Roman Polanski’s Version of Macbeth

The scene is shot in the morning this represents a brand new day. The witches prepare a spell for Macbeth and at this early stage Macbeth has a choice of whether or not he wants to commit to evil and believe the witches prophecies.

When preparing the spell the witches draw a circle in the sand this could represent the circle of life or evil. In the circle they place a hangman's rope, which could be a symbol of the first thane of Cawdor and how he was hanged for being a traitor, or it could stand for the indirect killing of Macbeth and of Lady Macbeth's suicide. A severed arm is also placed in this circle this could symbolise the savage murders of those innocent through out the whole play. A dagger is also positioned in the hand curiously pointing inwards; this could stand for Duncan's death. When these objects have been placed carefully the witches dig a hole this could symbolise them sowing the seeds of temptation. When the objects have been covered with sand blood is poured over the sand and this is appropriate because the imagery of blood reigns throughout the whole tragedy i.e. when Lady Macbeth has dreams of not being able to keep her hands clean. The witches then spit 3 times; there are also 3 witches; these are numbers traditionally linked with evil.

The witches enter and they are crudely dressed. The first one is young and dumb. The second is old and I believe that she is deaf because she seemed to be lip reading, and the third is very old and blind I know this because she had her eyes covered up. Each of the witches has a disability making them interdependent. This could indicate that when the witches are together their potency increases and they are capable of a much greater evil.

Elizabethan audience believed in the evil omen of thunder and lightening and they also believed in witches. To create the atmosphere Shakespeare has an orchestra to play eerie music and create noises for thunder. This was to make this scene scary. Polanski choose to make this scene more mysterious than scary. He is able to use special effects and editing to achieve this. The sky is red and there is a dead silence. There is also a wind blowing that makes things look bleak. High-pitched music is played and this creates a sense of eeriness. As the witches prepare their spell they grunt and groan and when the witches leave again we notice that they have no footprints this adds to the mystery. As they walk they head off in different directions, this perhaps indicating how they spread their evil across the world.

Polanski reverses Shakespeare's original text and begins with the equivocating rhyme 'fair is foul and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air'. This creates an air of mystery and suspicion, which keeps to Shakespeare's script. The last word in Polanski's version is the word 'Macbeth'. This is used to whet the audience's appetite, as they desire to find out who Macbeth is and why his name is connected to the witches. Then there is the dramatic entry of the name 'Macbeth' across the screen.

There is no mention of the Familiars perhaps this is to enhance the suspicion and mystery by including them into the atmosphere of the scene instead through the lone seagulls cry. However Polanski is dealing with a modern audience, which does not believe in Familiars unlike Shakespeare's Elizabethan audience who believed in witchcraft.

I believe that Polanski did justice to Shakespeare's text. Polanski kept to the original text and he interpreted his own way to make it more enjoyable for a modern day audience. If it were Shakespeare doing an adaptation of Polanski's work then Shakespeare would have to do the same to suit his Elizabethan audience.

ERIN DOHERTY 12J