affected by the blood on her hands. She says "My hands are of your
colour". They are interupted by knocking and they quickly retire to their
chamber but before they go Macbeth confesses that if he could, " Wake
Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst." When Macbeth says
this is he could be feeling quilty, repentant or secretly happy that he is one
step closer to being king. During this scene we see Shakespeare refers to
sleep and blood a lot. Examples of these are "Macbeth shall sleep no
more", "Wash this blood clean from my hand?", "Painted devil". This is
because these are two of the main themes in Macbeth. They both
create very vivid and striking images.
The first production of this scene which we watched was Polanski's version
which was filmed in 1971. In this scene we also see Lady Macbeth
speaking in soliloguy. The director has chosen to present it as a voice-over
and has placed her in a very dark setting. The dark setting allow us to
contrast the good and evil in this scene and the voice over gives you an
idea of what Macbeth is really and thinking and you think that you are
inside his head. In this soliloguy they have left out much of the original
text. When Lady Macbeth is speaking she smiles on evil words like ' fatal
bellman', she also is very alert and shows pauses when Macbeth is near.
When they meet they speak in the short sentences which was in the
original text and this gives a real sense of tension as their responses are
very quick and short. Lady Macbeth tries to comfort Macbeth but when
she does he pulls away and all the can look at is his hands. Macbeth says
that his hands are a "sorry sight" and Lady Macbeth replies with "a foolish
thought" and gives a nervous laugh. Macbeth is speaking in a very calm
tone and it sounds as if he realises what he has done. Lady Macbeth tries
to show concern for him but when she tries to do this Macbeth pulls away.
When she does this Macbeth brings out the daggers. She gives a nervous
laugh and tries to find out why he has brought them back from Duncan's
chamber.
During the next few lines Macbeth looks very sad and remorseful as Lady
Macbeth is holding the draggers. She then starts to take control. When
Macbeth is washing his hands a knocking noise is heard and this scares
him. When he jupms it shows us that he really is in a fragile state of mind.
When washing his hands Macbeth speaks in soliloguy, he looks at his hands
when he says " What hands are here." and then starts washing them. In
the background we see Lady Macbeth coming down the steps and she is
dressed in white. This could be ironic as white is associated with purity and
we in fact know that Lady Macbeth is not pure. After she returns she
speaks to Macbeth but does not look at him, her tone is one of shock and
she tries to smile but can not. After they have washed their hands the
knocking continues and they retire to their chamber. The director in this
production has used darkness to show the evilness of both Lady Macbeth
and Macbeth. The background noises like owls and the sad music have
added to the tension in the play. They use most of the text but some of it
is left out. Both actors try to get into their character and use their facial
expresses to show how they are feeling.
The second production we looked at was the Royal Shakespeare
Company which was filmed in 2000. This is a more modern production of
the play and it will have better lighting and effects. This scene also starts
very dark and Lady Macbeth is also dressed in dark colours and hidden in
the shadows. The first thing we notice about this production is that we
don't see Lady Mabeth's face at the start. She stays in the dark and
prehaps this is the way the director has chosen to show how evil she is.
When the owl shrieks we runs to another pillar towards the camera this
perhaps scares her. By having Lady Macbeth running around in the
darkness shows that she is evil.She then leans against a pillar out of breath
and starts to go over the plan of how they are going to kill Duncan in her
head. This makes her more confident. She runs to the steps Macbeth
went up but we do not hear him coming. She is worried thst something
has gone wrong as she says " Alack, I am afraid they have awaked." We
then see Macbeth coming down and she speaks with emotion grabbing
him and running to somewhere safe. The place they have run to is dark
and the only light there is blueish.
When they hear a noise they tense and start to speak in short, snappy
sentences as they keep looking up the stairs. When Macbeth is talking his
tone is very nervous and he is starting to come to terms with what he has
done. When he goes on to explain what has happended Lady Macbeth is
looking very nervous and is chewing on her thumb to stop herself from
crying. She is showing lots of emotion. Macbeth says "Listening their
fear...." he starts to become more and more hysterical so much so that
Lady Macbeth has had to put her hand over his mouth as he is shouting.
As she is speaking to him she never takes her eyes of him. When she has
calmed Macbeth down they both slump down on the steps and both of
them suse their facial expression to show how bad what Macbeth is
saying is. During this time Macbeth leaves his hands behind his back. She
tries to put her arm around him and comfort him but when she does he
shows her the daggers.
Lady Macbeth pushes him up the stairs as if to say that he must leave
them back. Macbeth goes but then he returns with the draggers still in his
hands and says that he can not do it. She cries out and hits him when she
says " infirm of purpose!" He pins her up against the wall and they pause
for a minute and then Macbeth realises what he has done. When
Macbeth does this he is showing how wound up he is about having
committed this murder. This shows us that Macbeth is in a very unstable
state of mind and is so evil that he would even consider killing his wife as
he pinned her up against the wall with the daggers. During most of this
time the camera focusses on Macbeth and his face. Lady Macbeth then
says that she will take them back and leaves. While Lady Macbeth is
gone Macbeth is scared looking and climbs up the steps but he hears a
knocking sound. He looks at his hands but finds he cant and closes his eyes
whil he says "Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the
multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red." When he says
red his hand goes foward and nearly covers the camera, We see Lady
Macbeth returning but she has her hands outstrached. They both hear
the knocking and she says they should go to their chamber. During this
she gives a little smile and they disappear into the darkness at the top of
the stairs.
In this production the director has chosen to protray both characters in
the darkness. They both come out from the darkness and both disappear
into the darkness at the top of the stairs. During this scene we never fully
see either character in the light but when they are down the stairs we see
a blueish light and prehaps this is how the director is contrasting the good
and evil of this scene.
The director has made this scene very tense by using darkness and
focussing on both of their's facial expressions. It is obvious how quilty
Macbeth is and if he could bring Duncan back to life then he would. I
think the Royal Shakespeare Company's protrayal of this production is the
most dramatic. I feel that this is so because the actors playing Lady
Macbeth and Macbeth really got into their characters. They used their
facial expressions and actions to show the emotions of each of the
characters. During the soliloquys in this scene the director has grabbed
our attention and kept it. By using the theme of darkness the director has
showed the evilness of both characters.
