Accompanying Write-up - The theme of our presentation is "Attitudes towards Death". Two of the chosen pieces, "Macbeth" (William Shakespeare) and "Whose life is it anyway?" (Brian Clark)

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Accompanying Write-up

        The theme of our presentation is "Attitudes towards Death". Two of the chosen pieces, "Macbeth" (William Shakespeare) and "Whose life is it anyway?" (Brian Clark), are both relevant to Death. In "Macbeth", Macbeth has just killed Duncan and is racked with guilt and anxiety. Lady Macbeth, co-perpetrator in the crime, is convincing him that it was the correct thing to do and mocking his fears. The play is a tragedy and shows a negative attitude towards death, with the death being in the brutal murder. The mood created by this and the knocking in the scene is very tense. Macbeth's guilt and anxiety add tension and suspense; which collide with Lady Macbeth's false confidence to provide a confused and expectant mood. The audience is gripped by concern as they await Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's fate, whether good or bad.

        "Whose life is it anyway?" is in most ways a very realistic play, with a positive attitude towards Death. For Ken, Death is an escape from his disability. It is a mercy for him, to be rescued from his unhappy life. The mood created in the scene is of great expectance as Ken awaits the Judges sentencing and verdict. The issue of euthanasia is of great importance throughout the scene, showing how the play is testing people's morals. The morals in Macbeth are simply those around the idea of murder.

        

We presented "Whose life is it anyway?" in a realistic, modern style. The exception to this is that the Judge walks about on the stage this would not normally happen in a real court scene (the Judge would remain seated) but it was felt that this was necessary to make the scene more interesting for the audience. Besides, our scene was not in a real court room; we used rostra to display the raised area would the judge should sit - but apart from that, our court comprised of one chair on which Ken sat. The alternative would be two very stationary characters, providing little interest for the audience - although it would focus the audience attention onto the speech and the actual case. The language is modern and understandable with little thought, as it would come naturally to modern day audiences. The scene also features other aspects that would not normally be associated with a representational piece of drama, such as the Judge's asides, when he addresses the audience and gives his verdict of the case.

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        "Macbeth", on the contrary, uses very elevated language, of that era (Elizabethan). The scene is based around a realistic topic, and is acted to suit, with very few representational aspects. The only exception being Macbeth's soliloquy at the end of the scene, which is of a presentational style.

        In the Macbeth scene (Act II, scene ii), Lady Macbeth is more dominant than Macbeth, as she tries to keep control of the situation and quell Macbeth's fears and guilt. The power structure is simply: Lady Macbeth above Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is much more composed than Macbeth, keeping a straight posture ...

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