How is the character of Lady Macbeth presented in the text of Shakespeare’s play & in Roman Polanski’s 1971 film?
In this essay I will be discussing how lady Macbeth is portrayed in both Shakespeare’s version as well as Polanski’s 1971 film. The play was written abruptly after the latest accession of James I, meaning that there was a lot of tension regarding a male leader over a womanlike one. Furthermore, there was a lot of suspense with the regarding of witches. If you were alleged to be a witch, which many people were, you were frowned upon, or most likely killed. On the other hand, when the movie was produced, it was shortly after the Vietnam War, meaning there were new political ideas and conflict was seen as a threat to established order. …show more content…
She says many phrases, which link her to a whole manner of witches, dark secrets and portray her as something else, not at all human due to her actions and speech. The use of the words “the raven himself is hoarse… under my battlements” shows the viewers that she’s dark and mysterious. Ravens are associated with death or pain in some sort of way. This is an extremely dark thought which portrays herself almost as a villain, there to cause trouble in someway shape or form. The “h” sound almost mimics hoarseness, and a contemporary audience would see the use of the personal pronoun “my” as extremely arrogant and unfeminine. Almost as if she doesn’t care that she’s female and doesn’t treat her body with respect. She then later says “unsex me here…make thick my blood. Stop up th’access and passage remorse” this shows us that she sees her self as feminine and she sees that as a bad thing. She almost sees it as a drawback to her ambition now that she has got a plan that will make herself queen and being female would stop her somehow. The words “make thick of my blood and stop passage” shows us that she see natural female matters as a weakness. In the 17th century people believed bloodletting led to sickness, which means that she wants to retain evil within her, and by being female, in her opinion, will stop it. The three words “passage to remorse” give ionic imagery, which …show more content…
She says many phrases, which her workers find wired and don’t know why she is guilty. She starts by saying “when was it she last walked?” which adds to the ‘w’ alliteration of the doctors words which creates a creepy atmosphere, almost as if lady Macbeth is already a ghost, proving that she knows she’s going to die. She then follows this up by saying “hell is murky”. The present tense of the word is means that she already thinks she’s entered hell in her dreams, her conscience is clear and she feels guilty. After that, she says, “here’s the smell of the blood still”. This shows the viewers how extremely vivid lady Macbeths hallucination is as its extremely unusual to include smells in dreams. In the movie however the doctor is framed though holes in the screen- this shows viewers that lady Macbeth’s world has shrunk, the nudity shows how venerable she is which links her to the witches, but the nude lady Macbeth is much more explicit than the nude witches coven scene, suggest there is no beauty in the world of Macbeth and the 17th
In this essay I will be discussing how lady Macbeth is portrayed in both Shakespeare’s version as well as Polanski’s 1971 film. The play was written abruptly after the latest accession of James I, meaning that there was a lot of tension regarding a male leader over a womanlike one. Furthermore, there was a lot of suspense with the regarding of witches. If you were alleged to be a witch, which many people were, you were frowned upon, or most likely killed. On the other hand, when the movie was produced, it was shortly after the Vietnam War, meaning there were new political ideas and conflict was seen as a threat to established order. …show more content…
She says many phrases, which link her to a whole manner of witches, dark secrets and portray her as something else, not at all human due to her actions and speech. The use of the words “the raven himself is hoarse… under my battlements” shows the viewers that she’s dark and mysterious. Ravens are associated with death or pain in some sort of way. This is an extremely dark thought which portrays herself almost as a villain, there to cause trouble in someway shape or form. The “h” sound almost mimics hoarseness, and a contemporary audience would see the use of the personal pronoun “my” as extremely arrogant and unfeminine. Almost as if she doesn’t care that she’s female and doesn’t treat her body with respect. She then later says “unsex me here…make thick my blood. Stop up th’access and passage remorse” this shows us that she sees her self as feminine and she sees that as a bad thing. She almost sees it as a drawback to her ambition now that she has got a plan that will make herself queen and being female would stop her somehow. The words “make thick of my blood and stop passage” shows us that she see natural female matters as a weakness. In the 17th century people believed bloodletting led to sickness, which means that she wants to retain evil within her, and by being female, in her opinion, will stop it. The three words “passage to remorse” give ionic imagery, which …show more content…
She says many phrases, which her workers find wired and don’t know why she is guilty. She starts by saying “when was it she last walked?” which adds to the ‘w’ alliteration of the doctors words which creates a creepy atmosphere, almost as if lady Macbeth is already a ghost, proving that she knows she’s going to die. She then follows this up by saying “hell is murky”. The present tense of the word is means that she already thinks she’s entered hell in her dreams, her conscience is clear and she feels guilty. After that, she says, “here’s the smell of the blood still”. This shows the viewers how extremely vivid lady Macbeths hallucination is as its extremely unusual to include smells in dreams. In the movie however the doctor is framed though holes in the screen- this shows viewers that lady Macbeth’s world has shrunk, the nudity shows how venerable she is which links her to the witches, but the nude lady Macbeth is much more explicit than the nude witches coven scene, suggest there is no beauty in the world of Macbeth and the 17th