Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Macbeth 1971 - Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

The clip I picked is a scene from the 1971 film, The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by Roman Polanski. The entire clip is about 10 minutes long, yet the first three minutes are the minutes I want to focus on most (although I think the entire clip is a great interpretation of Macbeth). In the clip, Macbeth just found out his wife is dead. This clip also has the part of when Macbeth finds out that an army (the one Malcolm and Macduff gathered) is coming to fight him.

I picked this clip because I wanted to compare it to the clip we watched in class with Ian McKellen as Macbeth. In class, some people mentioned that when Macbeth found out his wife had died, he showed sincere emotion for her death and that moment was the last straw that pushed him over the edge. I would have to argue that I did not see that when McKellen was playing Macbeth. To me, McKellen had no emotion toward his wife's death until he had ample time for it to sink in, and even then I did not get the feeling he was devastated over it. In my opinion he almost sounded relieved she was dead. In Polanski's clip, you get to see Lady Macbeth dead on the floor and you get to experience Macbeth's reaction. In the clip he is truly devastated his wife is dead. When reading the play, I did not get any vibe that Macbeth cared Lady Macbeth was dead and her death would not have been seen on stage. Visually seeing Macbeth's reaction and seeing Lady Macbeth's dead body makes me rethink their relationship and makes me think that Macbeth actually cared for his wife. We could ask ourselves, "Does Lady Macbeth's death have an impact on Macbeth's sanity"? Then we could also ask ourselves, "Would seeing Lady Macbeth dead instead of just hearing about her death have a bigger impact on the reader, Macbeth and /or the audience"?

However, with both clips, I'm still unsure if Lady Macbeth's death was Macbeth's breaking point. When Macbeth hears that the forest is "moving", he becomes extremely paranoid and fearful. I think that is the exact moment Macbeth realizes that everything he has done is irreversible and that he is going to be defeated. Although I ultimately agree with the fact that Macbeth has elements of both a tragedy and a history, I think the irreversibility of Macbeth's actions and his destruction is what makes the play more of a tragedy than a history. Does this clip have an impact or influence on how you personally view the play?

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