Week 8: Macbeth (Geoffrey Write, 2006)



Macbeth poster & movie trailer link



An Australian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It has a kicking soundtrack, and the use of wrestles camera work have given this film an aura of modern day, drug induced gang life. Set amongst a contemporary criminal underworld of warring Melbourne gangsters, of which Duncan is the leader, or king. It is brutal and violent. The Shakespearean language is used, but the wordiness has been left out. This is powerful though, and suits some of the scenes perfectly. Eg. The party at Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth enters the room where Macbeth is alone, asking why he has left. Macbeth says. 'We will proceed no further in this business', and the couple stare each other down. The power is in what has not been said aloud between them.

I enjoyed the first shoot out scene, a drug deal gone wrong. It was so powerful and explosive, and really gave you the impression that the characters were powerful and corrupt, and not to be messed with. I felt that Macbeth being dressed like a rock star, complete with the sunnies, helped the audience better understand his own misled belief of being untouchable.

Power & Ambition: 
Lady Macbeth fuels his ambition by taunting his manhood, 'When you durst do it, then you were a man; and , to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man,' and his courage, 'But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail.'

Macbeth is paranoid about the prophesy of the witches, claiming that Banquo would be the father of a line of kings. Banquo is a threat to Macbeth, 'There is none but he whose being I do fear: and, under him, my genius is rebuked; as, it is said, Mark Antony's was by Ceasar,' and so decides to kill hom too so that he does not gain power.

Murder: Macbeth is clearly rattled by his murder of Duncan, ‘I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not,' and his mind becomes increasingly tortured and wild throughout the film. This is fuelled also by the haunting of Banquo’s ghost at the feast. Macbeth says, 'better be with the dead, whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy.' He is slowly losing his mind.

Eventually Lady Macbeth loses her mind also, she becomes fearful of what Macbeth has become, and feels the guilt that the blood of many is on her hands. She commits suicide.

Revenge:

·         Banquo’s ghost gains revenge by driving Macbeth crazy with paranoia.

·         Macduff gets revenge for his slain wife and child by killing their murderers.

·         Malcolm exacts revenge on Macbeth for his father’s murder.

The Supernatural:
Wright deals with the theme of the supernatural creatively. The three teenage witches appear to be drug induced fantasy, and has left me wondering if they were real or a figment of Macbeth’s imagination, giving him a message that deep down he wanted to hear. They prophesise his rise to great power, and Macbeth laps it up, at first believing that perhaps the king will die without him having to do anything, 'If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.' But killing the king, so that Macbeth can rise up, is what Lady Macbeth plots upon hearing the prophesy from her husband.

Discussion Question: In Jack Gold's Macbeth, it is implied that Lady Macbeth is the main force behind Macbeth, and that it is her ambition and sexual power over him that galvanises him into action. Discuss.

I watched the 2006 Geoffrey Wright Aussie movie and was very impressed. I believe that Lady Macbeth’s ambition was the force behind the murder of the King, it was almost as if she talked him into it. And it appeared from this filmic rendition that she used her sexual power over him, when Macbeth’s decision to kill the King wavered, Lady Macbeth taunts his manhood, ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man,’ and his courage, ‘But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail.’

Lady Macbeth had just lost a baby, a situation that she had no control over. I believe that she was seeking power and control, and the opportunity presented itself. I don’t believe that she was a malicious person though, as her monologue suggests that she must call upon evil spirits to ‘stop up th' access and passage to remorse’, otherwise she would not be able to go through with the murder. Also when she realises the death that now surrounds them, she goes mad from the guilt and the blood on her hands; while sleep walking, she is wringing her hands and asks, ‘what, will these hands ne're be clean?’