Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood and Roman Polanskis Macbet Essays

Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood and Roman Polanskis Macbet Essays Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood and Roman Polanskis Macbet Paper Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood and Roman Polanskis Macbet Paper Essay Topic: Literature This essay provides a detailed and critical analysis of act 1 scene 7 from Macbeth and then proceeds to examine Aikira Kurosawa and Roman Polanski interpretation of the scene through their respective filmic adaptations. This scene from Shakespeares play depicts how Macbeth muses on Duncans many good qualities, reflects that Duncan has been kind to him, and thinks that perhaps he ought not to kill his king. Lady Macbeth then enters and blows his hesitant thoughts away. She spurs Macbeth to treason by disregarding his rational, moral arguments and challenging his manhood. Under her persuasion, all of Macbeths objections seem to evaporate. (SparkNotes Editors). This scene had several functions; firstly, it shows that Macbeth possesses moral order since in the first part of the scene, he actually acknowledges that Duncan has been good to him and he should dismiss the plan of killing Duncan; secondly, it touches upon the idea of women as a source of evil since it was lady Macbeth who persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan even though he has made up his mind not to kill Duncan; thirdly, it also touches upon the relationship between masculinity and cruelty as Lady Macbeth constantly challenges Macbeths manhood while persuading him to kill Duncan. All these ideas are addressed and/or hinted in both Aikira Kurosawa and Roman Polanskis films. However, how they represent these ideas is subject to much scrutiny and interpretation and will be examined with specific focus on their choice of mise-en-sci ne, editing and acting craft. The idea of moral order can be found in Macbeths soliloquy, which is in Act 1, scene 7, lines 1-28, where he debates whether he should kill Duncan. When he lists Duncans good qualities (he [h]ath borne his faculties so meek) and the loyalty that he feels towards his king (I am his kinsman and his subject), we are reminded of just how evil it is for them to slaughter their king while he is a guest in their house. Macbeths fear that [w]e still have judgement here, that we but teach / Bloody instructions which, being taught, return / To plague thinventor, foreshadows the way that his deeds will eventually come back to haunt him. Here, he reveals his awareness that he may be initiating a cycle of violence that will eventually destroy him. The imagery in this speech is dark-we hear of bloody instructions, deep damnation, and a poisoned chalice-and this suggests that Macbeth is aware of how the murder would open the door to a sinful world. He knows what he does is wrong, and he recognizes that there will surely be consequences. At the same time, he admits that his only reason for committing murder, ambition, suddenly seems an insufficient justification for the act. We see that Macbeth is not a good man at this point in the play, but he is not yet an evil one-he is tempted, and he tries to resist temptation. Macbeths resistance, however, is not vigorous enough to stand up to his wifes ability to manipulate him. Women as a source of evil is an idea commonly explored in Elizabethans plays. Macbeth traces the root of chaos and evil to women, which has led some critics to argue that this is Shakespeares most misogynistic play. While the male characters are just as violent and prone to evil as the women, the aggression of the female characters is more striking because it goes against prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. (Sparknotes Editors). In the second part of this scene, we see how Lady Macbeth manipulates and provokes Macbeth to commit murder even when he had already decided not to. She uses various ways to make Macbeth agree with her. She uses emotional blackmail, coupled with her femininity by saying she will not love him anymore: From this time such I account thy love. She knows that he loves her deeply and uses this against him. She then insults his masculinity by saying, Letting I dare not wait upon I would like the poor cat i the adage? Here, she is calling him a wimp and a scaredy cat. She totally insulted him by comparing him to the cat that wants the fish but doesnt want to get his paws wet. She uses foul phrases with appalling imagery such as telling Macbeth that while she was breast feeding her baby she would: while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn you had done to this. She tries to come over as very menacing and heartless at this point in the play, making a point of the fact that if she had promised to kill her own child she would do so. The role of women at the time when Shakespeare wrote this play was that women were mothers and supported their husbands, their main role would be to look after the home. A Shakespearian audience would be appalled that Lady Macbeth is neither and that she even threatens a life of a child. She describes the plan to murder him in graphic detail. She convinces Macbeth that her plan will work. If Lady Macbeth hadnt been in the picture, then undoubtedly Macbeth wouldnt have murdered the King. Therefore, this play, particular this scene, exemplifies how women are a source of evil and how manipulative women can get. Act 1 scene 7 of Polanskis version of Macbeth begins at 0:28:52, where the feasting and merriment with the king happens in Macbeths castle. Macbeth, unwisely, has left the table and is contemplating the deed that lies ahead of him, he is so engrossed by the conflict in his head that he misses the Kings toast this action is not in the original play but does highlight his self-doubt. The scene then shifts to a hallway outside the castle where Macbeth is thinking about whether he should murder the king. Polanski chooses to shoot this scene where in the backgroud, a storm is happening. The thunder, lightning and heavy rain reflects the internal unrest of Macbeth, where his evil thoughts are struggling with his moral order. As Macbeth is in deep thought in 0:29:45, half of his face is litted up while the other half of his face is not. The light is shot from the left of macbeth. The litted half of his face reflects the moral order present in him while the darker side of his face represents the evil thoughts. Lady Macbeth then comes into the scene to see why Macbeth has left the banquet table. He then tells her he is fully determined not to continue with the plan. In the background we hear Fleance singing a sweet ballad which contrasts greatly with the evil manipulative words of Lady Macbeth. This emphasizes the idea of women as a source of evil doings even more. Lady Macbeth then attacks Macbeth manhood and describes him as coward. Macbeth is very offended by this. Lady Macbeth also uses her soft femininity to win him over and begins to cry. Now we no longer here the sweet voice of Fleance instead we here the fast paced music of the sword dance by Duncans two male chamberlains. The two male chamberlains dance around the swords. This emphasizes the relationship between masculinity and murder/ killing. Kurosawas adaptation of Macbeths Act 1 Scene 7 is very different from Polanskis version. It is very much different from the orginal shakespeares play script too. I will be taking the scenes 0:34:58 to 0:36:36 and 0:39:24 to 0:41:55 to analyze. From 0:34:54 to 0:36:36, the scene is shot in a small room with Washizu (Macbeth) telling Asaji (Lady Macbeth) to put her heart as ease as the King (already present in his place) has absolute trust in him and has given him a high position. Previously, Asaji has planted alot of doubts in Washizus thoughts about the king and Miki. In this scene, however, Asaji is still able to continue planting bad thoughts into Washizus head. This film adaptation is in the noh theater, a form of japanese musical drama. Asajis face is painted and she acted like she had the noh mask on with her expressionless face. Th noh mask portrays the female character and in this case, also portrays a nonhuman (witch) character, since she is so evil. This scene emphasizes the idea that women are a source of evil and trouble even more than the Polanskis version. In Polanskis version, we still see Lady Macbeth, crying, using her femininity to persuade Macbeth to commit the crime. In Kurosawas adaptation, we see that Asaji seldom look into the eyes of Washizu and she never shed a tear. She talks with much calm, showing that her words alone are enough to manipulate Washizu. She doesnt even have to resort to using her feminine features to help her. In conclusion, the ideas of moral order, women as a source of evil and the relationship between masculinity and murder are found in the play script and the two film adaptations.