there can be two identified in this narrative. Rumpelstiltskin is an obvious one, as he is deceitful and cunning. However, the father also has Machiavellian characteristics. In another version by Margaret Mayo, the father is depicted as foolish. One day, the farmer went to the palace and started to show off, but the king took notice. So the farmer said, And she's clever. She can spin straw into gold. The king ignored him, so the farmer had to go to great measures to make hyperbolic claims to make himself known to the king, someone of great power. Back to Doyle's version. The next day, he gets his daughter to prove his foolish claim, but hides the truth from her. The poor miller did not dare to tell his beloved daughter why she had to go with him. This guy was cunning. He was poor, and he did not want to be beaten by other people. He was jealous. These are Machiavellian characteristics, and because the farmer was so deceitful, once again, the authority, career, power, all those values are questioned by the audience. The second article sent to us by our beloved Tattle-Taylors said, Like in the first article, we're going to break this claim down text by text. Othello first, then Newboy, and then Rumpelstiltskin. Jumping into Act 5, the finale, we can see how Iago has manipulated Othello. Iago says in an aside, He says this to himself. His plan is private, no one knows but us and him. I find it ironic that Shakespeare uses a rhyming couplet to tell the audience that tonight Iago's plan is happening. It's a bit of comedic relief for an otherwise depressing rhyme. Yeah, I agree. The aside also shows Iago's manipulative side, and builds a dramatic atmosphere for the following scenes. Iago doesn't need to keep manipulating by the time we get to Act 5 Scene 2. This scene really shows the product of his scheming. Basically, the downfall of Othello's relationship between Desdemona. This basically means that despite his love for Desdemona, he will kill her for being unfaithful. Peak confusion, am I right? Peak confusion? Peak result from Iago's manipulations. As the audience, we know manipulating is wrong. This is confirmed. As noted before, Ian is a Machiavellian character who is jealous of Osei as a threat to his place in the playground. As such, he devises a plan to manipulate him. Part 3, page 113. This metaphor shows the results of his manipulation. How his manipulation has impacted the previously happy relationship between Osei and Dee. Even the simile at the end, Ian waited to see the herd enter her like a nice, shows how cunning and scheming Ian really is. He can wait for his plan to develop slowly for a better outcome than just rushing into it. In part 5, page 159, we see the long term result of Ian's manipulation, where the protagonist's romantic relationship has failed. She could feel the ice on him as they sat side by side during art. O and D are sitting in class with increasing silent tension between each other. This metaphor is another way of saying that Osei was giving Dee the cold shoulder. Silent punishment, Osei is actively trying to avoid Dee. Although this is not the complete downfall of their relationship, it's certainly a notable moment. Ian has manipulated Osei to the point where he cannot talk to the girl who was previously his one true confidante. We describe the farmer in Rumpelstiltskin as a Machiavellian character, but in terms of manipulation, Rumpelstiltskin is the most scheming. On the basis that Rumpel will spin the straw into gold. Oh, it's not what you've got now that I want, shrieked a little man, it's what you might have in the future. The girl has no idea of her future, so she agrees to this. He uses her situation and despair to his advantage, even later on, and he grinned a sly little grin. Rumpel knows something the girl doesn't, she will become the queen and have a baby. His Machiavellian characteristics will get in the way of her relationship with her future husband because of his greed for the child. Since it is a fairy tale, there is a happy ending for the king and queen, but Rumpelstiltskin definitely got in the way and caused a rupture in their relationship. All in all, Machiavellian characters do manipulate the protagonists to the extent of the downfall of their relationships. Now, we have to end this lovely discussion here, but we will see you next time, Tattletailers. We hope you enjoyed this podcast on Machiavellianism in three different forms of literature. See you next Sunday!