WOMEN AND MANIPULATION IN E. M. FORSTERS NOVELS Most of Forsters flat characters are manipulative.

Manipulation is the ability to move or press objects in a skilful way. How can one apply this terminology to characters? One could easily say that manipulation involves one or more characters ability to press or deceive other characters. n ! he Longest Journey "gnes surpasses in her manipulative e#pertise. $he skilfully influences on most of %ickies decisions and choices. Many times the mischief and damage these manipulative characters inflict on their victims not only produce the conse&uential result but also side effects' and even unforeseen results on themselves. n The Longest Journey "gnes (embroke marries %ickie )lliot because she needs a husband to play the role of a married woman in her social circle. $he takes pleasure in running the house' giving orders to the servants and playing the part of the housewife. Her conventional mind urges her to stage the role of a married woman immersed in domestic as well as social affairs. *onse&uently' she manipulates her husband to assume a position in $waston' not taking into consideration %ickies aspirations to become a writer. +ater' she pulls the strings to hide the truth about $tephens origins and tries to put a stop to %ickies decision to share his life with his half,brothers. "gnes manipulative strings never regard %ickies spiritual and material life or even $tephens. $he is legacy,hunting her husbands rights and that is the only fascination she ultimately takes in life. !hings have to come out according to her personal wishes and goals' for her people and feelings are not important. Mrs. Failing' one of -Forsters sadistic women. also e#hibits an inclination to manipulation. "s a matter of fact' she controls the lives of all those people around her. $he takes advantage of every opportunity to manoeuvre the lives of her relatives and once she has taken control of them' these characters are incarcerated in her hands. !hus' she rules Mrs. )lliots life after her unfortunate illegitimate love affair and from that moment she manipulates the lives of her two sons' $tephen and %ickie. /hen the latter gets married she includes his wife in her circle' with whom she conspires to get control of %ickies life. 0nfortunately for "gnes' Mrs. Failing is more resourceful and e#perienced and she moves the strings of all of them. n A Passage to India most 1ritish women' especially the wives of the )nglish officials , mainly presented as flat characters , manipulate their husbands. !he women of "nglo ndia always show up in a much worse light than the men. !hese manipulate women' set as a contrasting background

stereotype to the locale of the novel' are early introduced as a topic of discussion among the male ndian characters who consider it takes them only si# months -to become e#actly the same' not worse' not better.' to adopt the same perfunctory manners as the other 1ritish women living in ndia. !he new comers are intelligently manoeuvred to reject e&uality with the ndian women. Mrs. Moore is assertively reminded that she is superior to them and that she should never forget so2 she is superior to everyone in ndia e#cept one or two of the %anis' and' even in that case they are on an e&uality with her. "nglo ndian women are one of the main hindrances to assent relationships of friendship between the races in that country' as Foster vividly avows at the 1ridge (arty allegedly arranged to encourage such rapport. -!he )nglishmen had intended to play up better' but had been prevented from doing so by their women folk' whom they had to attend' provide with tea' advise about dogs' etc.. *yril Fielding' the )nglish male protagonist and the only )nglish man in the novel who tries to take the challenge to bridge the gap between the races through friendship' is soon disallowed by the wives of his colleagues as -not a sahib really 3456 because' not only is he single but he does not accept to play the typical role of an )nglish man in ndia. He is not -lively and helpful.' and he -never advised one about dogs or horses' or dined' or paid his midday calls' or decorated trees for ones children at *hristmas. !he "nglo ndian women' who in this fashion try to manipulate their own men' treat ndians awfully offensively and these women consider their men weak in dealing with the natives. "dela 7uested is regarded as out of the ordinary since she wants to see ndians while the typical 1ritish female attitude is represented by Mrs. +esleys wry reply -"s if one could avoid seeing them. and by the nurse who affirms that - Ones only hope was to hold sternly aloof.' and by Mrs. *allendar' who cruelly considers that -the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die.. !his spitefully wicked claim on caste divisions most likely arises from the fact that "nglo ndians have neither personal occupation or individual interests 8 they -did nothing that they could not share with the men.8 and therefore they display all their vitality manipulating their own men and being disdainful to the ndians. Of all the )nglish it is the women who persist most strongly on their superiority' who are the most unrefined and crudest in the way they manipulate their husbands to mistreat and abuse of the natives. $ome of the men have some positive fondness for some ndian men' but mostly all women' unrestrained by any professional need or satisfaction' sense their lives only on social prestige and power. Mr. !urton feels' that it is their women who complicate matters' who

make everything more difficult for them in ndia' but he does not dare confess so. "s these women are considered inferior to their husbands they sense they must be superior to some other human being' and as a result they regard themselves superior to the ndians' whom they show contempt on. n Where Angels Fear to Tread manipulation is presented as an essentially feminine peculiarity of his flat characters' and it is shown as the most significant feminine means for women to communicate. +ilia is introduced -playing. Mr. 9ingcroft However' she is not the most flagrant e#ample since Mrs. Herriton ought to have the title' with Harriet blindly obeying her commands and *aroline making the effort to out,manoeuvre her ascendant. $waston is a world run by women' and (hilip sees himself influenced by three female forces. /hen he sees *aroline in the hotel' he retorts' -!o be run by his mother and hectored by sister was as much as he could stand. !he intervention of a third female drove him suddenly beyond politeness. Only *aroline recogni:es and apologi:es for her slips into manipulation. $he acknowledges attempting to control (hilip as his mother does' but (hilip has become a sort of disconnected stranger. Forster entails the e#istence of a vicious inhuman cycle in which a manipulative mother creates a pathetic' dependent son who in turn calls forth manipulative reactions from his female social group. *learly' this circle must be broken somewhere and *aroline represents the only hope for the future' since (hilip is totally under his mothers control to defy or revolt against' and Mrs. Herriton can envision no other type of conduct. $he must find a way out for her energies so she directs hers into trying to live through her children' daughter,in,law and granddaughter and run their lives. Furthermore' Mrs. Herriton tolerates (hilips wishes and urges to achieve what she yearns for. $he is fully conscious of what she is undertaking and utters her scheme to Harriet in -+et (hilip say what he likes' and he will let us do what we like6. n due course' (hilip also becomes aware of her premeditated manoeuvring of him. -; He was sure that she was not impulsive' but did not dare to say so. Her ability frightened him. "ll his life he had been her puppet. $he let him worship taly' and reform $awston 8 just as she had let Harriet be +ow *hurch. $he had let him talk as much as she liked. 1ut when she wanted a thing she always got it;.

Mrs. Herritons manipulation is subtly clever. /hen she is disturbed because *aroline is travelling to taly to recuperate the baby' her first reaction is to dispatch Harriet after her. t never comes to her mind to go herself since intrigue and subterfuge are important ingredients of her tactics of life. $he does nothing directly and Forster suggests that most women do not do most things directly and are predictable in their reactions. !he whole talian affair is totally hypocritical to Mrs. Herriton. $he does not show any concern for the baby since it represents the failure of her manipulation over +ilia. Her single interest rests on preserving her superiority at home and preventing +ilias secret to be known in $awston. n addition' she deems her daughter a disappointment since the latter lacks the fle#ibility and artfulness to deceit and to manipulate others. Harriet merely agrees to the manipulation. Forster comments of her2 -;!hough pious and patriotic' and a great moral asset for the house' she lacked that pliancy and tact which her mother so much valued' and had e#pected her to pick up for herself.; Mrs. Herriton never overtly accepts that she manipulates the other or the weapons she uses to do her work. <early at the end of the novel when (hilip comments to =ino that women are managing the affair' he agrees accepting that manipulation is womens only weapon. /ithout a doubt' men will accept manipulation as long as they e#ercise the actual authority' but this fact will contribute to the shortcomings of both se#es.