Comparing Three Productions of Macbeth
The last moments of a production are important because they can greatly alter the audiences' interpretation of the entire play. This is especially true in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. A number of unanswered questions such as whom is responsible for Macbeth's fate and whether peace is restored to the kingdom, gather at the end of the play Macbeth. In each of the different productions, directors Orson Wells, Roman Polanski, and Trevor Nunn allude to these answers. Shakespeare's play ends with Malcolm saying to his kinsman: We shall not spend a large expense of time Before we reckon with your several loves And make us even with you. My Thanes and kinsmen, Henceforth be Earls, the first that ever Scotland In such an honor named. What's more to do, Which would be planted newly with the time, As calling home our exiled friends abroad That fled the snares of watchful tyranny, Producing forth the cruel ministers Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands Took off her life; this, and what needful else
Polanski's version is undeniably gory and leads the viewer to believe that more events will follow. Though it stands yet unknown as to whether Malcolm holds as poor of an ability to judge character as his father held, but just the fact that Malcolm represents a part of this cycle allows for the interpretation that Malcolm's fate remains doomed to the same pattern as that of his predecessor. Though Polanski's version also alludes to a cyclic pattern in history, his production indicates that the witches control this cycle, while Nunn leaves the role of the witches insignificant in comparison to the age-old cycle of the ambitious using bloodshed to obtain the kingdom. The last scene of this production contains a hazy mysterious feel due to the setting of the sun and the smoke-like clouds hovering low around the castle. The "fair" king sits next to the "foul" bloodshed when Ross holds the crown next to the bloody sword, the image of fair next to the foul dominates the screen. " In a matter of seconds and with using only five simple words, Wells contrives an ending for the production that unarguably connotes that peace is restored. A deep and dark sounding music plays in the background while the witches silently and motionlessly peer at the castle unbeknown to the others in the kingdom. Both Nunn and Polanski allude to a cycle that continuously repeats itself throughout time and never allows for peace. " Just as the sailor holds no responsibility for the downfall of his ship and his unlucky fate, neither does Macbeth hold responsibility for his unlucky demise. The cycle of bloodshed leading to the throne alluded to in the last scene of the Trevor Nunn production answers the second of Shakespeare's ambiguities, whether the kingdom will finally receive peace now that Macbeth lies dead, with a negative. The opening scene of Macbeth introduces the theme of "Fair is foul and foul is fair"(1. Trevor Nunn takes the safe approach by only alluding to the possibility that peace will not be restored through the veiled image of the cycle. The staff denotes a sign of authority, in fact the Oxford English Dictionary defines a staff as "a stick or pole as a sign of office or authority" (Abate, 777).
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