The Subject of Femininity in Macbeth - Essay Example

English Literature Macbeth, the shortest tragedy by William Shakespeare, was published for the first time in the Folio of 1623. The play has been adapted to film, opera, novels and other important media. So, it is not a surprising fact that the famous Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa adopted the play for his film- The throne of blood. Kurosawa’s effort was to reinterpret Macbeth to the tradition of Japanese Noh theatre. The film is an anti-feudal drama, which is about a trapped individual destroyed by a rigid socio- cultural background. When one tries to investigate into the treatment of femininity/masculinity in the film, it is clear that Asaji (Lady Macbeth) in the film is with more calculations and ambitious than the real character of Lady Macbeth in the play. Here, Asaji is the driving force behind most of the actions in the play. She is more cruel and masculine than the Washizu (Macbeth), the protagonist. Besides, in the play, it is clear that Lady Macbeth is completely devoid of the loving and tender qualities which are associated with femininity and motherhood. In addition, it is unambiguous that Shakespeare attempted to represent the character of Macbeth as feminine and Lady Macbeth as masculine. Thesis statement: Analysis of femininity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood, and discussion on the feminine/masculine character of Lady Macbeth. Analysis of the subject of femininity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth The play Macbeth begins with the total destruction of order and by the climax this order is restored. Almost all the main characters get involved in this destruction and restoration process of the order or the restoration of the kingdom of Scotland from the control of Macbeth. Here, the female characters show more power and determination than male but both these characters are forced to face more critical situations in their lives. Besides, they are forced to wear the mask of masculinity of cover their feminine qualities of tenderness and caring. Shakespeare developed his characters by interchanging the gender identity of the main characters like Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth. Besides, the main male character is with feminine behaviour and the main female character is with masculine behaviour. To influence the Victorian Viewers, it was important for Shakespeare to develop this cross border gender identity. For instance, the character of Lady Macbeth is with male characteristics and her husband Macbeth fails to personify/prove his masculinity in most of the scenes in the play. James L Calderwood in the work- ‘Shakespeare & the denial of death,’ reflects that: “Lady Macbeth, in order to arm herself for regicide calls on spirits to “unsex here” and on murdering ministers to “come to my woman’s breasts/ and take milk of gall.”1 Shakespeare attempted to wipe out femininity from the heroine by providing a masculine outlook to her through deeds which leads to her doom. Shakespeare decided to provide masculinity to the heroine character and it provided more appeal to the play as a tragedy. Macbeth, the central character of the play is more feminine than his wife because he is overambitious but tender minded to fulfil his ambition to become the king of Scotland. Somehow, he kills the king Duncan but he was unable to sort out the mess created by the murder. But Lady Macbeth helped her husband to solve most of the problems related to the brutal murder. The witches, who insisted Macbeth through their prophecy shows masculine characteristics and they possess supernatural power. So it is evident that the play is full of gender ambiguity and this helps the playwright to empower the audience for further tragic scenes. Through the play, Shakespeare points out that only true masculine power can undertake cruel deeds. When the female characters are forced to do the same, they are treated as male and this provide immense mental power to them but it leads to their doom in the end. From a feminist view point, the play can be considered as a tale of man’s mistreatment of woman. Moreover, the main female character is forced to meet a tragic end in the climax. But from another view point, the transformation of Lady Macbeth to a person with male characteristics created the tragedy of Macbeth. For instance, when King Duncan visited his palace, Macbeth was wavering to take a decision on the murder. Here, Lady Macbeth forced him to murder the King Duncan and to grab the power of Scotland. The influence from the side of his wife and his ambitious mind forced him to murder the king. The treatment of femininity in the play Macbeth is closely related to the gender role of female in a male dominated society is limited to the domain of personal/domestic sphere. Feminine character is connected with softness and motherhood. From another view point, the witches represent the feminine power in the Victorian Society and they are without any influence in the society. They are with immense power but are unable to create a positive change in the society. Moreover, the women who show masculine power in older days were considered as witches and marginalised in the society. So, it is evident that the analysis of the subject of femininity in Macbeth provides one a clear picture of the male attitude towards woman and the consequences of cross border gender roles. Femininity in Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood Throne of Blood, the film directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in the year 1957, is considered as one of the best films of Kurosawa and the best film interpretation of the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. The film follows the events and the plot of the play but the protagonist of the film, Washizu Taketori is less evil than Macbeth. Besides, the climax is entirely different from the play and the protagonist is shot by his own archers. It is quite clear that the Noh theatre of Drama in Japan influenced Kurosawa and it can be seen in staging, characterization, editing and direction of the film. In the work- ‘the warriors camera: the cinema of Akira Kurosawa,’ Stephen Prince makes clear that: “Throne of Blood dispenses with Shakespearean dialogue. Instead of trying to translate this poetry into Japanese, Kurosawa renders it as imagery.”2 the film Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa makes use of Shakespearean dialogue in a different way. For instance, Kurosawa did not try to translate the dialogues but he used it as imagery. If Kurosawa tried to translate Shakespeare to Japanese, the poetic beauty of the dialogues might be lost. But manipulation of the play as an imagery helped the film to be more convincing to the Elizabethan viewers. Kurosawa discarded the verbal poetry of Shakespeare and transformed the theme on his own philosophy. Moreover, the setting of Scotland is entirely transformed to the 16th Century feudal society of Japan. When the cross-cultural adaptation of the play is removed from the source text, it is no more Shakespeare because the director has the right to interpret it in a new but different form. This theory is applicable for Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood. The context of the film is the medieval age of Japanese history, where feudalism was facing a Civil War (1392-1568). Actually, the real kings were deposed and the circumstance was similar to the film. Tetsuo Kishi & Graham Bradshaw in the work- ‘Shakespeare in Japan,’ reflects that: “It can best find us through our own earlier history, our own performance traditions, and our folk beliefs.”3 the close resemblance of the Shakespearean play Macbeth with history, traditions and folk beliefs of Japan helped Kurosawa to have an easy adaption to Japanese. So, for Kurosawa, the similarity between social circumstance in England/Scotland and Japan helped to have an easier transformation of the play to Japanese context. The plot of the film is same to that of the play Macbeth. Washizu, the protagonist who was ambitious, felt pleased enough to become the lord over the Spider Web Castle and its surroundings. But his wife Asaji is more crooked, cruel and ambitious and she insisted him to kill off rivals and comrades to become the ultimate power in Scotland. Besides, she is conscious about the fact that her husband is naturally reluctant to commit a murder on his own. She somehow prepares him through her logical and emotional counters. But it was not so easy to influence him so she argued that the king also had killed his predecessors to grab the throne. Here, one can see that the male character Washizu does not have any control over his wife and she is so influential on him. Washizu is similar to the character of Macbeth in the play. But the female character of Asaji is more powerful and influential than the male character. But this influence is not positive and it affected the career of Washizu as a Lord to the king. When one considers the subject of femininity in Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood, Asaji the heroine is more cruel, cunning and powerful than her husband. Besides, the female characters (Asaji, witch etc.) are physically female but are masculine in their deeds. As a contrast to this fact, the male characters show female characteristics like tenderness and caring. For instance, Washizu is totally under the control of his wife. He was ambitious but pleased with his status of lordship. But his wife ignited his ambitiousness and acted as a factor for his doom. So as to cover her feelings, Asaji used to wear a mask called Shakumi which represented the image of a woman about to go mad. The importance given to femininity in the film is more evident from the fact that there are so many similarities between Asaji and the witch. For instance, there is similarity in their make-up and their unnatural stillness. Asaji is prophetic when she points out to Washizu that his own archers will kill him. But this parallel is not evident in the play Macbeth. Here, Kurosawa utilized his individual freedom as a director who is free to add or discard some elements from the source. In the film, Asaji is much more cunning and calculating than that of Lady Macbeth. Moreover, Asaji was pregnant. Kurosawa added this element to the plot because it clarifies much of her motivation, adds another element of tragedy. Asaji is clever and she knows how to manipulate people and how to face the circumstance boldly. Another feminine/female character in the film, the witch is symbolized as more knowing than the witches in Macbeth. Besides, her hut is surrounded by the skeleton of armies. But in the film, it is not clear that whether she is demonic, or with human characteristics. It is sure that she knew well about the ambitious nature of Lady Macbeth and self destructive nature of human beings. So the characters of Asaji and the witch are the driving forces of action in the film. It is evident that Kurosawa treats femininity/feminine characters in his film with more importance than Shakespeare. Besides, the character of Asaji is much more powerful than Lady Macbeth. Even the witch is given importance and immense power in the film. When an Elizabethan Play is transformed to the settings of 16 Century in Japan, and to the Shogun Era of feudal Japan, this change it is not so surprising to the film lovers. But the male character of Washizu personifies the real feminine characteristics and it is quite evident from the fact that he was under the control/influence of his wife, Asaji and he was helpless to take a decision of his own. So, it is clear that Shakespeare and Kurosawa interpreted femininity through their different and unique ways. Extent of masculinity/ femininity in Lady Macbeth In the play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the embodiment of evil which is absolute and extreme in contrast to femininity. Shakespeare supported the general view about women that they are naturally tender hearted and are far away from evil thoughts and deeds. In most of the plays, Shakespeare portrayed women as more virtuous than men. But in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was portrayed as an evil character. Besides, she is so cunning, crooked minded because she plots the murder of the King Duncan by influencing her husband. Richard Dutton & Jean Elizabeth Howard reflects that: “Her disorder also displaces anxiety about the potentially detrimental consequences of passionate impressibility, by associating its cost (disordered reason) with the labile extremes of femininity.”4 The mental disorder of Lady Macbeth hinders herself from thinking more about the consequences of the murder of King Duncan. In the end, she is without a stable mind to ponder upon the deadly consequences because she is totally out of her reasoning ability. From another view point, the masculinity in Lady Macbeth is only a mask because she hesitates to kill the king by saying that his face resembles her father’s. Moreover, her wickedness is self-proclaimed than real and it is apparent from her words. In the play, Shakespeare connects the symbol of ‘milk’ to point out the evilness of Lady Macbeth. As milk is connected to motherhood, the word ‘milk’ is symbolic because Lady Macbeth is childless and there is nothing to connect her with womanly tenderness and motherhood. In another scene, she laments on the fact that her husband is too good to commit a murder. Besides, in a speech (Act I scene V) she invokes the evil spirits to help her to capture the kingdom of Scotland. Furthermore, in the same passage, she attempts to go beyond her femininity by invoking the evil spirits to ‘unsex’ her. Here, the word ‘unsex’ is symbolic because she very well knows that her womanhood is full of tender feelings and she cannot be cruel. So she no more wants to be feminine and wishes to be a male. She is ready to exchange her milk (symbolic of motherhood/womanhood/tenderness) for gall because she very well knows that a milk-bearing female cannot commit a cruel deed like murdering the king. So she attempts to influence her husband to murder the king while he is sleeping. But when Macbeth hesitates to commit the murder, she questions his manhood and points out that he is more feminine than his wife. The words of Lady Macbeth in the play Macbeth, (Act I, Scene.VII) by William Shakespeare make clear that: (“Lady M. What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me?”5 Lady Macbeth points out that, earlier, Macbeth was ready to kill King Duncan. But when the time and circumstance is clear for the deed, he hesitates to do the same. Here, one can see that Lady Macbeth is more masculine than her husband. She charges her husband for his fear to murder Duncan. So as to prove her ruthlessness, Lady Macbeth pointed out that, she is ready to pluck her nipple from a baby’s mouth and is ready to kill it. Besides, Macbeth himself uttered that his wife is with ruthlessness and lack of hesitation to plot a murder. From these facts, it is clear that Lady Macbeth is far away from the general qualities of femininity and can be considered as an embodiment of evil factor in the play. Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is less evil than that of Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood. The Elizabethan theatre allowed less evil in femininity and Shakespeare believed in the general notion about women as tender hearted, without any evil. But Kurosawa utilised the independence as a director and transformed the theme of Macbeth to that of Japanese society. But in Macbeth and Throne of Blood, Lady Macbeth is the embodiment of evil and is with extreme masculinity. The analysis of the subject of femininity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth makes clear that, Lady Macbeth, a female character shows extreme power and determination than other male characters in the play. Moreover, the protagonist of the play, Macbeth is less masculine and is under the influence of his wife. Other female characters like the witches are also powerful and capable to live between two worlds- one the real natural world and other the supernatural world of evil spirits. To an extent, the play gives a clear picture of the male attitude towards the women. The analysis of femininity in Akira Kurosawa’s Thorne of Blood reflects that the Director Kurosawa use the events and plot of the Play in a different way. Besides, Kurosawa transformed the theme of the play on his own philosophy. The masculinity of the female character is more evident in the film. As the director use his independence, the tragedy of the protagonist is more severe and touching because his fate was to die by the arrows of his own archers. Before summing up it is important to point out that the subject of femininity manipulated is different in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and in Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood. The discussion on the extent of masculinity/femininity in Lady Macbeth shows that the character of Lady Macbeth is less feminine and she is with more masculine power than her husband. But her fate was also like her husband’s and she suffered the problem of mental disorder. But to an extent, her wickedness was not real and it acted as a mask to cover her real character. This is evident from the fact that she was not ready to murder the king by her own hand. Instead, she forced her husband to commit the cruel deed. So it is clear that the character of Lady Macbeth is with masculine characteristics and her husband Macbeth is with feminine characteristics. Both the play and the film points out the same thing but the film portrays the theme of femininity in a more vivid and independent manner. But the play portrays the theme of femininity as in a real life situation and this makes the difference between the play by Shakespeare and the film by Kurosawa. Read More