Comparing the Polanksi and BBC productions of Macbeth

Macbeth

I have been analyzing Macbeth by Shakespeare comparing two different film versions with the original play. Polanski’s version was produced by ‘Playboy’, which gave it a certain adult expectation, even though it turned out to be a very traditional movie aimed at adults. The second movie, Macbeth on the estate, which was a 1980’s BBC2 production, designed for teenagers and was more updated than Polanski’s version. In the early 1600’s William Shakespeare wrote a play, which would go down in history as the cursed Scottish play after a number of mishaps doing the productions. It was written for his new friend James I (James VI of Scotland) who was interested in witchcraft and Scotland, hence the theme in the play. The play it self tells the story of a man, urged on by his wife and foretold by prophecy, who commits regicide in order to gain power.

In the opening scene Shakespeare descried the surroundings as “Desolate Place” and did not really say any more on the matter. Polanski first scene we see three elderly witches on a beach with very foggy weather. This is an interoperation of Shakespeare’s description of the place as a “Desolate Place” as it is just totally bare. In the estate version the setting is a run down estate with broken glass everywhere and rats running around. The weather was just a bit gloomy. I think BBC2 decided to set it on an estate to show it more updated and hoped children of today relate better to it.

In Shakespeare times many people were interested in witches yet also scared, so by Shakespeare starting the play off with the witches it would grab the audience’s attention very quickly and most probably almost scare them. But Shakespeare reassured and kept it in control by having the witches played by men as it was a crime for women to act in Shakespeare times. Shakespeare descried the witch with “choppy finger”, “skinny lips” And “beards”. The audience would of laughed at this because the witches were been played by men. In Polanski version the witches where very stereotypical with worts and wrinkles, they are seen burying a dagger and a hand with some blood while chanting spells, so you know there evil straight away. When they are chanting one of the things they said is “so foul and fair a day I have not seen” which is later repeated by Shakespeare after wining the battle. Shakespeare and Polanski both used this to show the witches have more control over the plot than most people think. The witches mention Macbeth “there to meet with Macbeth”, so the first impression we get of Macbeth is that he is evil. Being associated with the force of evil in the estate version is very strange because three geeky kids, two boys and one girl play the witches. This seemed unusually because society would normally ignore children like that, but they were powerful because after the battle when Macbeth is walking with Banquo and the witches start to call him, Macbeth goes looking for them and finds there shrine where they live. Where as in Polanski’s versions the witches go looking for Macbeth. Instead of Shakespeare repeating “so foul and fair a day I have not seen” you just see the withes running around the estate. They were the ones who after the battle smashed the windows of the car where they burned the Thane of Caudor with became Macbeth’s title before he killed Duncan.

As the Macbeth was written for James I (James VI of Scotland), Duncan the king was most probably meant to represent James I, so his clothing would have been very stereotypical of a king. Polanski’s version the king was also very stereotypical of a king on horses with all his bodyguards. In the estate version Duncan looked like a normal man. He was shown down the pub drinking a beer. The only thing different from a normal man was he had a huge ring, which represented the crown that would have been in the original play.

BCC2 did this, as ...

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BCC2 did this, as it would have been a bit out of place to have a crown in an up to date estate version of Macbeth.

In the play a captain who spoke of Macbeth as being a great hero “for brave Macbeth – well he deserves that – name – disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel”, delivered the news of the battle. He wasn’t in the slights worried about himself, just fighting for the king and the country”. In the opening scene the witches gave us a bad impression of Macbeth and now he has been described as a hero. In Polanski's version a messenger delivered the news of the battle after the war was over. They were very cheerful and were laughing at Macbeth. In the estate version it was a lot different. The news was delivered by Banquo and they were more pumped up on adrenalin, nervous not cheerful like Polanski. I found this gave it a more realistic effect to the film rather than Polanski version.

In Shakespeare’s you do not see the hanging of the Thane of Cawdor, we just get told he is dead. Shakespeare wasn’t able to use all the technical effects and props that modem day film has today, so Shakespeare has to use short dramatic speech to pronouns his death “No More shall that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive or bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death and with his former title greet Macbeth”. In both film versions of Macbeth you see the Thane of Cawdor killed. In Polanski version they capture him in the battle, then after the battle Macbeth and his friends hang him and you see him been hanged unlike the play where u don’t see this. In the estate version they capture him in his flat and when the battle is won Macbeth, Banquo and (Malcolm) take him to an old car where the three witches were playing (they don’t know they’re the witches) and the burn him alive. I think in both film versions we see him killed, even though in the original play you don’t. This is because the generation of today is more prone to violence.

Another thing that is different form the original play and Polanski’s version is that they show the battle scene on the estate version, this was possible because even though they had a small budget it was set on a estate and they probably did not need that many people to show a gang war battle scene and the younger generation of today are more interested in violence. Polanski decided to miss this battle scene out like they did in the original Shakespeare because it was more traditional and they would have needed to higher a lot of actors, which would have upped the budget up a lot, and it was also not shown in the original version. It was not shown in the original version because Glob Theater stage was very small and they would not have been able to show a huge war with the Norwegians, with it having the same effect if only they could fit only a few actors on the stage. The battle was reported with language instead of being a visual report. Shakespeare had to use dramatic and detailed descriptions “Doubtful it stood as two spent swimmers….” Shakespeare uses metaphase to help the audients experience the drama of the battle.

I found Macbeth to be a very interesting and traditional play. In Polanski’s version and the original play I found both opening scenes to be very similar with not much difference at all. Where as Macbeth on the estate was a totally new update of the original play, which was easier to relate to. So in my view Macbeth on the estate was the better version on all three versions that I read and watched. This was because it was more update and easier to relate to with much more action. The one thing I didn’t like about it though, was the accent old Shakespeare dialog been spoken by Birmingham accent made it very hard to understand what was going on sometimes but it was still the better version.

George Ward 11w2