Give a detailed account of Polanski's treatment of Act 1 Scene1 of 'Macbeth' and state how effective you found this realization.

        There are many close shots of the witches this made me feel uncomfortable and I feel that this was Polanski’s intention, to have an effecive result from these close shots. The witches walk in rhythmic paces and show no sign of energy. They walk slow and stealthily. Their movement is related to the murders, because the murders are also described as “stealthy”. Witches were commonly known to be separated from civilization, very powerful, evil and also hideous. Polanski has in fact portayed all of these descriptions in the first scene.

        Polanski has used a beach to establish an open place. He has done this because of his loyalty to Shakespeare’s isolation. The sand on the beach untouched, showing the fact that nobody has ever visited the beach and this relates to the fact that the witches are outside natural order. Many mighty mountains standing dark and daunting surround the beach. I found that his worked convincingly well, because the mountains creat a sense of a barrier between the witches and civilization. We can also see the shore coming up onto the beach. Witches were known to be very powerful and have control over the oceans. This is exceptionally successful, beause many people would therefore have been able to make this connection. The water is also mysterious and t a certain extent powerful, in a way, this helps create suspense as to what is happening. Ifound this to be very effective. At the end of this scene the witches walk into the sea, which shows the witches are the antithesis of Christianity as Christ walked on water. This suggests that the witches power is very great. With my knowledge of the play I am able to make a connection with the water and a line later in the play, when the Macbeth says: “Will a great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?”

        Throughout this scne we see many different changes in colour and in lighting. In the sky we particulary see many different chanes as the colour changes several times. Firstly we see the colour pink. Polanski has cleverly connected this with another character in the play. This character is King Duncan;Duncan is a devoted trustworthy man. The colour pink symbolises his grace. Secondly we see the colour red, this is very successful as it relates to the many references to blood imagery throughout the film.