Shakesepeare English Lit - Essay Example

Killings, blood, lust and madness is all that surrounds him and yet we are constrained to feel for him. Macbeth surely establishes himself as the darkest character and the blackest villain of literature. Macbeth is the classic flawed Alpha male. Directed by Roman Polanski, the 140 minutes of this version is exciting and fresh. Polanski’s Macbeth is the same account as William Shakespeare’s immortal play about a Scottish warrior whose wife’s desire for power transforms him into a brute and results in his final downfall.

Polanski’s Macbeth is imbued with miserable locales and nudity which is generally not a trait of Shakespeare’s plays along with realistically violent murders and brutal blood shedding by the sensational Macbeth. He is intriguingly complex and ambitious. Since the beginning we hear of his great exploits on the battlefield. Finch gives a realistic performance of a one time good man turning into an unreasonable immoral madman. Polanski creates an impressive, harsh landscape. The castle looks as stark as one might imagine.

‘Blood will have blood’ he has taken quite literally. The tragedy with Macbeth is that he is impatient to wait and let things take their course. The hand behind the misery his life is that of his wife, Lady Macbeth. She is aware of her husband’s interior motives and madness and that his husband wants to attain the title of the king. She knows that he will go to any lengths of evilness to attain it. She continuously verbally assaults him about his manhood and in lieu drives away all the kindness from him.

Francisca Annis, who has portrayed Lady Macbeth in this film, looks more simpering than sinister. Modernization of Shakespeare has always been a tricky affair. About 50 years ago the audience had greeted Joe Macbeth, the violent and gangster version of Macbeth, by the British director Ken Hughes. Two years back Geoffery Wright gave us his version of Macbeth which is an Australian film. He has dared to take the