Character analysis of Werther in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther - Essay Example

Character analysis of Werther in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther The news rippled through the film industry in 2006 that Romper Stomper director Geoffrey Wright, who is in his mid-40s, had become a father for the first time. Many who knew him observed that fatherhood might be good for him, might settle him down. Whatever you want to call it -- volatility or thuggery, passion or belligerence, courage or obstinacy -- Wright has it. Wright's baby is named Nevada; he met her mother, Ruby O'Rourke, during the making f his latest film, an antipodean Macbeth influenced by Melbourne's gangland wars. O'Rourke sings the witches' chant double, double toil and trouble'' on the soundtrack. The film is a bloody and brutal big-screen adaptation f Shakespeare's tragedy, with a lank-haired Sam Worthington in the title role and Victoria Hill as Lady Macbeth. Other key players include Lachy Hulme as Macduff, Steve Bastoni as Banquo and Gary Sweet as Duncan. I'm hoping I can be a creative and lovable father, and not a dull father,'' Wright tells Review. I am genuinely looking forward to taking my kid into new and fascinating places and adventures.'' If there is a bad boy among Australian feature film directors, Wright would be in the running for the title. There are certain things I can act on and I can surprise people with the speed f the action,'' he says. I get passionate about some things and it has got me into trouble.'' He was fired three days before shooting was due to start on Supernova in 1999, for example. If that had not happened, the big-budget science fiction film would have been his first for Hollywood. The way Wright tells it, he had planned from the outset to have the characters floating as if they were in zero gravity. But the studio bosses at United Artists suddenly decided the characters should walk around on the ground in boots as though they were on Star Trek''. People change their minds and get scared,'' Wright says. Do I regret fighting f course I do. I should have put everyone back in boots and back on the ground like a good boy, and just taken the money and held my nose. The trouble was I had hung out with all the rocket scientists from Pasadena and their mentality rubs off on you: you enjoy the scientific authenticity.'' A couple f years later, an incident at a Film Finance Corporation Australia Christmas party added to Wright's volatile reputation. He and producer Jonathan Shteinman had a disagreement about then FFC chief executive Catriona Hughes and ended up trying to settle the matter outside with fisticuffs. Some regard Wright's behaviour as not nice at all. Others are inspired by his passion. Wright describes Macbeth the man as incredibly corrupt'', but also admires his courage. Macbeth has that blazing, insane, crazy courage that you get when you have committed to something thoroughly rotten and there's no way out so you just keep going ahead with it,'' he says. You get yourself boxed in but you somehow [summon] up the guts to keep going forward. There is something fascinating about that.'' Wright clearly doesn't like himself when he doesn't stand up for what he believes in: We have more and more prosperity in Australia and there is less and less inclination to rock the boat, speak out, make a gesture. That can be frustrating. I fall into the same trap. Maybe there is a level f common sense to it but it also makes me feel a bit sick afterwards.'' Wright's films are as bold as he is. The R-rated Romper Stomper, with its neo-Nazi and racial themes, stormed into cinemas 15 years ago and remains one f the gutsiest films to emerge from Australia. Wright's second film, Metal Skin, a tale f misfit teens with lots f car action that starred Aden Young and Ben Mendelsohn, was made soon after Romper Stomper but failed to have an impact. The teen horror flick Cherry Falls, the one film he eventually made in the US, in 2000, showed adolescents murdered and the word virgin carved on their bodies. Violence, then, is a recurring theme. Geoffrey pitched Macbeth to me as the most violent film ever made,'' Worthington says. He said it might be banned and I thought I want to be a part f that, where do I sign I'd rather go into battle with a director who isn't afraid than someone who is going to go at it half-heartedly.'' Ask Wright about his affection for violence and he says it illustrates the determination f the characters to get what they want. He sees a common denominator in his films: villains taking on great odds. Their villainy, he adds, does not necessarily flow from sin. Rather, it may be from a distorted point f view or a sense f injustice. Wright likes to see and likes to make the sort f films that have highly motivated characters. (Martinez 60-66) Macbeth has highly motivated characters, a clear plotline and it is a good brand,'' he says. I felt like doing something that looked completely different to everything else coming off the production line this year. We do a lot f Shakespeare in this country on stage, but not on film.'' Macbeth is a story about the danger f lusting after power and betraying friends. Macbeth is a fearless and ambitious lieutenant to King Duncan f Scotland. When Macbeth kills Duncan, spurred on by his wife and by the prophecies f the three witches -- in a frenzied and sustained attack in the case f Wright's film -- it unleashes great violence. While the film is faithful to the play, Wright has made some interesting changes. His three witches are not old hags but sexy young things, and so naughty. We asked ourselves what would allure and con a gangster and the easy answer to that was seductive young women,'' says Wright, who cast Kate Bell, Miranda Nation and Chloe Armstrong for his coven. If our Macbeth had been confronted by three crones I don't think he would be interested. If they are nubile and look like they are interested in him, he is going to be led astray pretty quickly.'' Worthington's wardrobe is something to behold. It includes metrosexual and rock star looks, a kilt and a truly awful floral velvet suit. Wright chose a handsome bunch f men for his film and dressed them accordingly: after six years living in the US, he strongly believes Australian films, to their detriment, often choose grunge over eye candy and sparkle. Until Wright's focus shifted to Macbeth less than two years ago, he had been working on Nightfall, an ambitious science fiction picture. It was challenging to finance and he was developing an itch to get back into the directing saddle. Seeing Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film Throne f Blood, which uses Macbeth's plot but not the words, made Wright realize the Shakespeare play could and should be made into an Australian film. Not long afterwards, he came across a photo f Victoria Hill while going through some personal records at his apartment in Sydney (he is now based in Melbourne). He had directed her in an episode f the television anthology series Naked more than a decade earlier. (Swanson 20-25) I looked at the photo and thought: She reminds me f someone but who is it''' he says. Then I realised she is the only girl I have met who reminds me f both Snow White and the wicked witch in Walt Disney's Snow White. There is a little bit f each personality in her. She has the wicked witch's sense f command and she is a great hostess. At the same time there is a certain naivety about her and a sweetness. It is a killer combination.'' Some time later, by coincidence, he ran into Hill at a cafe. Within weeks they were collaborating on the script. I wanted female input because I didn't want to make Lady Macbeth a harridan,'' he says. There are dozens f film and television versions f Macbeth and Wright watched as many as he could, including those by Orson Welles and Roman Polanski. Uppermost in our minds were that we were making a piece f cinema,'' he says about writing the script, which is in Shakespearean language. It was not a recorded play, it was a movie. The film has fewer characters: it would have been like a Russian novel with people everywhere otherwise. We had to distil lines, boil them back and give them to established characters.'' Wright started shooting Macbeth with a budget f $3.4 million seven months after pitching it to Martin Fabinyi at Mushroom Pictures, who is also producing Nightfall. In other words, the project interested a company willing to handle overseas sales (expatriate Australian Gary Hamilton's Arclight) and a distributor keen to release it in local cinemas (Palace) and attracted finance (Film Finance Corporation Australia, Film Victoria), all at a remarkable speed. You had the Melbourne gangland murders, the director f Romper Stomper making his first film back in Australia and Macbeth, which is such a well-known play,'' Fabinyi says. Wright says although the film has a contemporary Melbourne setting and is full f guns and murder, gangland activity was principally a visual inspiration, not a contributor to plot. Certainly it is mostly to do with Shakespeare but 15 per cent is to do with Melbourne gangland,'' Wright says. What struck me, when I was reading the newspaper headlines, was that you kill one person, the survivors then kill one f yours, then you kill one f theirs, and so on. I thought: What does this remind me of' It reminds me f Shakespeare and the medieval mentality f vendetta.'' Wright is fond f saying that Macbeth is a medieval criminal. Macbeth's sense f entitlement mirrors many characters in old gangster movies, he adds, including the Al Pacino [1983] and Paul Muni [1932] versions'' f Scarface. Wright refers to other films constantly: his knowledge f cinema history is formidable and this gives his work acontext. Equally impressive is his knowledge f war and he often goes off on tangents that illustrate his interest in military history. Macbeth was shot in just 25 days. Cinematographer Will Gibson used high-definition video cameras, as he did on Wolf Creek, rather than film cameras. Video requires less setting-up time and is more flexible in low-light situations. More important, with the cost f film stock and processing no longer a factor, a lot more material can be shot. This enables performances to be repeated in many different ways, providing more choice during editing. For someone like me who likes to keep things moving and being blown up and being shot up, that kind f advantage becomes exhilarating and critical,'' Wright says. He believes anyone who shoots on 35mm film, when they have a budget f less than $6 million, has rocks in their head''. One f the key messages f the play for Wright is that crime doesn't pay. A fascinating aspect f his Macbeth is how he has worked the Victorian police force into the story. In Shakespeare's play, Malcolm goes to the English for help in his war against Macbeth; our Malcolm goes to the Victoria Police,'' Wright says. I have always felt that there was no more effective police force in Australia than the Victoria Police. You don't mess with them. To be a big-time gangster in Melbourne is a very dangerous occupation. In our version the police supply information to the warring parties. If I was a cop, it would be satisfying to see my enemies wipe each other out. And if I could aid them in that vendetta, tell them where they could find each other, it would be satisfying. I respect them and think they are way cool. I do.'' Macbeth has its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend and opens in Australian cinemas on September 21. Works Cited Martinez, Nancy C.; Best, Walter. A checklist f explication (1986-87). Explicator, Winter90, Vol. 48 Issue 2, p66 Swanson, Carol; Simkins, Lee. Vendors & Product. Variety, 10/22/2001, Vol. 384 Issue 10, pA19, 25p Read More