ThAct:Macbeth

* Feminist reading of Lady Macbeth

      

    

 In Women’s Worlds in Shakespeare Plays, a Lady Macbeth torn between ideals of morality and power. Lady Macbeth desires to renounce her sex and powerlessness and in the process has to renounce morality, which she ultimately cannot follow through on. In the beginning of the play, she believes that she the strong figure in her union. However, she is only attempting to deny the double standard that she’s been subjected to: the subservient and obedient woman versus the creature of morality, taking a stand for what is right. Lady Macbeth finds the classical concept of femininity repulsive, but cannot deny womanhood without denying morality as well. Unfortunately, neither of her desires can carry through: she in unable to commit the initial murder herself because the sleeping king reminds her of her father. In this, she exhibits tenderness as well as a moral code. Still, in the beginning of the work she appears to be a strong, masculine figure, but, by the end of the play, resorts to mothering her husband, who, after the desired gaining power, no longer needs to regard her. As Dash says, “Lady Macbeth’s tragedy [is the] futility of her attempt to move into the wale world, and, having adopted her moral standards, her ever-increasing isolation from him” 

       Lady Macbeth finds the classical concept of femininity repulsive, but cannot deny womanhood without denying morality as well. Unfortunately, neither of her desires can carry through: she in unable to commit the initial murder herself because the sleeping king reminds her of her father.

       Lady Macbeth presents herself as her husband’s collaborator, rather than as a being with her own self-interests. Because her identity is based upon her conceptions of manliness, she serves to block Macbeth’s exits from the world of men, when she should be offering alternatives to it. The character of Lady Macduff is, however, able to fulfill this role for her partner. She is hostile towards her husband’s public life when it takes him away from his family, being first concerned with his obligation to the home. In this way, she can appear to be a demanding and critical wife. However, by being the Other to Macduff’s Self, her death invokes a paralyzing disbelief in her husband, and he seeks revenge for her death. Contrarily, Macbeth simply shrugs off the suicide of a woman whom he had only weeks before called his “dearest partner of greatness” . Lady Macbeth was an empty figure, offering no feminine balance for Macbeth, and hence he has lost nothing in her death .Mabeth’s death does not resonate with the viewer because by the end of the play, he has simply exhausted all of his options, as there has been no Other to oppose him. Macbeth continues to be a murderer throughout the course of the play; his problems don’t change nor do they develop. His wife fails in provoking any sort of true passion within him, and ultimately, even his death exhausts the audience .

    Lady Macbeth was a ruthless person, and no one expected it because in the play they don’t associate women with evil characteristics, she demonstrates this when she continuously insults her husband. For example, when Macbeth changes his mind about killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth scolds him by insulting his masculinity and persuades him by saying that he owes it to her to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth would go to lengths just to become royalty, even if her husband’s dignity is on the line because she persuades him to kill by challenging his manhood, which is ultimately destroying his dignity. With this in mind, usually in relationships the partner supports one another no matter what and, in this case, Lady Macbeth is power hungry, so to achieve her power she is ruthless towards Macbeth. In addition, Lady Macbeth shows her ruthless personality, when she says “I would…Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/ and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/ Have done to this”

 

* A study of Film Adaptataions of Macbeth 

        

       Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been staged in widely different versions and adapted into numerous films. Every time, actors and directors have presented their take on Shakespeare’s tragedy about crime and consequence. Over the centuries, the play has been adapted to the tastes of the day. Some modern staged versions have been rather experimental, for instance one using only black actors and set in Haiti. Film adaptations vary just as much, and some of the more sensational modern ones include a comedy-thriller set in a fast-food restaurant, a Bollywood adaptation, and a mafia-inspired one set in the Australian underworld.

In any case, you should pay attention to how the director has decided to portray controversial elements like the role of women or the supernatural. For instance, some have chosen to show the floating dagger and Banquo’s ghost to the audience while others have left it out (the latter underlines Macbeth’s paranoia). Furthermore, some adaptations stay loyal to the original lines of the ...Macbeth, 1948,Director: Orson Welles

Notable cast: Orson Welles, Jeannette Nolan

This black-and-white film features some minor changes to the original play along with significant edits. Welles increased the purpose and presence of the three Witches in the movie to play up the conflict between early Christianity and pagan beliefs in Scotland. Welles also emphasized the violence of the story: the film depicts Lady Macbeth’s suicide and the final battle that ends with Macbeth’s beheading by Macduff. Welles also wanted all of the characters to speak with authentic Scottish accents, but the studio that produced the film insisted that the voices be dubbed after the film was completed.Macbeth, 1972,Director: Roman Polanski,Notable cast: John Finch, Francesca Annis.This R-rated film of the play features a nude sleepwalking scene by Lady Macbeth and plenty of on-screen violence. Polanski also emphasizes the passage of time – the events of play span several years, and the Macbeths visibly age over the course of the movie.Macbeth, 2010,Director: Rupert Goold

Notable cast: Patrick Stewart, Kate Fleetwood.Patrick Stewart, better-known to many as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek, stars in this adaptation of a well-received stage production of the play. Director Goold sets the action in purgatory, making the story a cautionary tale about the dangers of ambition.Macbeth, 2015,Director: Justin Kurziel,Notable cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard.This recent adaptation was filmed in Scotland, and opens with the funeral of the Macbeth’s dead son. This plot device links the couple’s thirst for power to their grief over losing their child, and makes the couple initially sympathetic to the audience.