GCSE ENGLISH COURSE WORK
MACBETH AND SOLILOQUIES
By Joe Swainson
This play was written by Sir William Shakespeare and was first performed in front of King James at Hamilton court in 1606. The play is set in the 1500s in Scotland. Three witches who are the physical form of evil in the play and like the serpent in the Garden of Eden represent the force of temptation. Macbeth and his friend and nobleman Banquo come upon these three witches. The witches foretell that Macbeth is to become King of Scotland. Banquo is distrustful of them and senses them as evil whereas Macbeth is tempted by their predictions. He expresses his fears, feelings and thoughts in two soliloquies with dramatic tension and irony. In this essay I am going to show how I would direct the two soliloquies in a play.
In the first soliloquy Macbeth is situated at centre stage. The stage is lit up with two fire torches on either side of him. At the beginning of this scene he is in the great hall where a huge banquet is taking place; he is sitting near the King of Scotland, Duncan. The stage has a large table, side ways facing the audience as he starts his speech. In this soliloquy he deals with the pros and cons of murdering the king because of what the three witches have said. Macbeth strolls towards left stage and leans over the wooden balcony and looks into the blue haze to say his first line. "If it were done when 'tis done". Here he is saying that if the murder could be done quickly, without the inevitable consequences, then he should do it quickly. Macbeth nestles his head in his hands in distress. The lights open to full stage and in the same colour as the spotlight which was a pale yellow. He continues in his speech "If th' assassination could trammel up the consequence and catch with his surcease, success that this blow would be the be all and end all here". Here he is saying that he knows that the murder would be wrong and that he would end up paying the price for his crime. Macbeth walks at a fair pace up and down the stage from left to right. The effects of lightening and thunder sound and shudders of bright light strike the stage before every clap. This brings dramatic tension to a head and is now evident to the audience. It all calms down after forty seconds and Macbeth's pacing up and down relaxes to normal speed as he continues. His conscience is very persuasive as he starts to list reasons why he shouldn't kill the current King of Scotland, Duncan. He says if Duncan were murdered it would create a tremendous outcry and that he is the rightful king. While muttering this passage the expression on his face holds little hope because deep down he knows that he wants to kill the king.
MACBETH AND SOLILOQUIES
By Joe Swainson
This play was written by Sir William Shakespeare and was first performed in front of King James at Hamilton court in 1606. The play is set in the 1500s in Scotland. Three witches who are the physical form of evil in the play and like the serpent in the Garden of Eden represent the force of temptation. Macbeth and his friend and nobleman Banquo come upon these three witches. The witches foretell that Macbeth is to become King of Scotland. Banquo is distrustful of them and senses them as evil whereas Macbeth is tempted by their predictions. He expresses his fears, feelings and thoughts in two soliloquies with dramatic tension and irony. In this essay I am going to show how I would direct the two soliloquies in a play.
In the first soliloquy Macbeth is situated at centre stage. The stage is lit up with two fire torches on either side of him. At the beginning of this scene he is in the great hall where a huge banquet is taking place; he is sitting near the King of Scotland, Duncan. The stage has a large table, side ways facing the audience as he starts his speech. In this soliloquy he deals with the pros and cons of murdering the king because of what the three witches have said. Macbeth strolls towards left stage and leans over the wooden balcony and looks into the blue haze to say his first line. "If it were done when 'tis done". Here he is saying that if the murder could be done quickly, without the inevitable consequences, then he should do it quickly. Macbeth nestles his head in his hands in distress. The lights open to full stage and in the same colour as the spotlight which was a pale yellow. He continues in his speech "If th' assassination could trammel up the consequence and catch with his surcease, success that this blow would be the be all and end all here". Here he is saying that he knows that the murder would be wrong and that he would end up paying the price for his crime. Macbeth walks at a fair pace up and down the stage from left to right. The effects of lightening and thunder sound and shudders of bright light strike the stage before every clap. This brings dramatic tension to a head and is now evident to the audience. It all calms down after forty seconds and Macbeth's pacing up and down relaxes to normal speed as he continues. His conscience is very persuasive as he starts to list reasons why he shouldn't kill the current King of Scotland, Duncan. He says if Duncan were murdered it would create a tremendous outcry and that he is the rightful king. While muttering this passage the expression on his face holds little hope because deep down he knows that he wants to kill the king.
