The purpose of the scene in Act 3 Scene 4 is to celebrate the coronation of Macbeth with a banquet. It gives us an insight into his state of mind
Choose a scene, which you think, would be particularly effective in its impact on an audience. Discuss how this scene is presented in two different productions. Say which you prefer and why.
The purpose of the scene in Act 3 Scene 4 is to celebrate the coronation of Macbeth with a banquet. It gives us an insight into his state of mind and present character, and the changes in the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Finally, we can look at the deteriorating evil that is vivid in Macbeth. Throughout the scene, Macbeth is haunted and hallucinating, which Lady Macbeth has no control over.
At the opening of the scene the atmosphere is exceedingly pleasurable, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are entertaining their guests and are exceeding the roles of host and hostess. When the murders are brought to Macbeth's attention, he hurries over to speak with them. Here we see how Macbeth's deteriorating character move from, noble, respectful to cunning, and calculating. The language used to enquire of Banquo and Fleance were murdered was somewhat crude and vindictive, "is he dispatched."
We see Macbeth use entrapment imagery to convey his apprehension with Fleance escaping. It is clear Macbeth is alarmed now about his uncertain and indecisive future. We realize that Macbeth is anxious and fretful worrying that Fleance may seek revenge and become extremely dangerous. "There the grown serpent lies the warm that fled." His aside is packed with animal imagery, which is used to suggest his insecurity and animal instinct.
As this is happening, it is made clear that Lady Macbeth is livid and accuses her husband of being an improper host. His response is too talk of Banquo's absence, "Where the graced person of our Banquo present." His hypocritical tone causes the ghost of Banquo to enter which understandably frightens Macbeth and his hysterical state provokes a lot of questions and suspicions. He passes remarks like "the table is full" and "which one of you have done this? Macbeth continues in this frenzied state as he beings to communicate with the ghost, "thou canst not say I did it." Macbeth is clearly saturated with guilt and his mind is overcome with torture and evil. "Never shake they gory locks at me," suggest blood imagery, which this scene is coloured by.
Lady Macbeth observes that she must intervene at this point to lift suspicion from her husband. To prevent Macbeth from revealing his sin she upstages him and becomes a more dominant character, "Are you a man". Macbeth is no longer seeking Lady Macbeth's reassurance and guidance at this stage.
Macbeth is becoming more and more shocked and horrified by what he witnesses but shortly after things begin to resume to normal. Macbeth then defensively explains to the Lords that he is ill. Macbeth continues to be hypocritical "our dear friend Banquo whom we miss would he were here." It is seconds after that, Banquo reappears to Macbeth taking a ghostly form, this divine roast has been dramatically destroyed because of Banquo's reappearing ghost. The atmosphere is volatile, Macbeth again becomes chaotic and the use of "rugged Russian bear, the armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger" suggests this. ...
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Macbeth is becoming more and more shocked and horrified by what he witnesses but shortly after things begin to resume to normal. Macbeth then defensively explains to the Lords that he is ill. Macbeth continues to be hypocritical "our dear friend Banquo whom we miss would he were here." It is seconds after that, Banquo reappears to Macbeth taking a ghostly form, this divine roast has been dramatically destroyed because of Banquo's reappearing ghost. The atmosphere is volatile, Macbeth again becomes chaotic and the use of "rugged Russian bear, the armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger" suggests this. "And dare me to the desert with thy sword" proposes Macbeth's fear and reluctance to give up.
At this point Lady Macbeth is exceedingly enraged, "You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting with the most admired disorder". Her sharp and critical tone suggests her disappointment and frustration. Macbeth quickly answers frantically, using terror imagery and colour to convey that it would have been impossible to stand observe such strange images without reacting.
Lady Macbeth reacts to this very hastily responses, she dismisses the Lords immediately using a demanding tones. During the final scene, Macbeth talks of the natural world conspiring to expose the unnatural sin of murder. "The secret's man of blood!" conveys his fear and angst that his victims may seek revenge. He curiously ponders over the idea to why Macduff has not attended his banquet and talks of how he has spies in every house, "There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee'd."
Macbeth follows by proclaiming his intensions to reunite with the weird sisters again immediately to discuss his fears for the future. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have become subdued although still very distressed and worried. Lady Macbeth is thwarted by Macbeth's actions, her tone is lethargic, "You lack the seasons of all nature's sleep."
This scene ends with Macbeth declaring that he is steeped in blood so far, that he can do nothing but continue in his calling of violence and destruction. He talks of how he must act upon his plans instantaneously, which exposes his collapse of self and reveals what vulgar and depictive lengths Macbeth will go too.
The Royal Shakespeare Company Production, By Trevor Nunn produces a very ceremonially entrance to this particular scene. The guests that are there for the dinner party, arrive in dark clothing, monochrome portrays the absence of celebration and inflicting evil. We are given the impression of a pleasant and content atmosphere, currently enjoyed by all.
The entrance of Judy Dench playing Lady Macbeth and Ian Mc Kenna taking the role of Macbeth somewhat symbolises their importance as King and Queen in this production. The ceremonial music played is accompanied with the applause from the Lords as the couple enter the banquet. Upon Lady Macbeth's head, sat a glittering crown, which reinforces her leading role, and the impact and contributory factors, which caused Macbeth to enter his downward spiral to wickedness and evil.
This production expresses the two, to be very close. The closeness conveys the impact they have on each other, Macbeth reaches out to touch Lady Macbeth' shoulder quite often, which may also imply his need for reassurance.
When the coronation is taken place, there is one silver cup, which is passed around to each and every person in the room. This suggests to me that Trevor Nunn is trying to imply that everyone in the room is able to commit murder, and with the encouragement from someone you love could easily end up in a downward spiral like Macbeth.
When the murders enter, we see that Macbeth is becoming more independent and detached from his wife. He walks over to talk with the murders and although the camera is focused on them, Lady Macbeth is centred in the distance watching intensely. The camera zooms in for a close up and we see the blood on the murders face. Macbeth stares directly into the camera refraining from blinking. The atmosphere becomes very intense and dominant, the music gets louder and more concentrated. Macbeth is informed that Fleance has escaped, he grips the cup tightly once hearing the news, I feel to make himself feel secure and grounded, the music gets louder and the tension is once again increased. The couples masked faces and hard shelled hypocrisy is conveyed as Macbeth stands proud with his hand on Lady Macbeth' shoulder, as she rests elegantly on her throne. We fail to see Banquo's ghost in this drama, which I feel, causes it to be less effective. However, Macbeth's facial actions and reactions express the fear and terror he is feeling which adds commotion. He chokes and shakes vigorously when the ghost appears. The camera takes a closer look into Macbeth's facial expressions and we see him dash frantically at Banquo's ghost. He shouts loudly and acts very animalistic ally by crouching and leaping towards the ghost. Tension and fear is clear, as we see his detracting state of mind. Lady Macbeth is quite frantic in this production which I feel falsely portrays her. I feel that this production is overly dramatic and it lacks the appearance of Banquo, which I feel is important for the audience to fully understand the impact.
Once the guests have left, and it is Macbeth and his wife in the room, I feel Trevor Nunn made an excellent job of their exit. Mournful music is played in the background, maybe to suggest what a tragedy this night was, the music now is contrasted with the music at the being, celebratory. This may also help us contrast the good and evil. Trevor Nunn stays very close to the original script, which I admire and enjoy. His
I prefer the Roman Polanki Production as it conveys the picture I foreseen in my head. The opening of the scene is very formal and the guests invited to the banquet are dressed in colour, which is conveying the celebration of the occasion, which is taking place.
Macbeth is this time played by Jon Finch, and Lady Macbeth by Francesca Annis, enter the banquet with dull crowns, yet bright formal outfits. They enter the hall, which is full of food, and drink with soft music constantly playing in the background. In addition, what looks to be a bear baiting competition is taking place. The room is being kept alight by blazing fires and this helps us perceive that Macbeth is not fully focused on what he is doing, and that he is deeply preoccupied with the thought of something else, the murders return.
The murders then enter the banquet, watched closely by the guards. They come to report what has happened to Macbeth, the report to him of Banquo's death and Fleance's escape. We see clearly by the facial expressions used by Jon Flinch that Macbeth is extremely anxious and deeply distressed about the news the murders have brought. The good and evil is conveyed very dramatically when Macbeth's soliloquy, is zoomed in by the camera and has his face half in shadow, presenting his good and bad side. The music played is soft and continuing the theme of celebration in the background. His thoughts are revealed by a voice overtone, which suggests to us that his goodness has been obscured and that he does not intend on ceasing until he gets what he thinks he deserves.
After this, the guards in armour with Macbeth throw the murders into the dungeon, which reinforces his sense of power and control, but also to protect himself so that the murders cannot reveal his cunning plans. When Macbeth returns, the atmosphere suggests his happiness and contentment for another while, the music is playing, the guests are happy, however, there is blood on the floor. In this production, we see what Macbeth witnesses, Banquo's ghost. This adds effect and increases the tension, and it is done extremely well in this particular production.
As soon as Macbeth notices the ghost he releases his cup and begins to shake, he becomes quite hysterical, clearly, as he has become delusional. Banquo's ghost, is very grey and bloody, menacing music is played in the background now, which I feel is only in Macbeth's head. Banquo's "glory locks" are very visual. Macbeth's actions and facial expressions suggest just how haunted he is by this, and maybe also that without Lady Macbeth, he would not be strong enough to go forward. Suddenly loud music is played and a chase has begun, the bloody language is conveyed effectively on stage and it gives us an insight to how preoccupied Macbeth is with his actions, the murder.
The evil music is continuing to play as we see Macbeth collapse to the ground. A disharmonious effect is seen as the volume of the music increases which show his evil intensions which are yet to come. His wife then rushes over to her husband to bring him back to some form on normality. In this production Lady Macbeth is a lot more composed which is the image I perceived in my head when reading the book. I found her to be the peacemaker in the relationship, so therefore this production again met my expectations of the characters. Lady Macbeth constantly tries to calm her delirious husband and restore some customariness back into the banquet.
The lords are very confused in this production and talk constantly of the sights they are witnessing. Once they leave, we see a very disappointed Lady Macbeth, gazing through a distant window. The pair then walk up the stairs together with a light, the red light shines as they lay in bed together which conveys, their intimacy and closeness. It is clear now that she does not need to encourage Macbeth anymore to murder.
Both productions were cleverly put together, with wonderful actors and actresses. I did enjoy the Roman Polanski version a little bit more simply because it reinforced the images I had already appreciated. The imagery used in this one, was more vivid and realistic which captured and held my attention for longer.
