Text and Film Adaptation of Macbeth - Assignment Example

Text Macbeth versus film Macbeth (1948) Initially, readers come to hear of the name Macbeth in the account of wounded soldiers in a battlefield by the captain’s story. The first impression that strikes a reader’s mind is that Macbeth is a capable brave warrior but promptly, this impression is complex especially at a point when readers come to learn of his encounter with three witches (Rank 45). After realizing this perspective, readers come to understand that Macbeth’s physical courage is in addition to a tendency of self-doubt and a consuming ambition. This means that the prediction in that perspective shows Macbeth thinks that becoming king would bring him great joy (De 56). However, this thought creates an inner turmoil. The story revolves around three attributes that include bravery, self-doubt, and ambition. In the film, the violent setting of Macbeth follows the ancient style but director Orson Welles and Editor Louis Lindsay try to maintain the original language of the text (Shakespeare and Pearce 33). Thesis statement Focusing on the visual differences created by characters in the book and the film, this paper will seek to write an argumentative essay comparing Macbeth the text with Macbeth the film shot in year 1948. Due to these differences, the meaning and presentation of ideas and functions of the characters shows that the textbook is more deliberate than the film in terms of themes and concepts. In the text, readers understand that the story is about struggle for mastery of some characteristics, which comprise of bravery, self-doubt, and ambition where the author (William Shakespeare) tries to explain the things that guilt and ambition can bring to a man who happens to lack the strength of a character (Rank 49). Upon looking at the sensual part of Shakespeare’s great villains, it is seeable that Macbeth is an irrevocable evil who is separate from the author’s description of characters with such attributes due to his weak character. Unlike in other stories where characters with such attributes are strong and able to conquer their self-doubt and guilt, Macbeth is different (Shakespeare and Pearce 54). He is, indeed, a great warrior but one thing is for sure: he is ill equipped and he does not possess the ability to understand the psychic consequences that may come along with a crime committed. On the other end, the film Macbeth is a hilarious capture of a violent group described as performing most of its crimes in the locales (Rank 55). The character Macbeth performed by Orson Welles shows an indication of a power-obsessed individual who kills his friends including Banquo and his son as well as Duncan in order to be the leader of the utmost gang. The film begins at a cemetery with Weird Sisters commonly referred to as the three witches defacing and destroying statues and headstones. On the other end, Lady Macbeth is seen weeping besides a headstone with the label “beloved son”. The difference between the film and the text is that no mentioning of a place where Lady Macbeth weeps while besides a headstone. Additionally, the setting of Macbeth the film takes place at an underground world in Melbourne. Arguably, the language in the film’s dialogues has an Australian accent while the text revolves around the original language setting of the play (Shakespeare and Pearce 61). Based on these two concepts, there are huge differences shared between and among these stories, characters, and set of actions. In both the text and film Macbeth, the characters are set in a way that they depict emotions and actions influenced by their decisions on one side, but enforced by other characters in the story (Shakespeare and Pearce 65). For instance, prior killing Duncan, Macbeth expresses intense tensions and worries, which made him, feel like aborting the crime. It takes the steely sense and emotion with the purpose of Macbeth’s wife for Macbeth to complete the killing deed. Analysis of the story points out that people would view Macbeth as a different individual, especially if he did not listen to the influence of his wife (Rank 58). First, he could not have killed Duncan and second, he could not even have thought of becoming the king were it not for the three witches. Unlike in the text, the film Macbeth portrays incidents where characters defy orders of their group or betray others in a simple way. For instance, Macbeth takes a position only played by Duncan who is the leader of their gang and leads the other gangsters to carry out a deal involving the sale or exchange of drugs in the absence of Duncan (Shakespeare and Pearce 77). During the exchange, Macbeth and his fellow gangs manage to kill all the other crooks from another gang. After the gunfight, while Macbeth and his friend Danquo are chasing other two gangsters, they enter a drinking den where they also take over the club and later kill the club owner (De 96). Analytically, it is seeable that Macbeth is obsessed with power and as it seems, he would do anything just to be the leader. Similarly, the text describes Macbeth as a cunning individual capable of killing, especially at those times when power is the subject. In the film, Macbeth drugs Duncan’s guards and kills Duncan in his own bed where he lies after having dinner at their house (Shakespeare and Pearce 82). Whereas in the text, Macbeth kills Duncan with a steely sense of his wife and the book does not mention where he died. Nevertheless, it is good to note that Macbeth is a very different story given the idea that Macbeth involves himself in a series of killings as he seeks to become the king. This spectrum leads to his deteriorated power of personality, especially when he kills Duncan (Rank 70). Additionally, Macbeth expresses feelings of more disintegration when his wife dies and his decisions fluctuate in a sequence of fevered actions particularly due to his desire to secure the throne. At this point, his life is full of ill feelings, guilt, and his dreams revolve around despair and absolute pessimism (De 100). Analytically, in Macbeth, the character seeks to become the king through any means possible including murdering people. After a series of killings, Macbeth becomes too much tense and his life fills with terrible moments of guilt. In this text, the characters and actions perceived by most of them are pervert. In a similar set of arguments, the film presents Macbeth’s wife as a cunning character who leads her husband into killing another human being just to fulfill his personal desires (Shakespeare and Pearce 98). The three witches lure Macbeth into committing big acts of crime as they prophecy to him that he will become the king when there is no threat to his ascension and the only way to ensure he does get what he wants is through killing whoever threatens to take away the throne. Profoundly, both excerpts present arguable points of view as both characters resolve to do some things, which are controversial. Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth in association with the three witches indulge in actions, which lead to the death of many people including Macbeth and his wife. With this regard, one can say that both the text and the film present similarly arguable cases where characters on both sides regret taking such actions. For example, in the film, Macbeth starts to feel depressed and shaken when he begins to have a feeling that Ross and Lennox among others are suspecting that he caused Banquo and Duncan’s murder (Shakespeare and Pearce 110). The film is different from the text in several ways as in the film; Lennox and Ross learn about Macbeth’s plot to kill Macdufff on television and head to warn him since he had to gone to visit his uncle Siward. Through this concept, it is seeable that the conquest for power by Macbeth goes beyond the normal boundaries (De 103). Macbeth ought not to have been the way he ended up being were it not for influence of other people. He would not be a murderer could he have chosen not to kill Duncan (De 115). He would have saved himself a better place in the kingdom administration if only he did not pursue his pervasive quest for kingship. May be, the king would have accorded him a respectable position in the kingdom since Macbeth was a great warrior. However, due to his unstoppable and unrealistic ambition, he decided to become the king by any means possible even if it involved taking people’s lives (Shakespeare and Pearce 118). Thus, we can say that Macbeth is a victim of his own actions and circumstances since nobody forced him to kill people as he looked for ways to become the king. As the film nears its end, Lady Macbeth develops insanity to a point whereby she cannot control herself and she keeps on imagining the evening when they killed Duncan. This situation worsens and a doctor ends up sedating her (Rank 101). While taking a bath, she slits her wrist and dies. This devastates Macbeth who is now in his end times mainly because of he has only two bodyguards left on his side while the others run to Macduff in Burnham Wood. Fleance, the son of Banquo, watches these murderers die of gunshots from associates loyal to Macduff. The text indicates that Macduff killed Macbeth and walked to the stage with his in his hand, while the film shows that when Macbeth encountered Macduff, a swirl of gunshots filled the place. Believing that no son of a woman can kill him, Macbeth boasts that he will kill Macduff where he realizes very late that Macduff was born of caesarean (Shakespeare and Pearce 126). Macduff stabs him in the stomach and Macbeth stumbles upstairs towards the place where Lady Macbeth’s body lies and dies besides her. In conclusion, the facts, beliefs, and points drawn from both the text and the film depict arguable versions of William Shakespeare’s story (Rank 115). It is arguable that the actions and information brought forward in the text and in the film differ in a number of ways. As seen, the death of Macbeth is described by two different expressions. On one end, readers find that Macduff killed Macbeth and slated his head while on the other hand, Macbeth died alongside his wife’s body in their bedroom. These expressions and actions brought forward by the characters in the stories are arguable and as discussed in this paper, Macbeth the film and Macbeth the text show some similarities in their actions and differences in their thoughts. Works Cited De, Vivo. William Shakespeare: an Analysis of Macbeth's Character. Munchen: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2009. Print. Rank, Sven. Twentieth-century Adaptations of Macbeth: Writing between Influence, Intervention, and Cultural Transfer. Frankfurt, M: Lang, 2009. Print. Shakespeare, William, and Joseph, Pearce. Macbeth: With Contemporary Criticism. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Print. Read More