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Abstract

This research explores the pragmatic aspects of manipulation and persuasion in Shakespeare's The Tempest, with particular attention to how language as a tool of power, control, and resistance is employed. Employing the theoretical underpinnings of Speech Act Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969), Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), and Conversational Implicature (Grice, 1975), the research analyses how speech acts, politeness routines, and implicatures create hierarchical relationships between characters. On the basis of a qualitative pragmatic analysis of some chosen dialogues, the research discloses that Prospero's directives and declaratives linguistically perform power, whereas Ariel's indirect politeness and Miranda's emotional expressiveness reproduce power relations through deference and affection. Caliban's expressive resistance, on the other hand, lays bare language as a vehicle of colonial resistance, subverting the coloniser's discourse to make it a force of rebellion. Findings reveal that The Tempest stages linguistic control as a representation of early modern hierarchies, patriarchal and colonial, in which communication itself is a site of ideological contest. Finally, the research concludes that Shakespeare's play illustrates how language not only represents power but enacts it, establishing the long-standing interconnection of pragmatics, politics, and persuasion in literary discussion.