Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Its Film Interpretations - Essay Example

Macbeth Order No.279651 March’09 (Compare the Roman Polanski version of Macbeth (1971) with the Geoffrey Wright adaptation of 2007. How do they deal with the violence in the play?) Macbeth Macbeth is one of the best known plays of William Shakespeare. Modern audiences have by and large ignored the film adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare. Yet one can find an illustrious history of film adaptations. Macbeth has been presented time and again throughout history with the help of a variety of media. It has been frequently performed at professional theaters around the world and also there have been many film adaptations of the play. It is one of the most frequently filmed stories in cinema. The original play is considered as a classic tale of the consequences of the lust for power and betrayal by friends. Two well known film interpretations are Roman Polanski’s 1971 classic and Geoffrey Wright’s 2007 modern version. These two films have been made with contrasting values and attitudes, yet are true to the original text. Wright’s version is however more suitable for a younger audience than Polanski’s classic version as Wright has set it in a contemporary context. The movie’s fast paced narration, its theme of underground Melbourne gang and trendy costumes make it far more appealing to young viewers than Polanski’s seventeenth century approach. Polanski has made one of the grittiest Shakespeare films with some realistic period costuming of Zeffirelli and a cold and clammy castle set for a location. Director Geoffrey Wright in his version attempts to make Macbeth contemporary by setting it in the contemporary Melbourne underworld. Here swords are substituted by guns and royalty by gangsters. Wright’s Macbeth is gritty, violent but critically flawed at times. Roman Polanski has set his play in the middle Ages whereas Geoffrey Wright moves the action into the present with an Australian background. Luxus und Dekadenz sind geradezu spürbar.Wright’s movie portrays luxury and corruption. The actors are stylish, always fashionable dressed whereas Polanski replicates the Middle Ages with some realistic costuming by Zeffirelli. Fitting a play which was written hundreds of years ago into a modern film with a contemporary setting is difficult, but Wright has done it extremely well. The original play is about Kings, Lords and Ladies. Wright modernises this by transforming King Duncan into the Drug Baron and the Lords as members of his gang. The weapons are also replaced by machine guns and the horses and carriages by Audis and dirt-bikes. Technology too is evident in the movie. Macbeth’s house is equipped with security cameras and monitors. This makes the audience feel that the film is very modern. Polanski’s approach to the text is brutal and realistic. The setting is in Northern Wales with a constant downpour of rain and an empty grey landscape. The locations and sets bring to mind a dark, gloomy Scotland of the Middle Ages. In this version Macbeth is a noble Scottish warrior who even though faithfully serves his king, nurtures a secret ambition to become the king. He meets three witches who fuel this desire, and foretell that the throne will certainly be his but that his sons will not reign after him, instead the son of his friend Banquo will inherit the kingdom. Egged on by Lady Macbeth, Macbeth murders the king and thereafter he is plagued by guilt and commits more murders and finally in a heated battle Macduff severs Macbeth’s head. Geoffrey Wright’s Macbeth is a stylish, sexy and a contemporary version of Macbeth. It provides us with a striking visual landscape of the contemporary crime world and at the same time remains faithful to the original text and themes. Wright shifts the action from medieval Scotland to contemporary Melbourne, Australia. The blood-soaked tragedy is about a violent battle between gangsters. The film is set in modern Melbourne and the story begins with Macbeth being rewarded with gifts by his boss Duncan for having served him faithfully and for bravely fighting a gang war. But at the same time Duncan rewards his son Malcolm too and Macbeth wonders why he is doing so when Malcolm has done nothing. Macbeth is then visited by nubile young witches who foretell that he will be the new crime ‘king.’ Macbeth is intrigued by the prophecy, but when Lady Macbeth hints that they can kill Duncan and take over the gang he realizes that by doing so he may be merely fulfilling his destiny, as foretold by the witches. He kills Duncan and other members of the King’s entourage. To maintain his powers he commits more murders and finally his surviving enemies unite and kill him. In Shakespeares Macbeth the three witches are prophetesses. In both the film adaptations the witches are prophetesses. In the original play the witches are dark with filthy activities and trappings. The supernatural atmosphere created by them set an ominous tone for the play. In Polanski’s version too the witches are ugly, dirty and scary. These witches also set the tone for the play, dark and tragic. They are also shown in the nude the second time when Macbeth revisits them.However in Geoffrey Wrights Macbeth, the three witches are replaced by three teenage schoolgirls who in the opening scene are shown as knocking down headstones in a graveyard. They are later shown whispering the prophecies in Macbeths ear while dancing in a deserted nightclub. The soliloquy is one of the main dramatic and literary devices used by Shakespeare in Macbeth. Polanski has also used soliloquy. In fact it is more effective in his version than in the original as the audience can see the emotions and reactions whereas in the written form the character’s emotions are not visible. In Wright’s version the characters are acted out by Australian actors most of who are not familiar with Shakespeare and speak with an Australian accent making the language sound a little odd and uneven. Wright should have updated the language as well. Paul Byrnes(2006) says, “The film is visually stunning, beautifully designed and cleverly updated. Its an effective adaptation in almost every respect, except the one that matters most: the language. You cant fake Shakespeare”. Of all the works of Shakespeare, Macbeth is the most suitable for gory violence and horror. Polanski’s film adaptation of Macbeth is easily the most violent of all the adaptations. When the film was being made Polanski was in the darkest phase of his career after the violent murder of Sharon Tate and his unborn child by the Manson family. During this phase his films were disturbing and vicious. There is rampant violence and bleakness in Polanskis interpretation of Shakespeares tragedy. The slaughter of Lady Macduff and her household is depicted in a lurid manner and brings back memories of the Manson killings. Most film versions do not show deaths and downplay the violence. However Polanski takes an entirely opposite path in his film. By showing bloodshed Polanski makes the audience feel what Macbeth felt after committing the murders. The audience too is numbed by violence. The prophetic witches, the surreal dreams and visions like the dagger floating in the air as Macbeth speaks his famous line "Is this a dagger I see before me?”, build up an atmosphere of horror and pave the way for other gruesome scenes. This may appear, may be too extreme for purists who appreciate a subtle approach. But since this movie was his first directorial venture after the violent death of his wife, it is a sort of a cathartic experience for him. Polanski does not shy away from violence and every event in graphically detailed. Like Roman Polanski, Wright raises the level of violence in his version. The special effects he uses makes it look more sinister. He has filmed most of the picture with HD photography, with blacker darkness in the sequences shot in the night. The crucial action scene is shot with red laser making the scene unique. In his version one gets to see the visual power of killing. When characters commit murders the movie shows how hard it is to physically kill a person. The act numbs the perpetrator of the murder as well as the viewer. The scene where Duncan is stabbed again and again illustrates this point. On the other hand Polanski does not show the murder being actually committed. He uses the image of the floating dagger. However his portrayal of the killings of Lady Macduff and her household is more violent. Wright’s version being a modern version, resorts to well-staged gunfight massacre to depict violence. Many critics feel that Wright overdoes the gory scenes. Roman Polanski’s Macbeth may not be the greatest adaptation, but has certainly been presented well and comes quite close to the original. The story is straightforward and there is something poetic in the presentation. Wright too stays true to the original plot but uses machine gun fire, sex, nightclubs and gang wars in telling his story. Polanski portrays the environment of the story with as much authenticity as possible. Polanski’s Macbeth has a tragic grandeur that is missing in Wright’s version. Wrights Macbeth very rarely is anywhere near to portraying the dark power of Shakespeares play. The title character has an unimpressive presence and comes out as a sullen character and not a tragic figure, whereas in Polanski’s version the title character comes out with a good performance. Wright uses only the story and not the substance or the depth of the original. References 1. Byrnes Paul (2006), Film Review, http://www.smh.com.au/news/film-reviews/macbeth/2006/09/20/1158431777972.html Retrieved on 12/3/09 Read More