In William Shakespeare's two plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Othello, characters deceive, manipulate and cause the transformation of another. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon deceives and manipulates his wife, and Robin does the same to a stranger. In Othello, Iago deceives and manipulates a fool and his own friend. Iago hypocritically consoles Othello when his friend seems to have betrayed him: “Men should be what they seem, / Or they that are not, would seem none” (Oth. 3.3.131b-1320). Iago never shows his true self to Othello; he says “I am not what I am” (Oth. 1.1.65b). Iago has supreme power of manipulation through his words and the way he interprets signs. James A. Knapp thinks that “Iago's art is not unlike that of Shakespeare. The playwright continually places images before the eyes of the audience with the aim of inducing them to believe a fiction” (380). Shakespeare suggests that people use deception and manipulation to transform another person in order to bring them under their control. According to Shakespeare, this deception and manipulation is the key to transforming another person in order to obtain a desire. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare suggests that a person can deceive their spouse to get what they want. Since Titania stubbornly holds the boy back from Oberon, he plans to deceive her. Titania goes to sleep without any suspicion: completely covered in lush honeysuckle, sweet musk roses and dog roses. Titania sleeps there at times of the night, cradled in these flowers with dances and joy; and there the serpent casts his enamelled skin, Grass wide enough to envelop a fairy; and with the juice of this I will streak her eyes, and do... the middle of the paper... deception or manipulation. Works Cited Knapp, James A. “Static and Transformative Images in Shakespeare's Dramatic Art.” Criticism 54.3 (2012): 377-389. Academic Research Comprehensive Web. December 6, 2013. How lucky you are, David. “Putting Out the Light: Semantic Indeterminacy and the Decomposition of the Self in Othello.” English Studies 75.2 (1994): 110-122. Academic Research Comprehensive Web. December 6, 2013.Shakespeare, William. Othello. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2008. 2119-2191. Print.Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2008. 849-896. Print.Szakolczai, Arpad. “Magic of the Image in A Midsummer Night's Dream: Power and Modernity from Weber to Shakespeare.” History of the Human Sciences 20.4 (2007): 1-26. Academic Research Comprehensive Web. December 6. 2013.