Macbeth and Brozel Comparison

Macbeth Essay

"Macbeth is still as relevant today as it was when it was originally written and performed".

Is Macbeth still as relevant today as it was when it was originally written and performed? The answer may be different for many people but in my opinion, I still believe it is and I will show you why using the themes. There are six main themes in Macbeth but I will be focusing on three. The first is equivocation, then the Overthrow of Natural Order and lastly the effects of ambition and power on people. I will be using the play "Macbeth" written by Shakespeare in 1606 and the Film "Macbeth" re-written by Peter Moffat and directed by Mark Brozel in 2005 (which is a modern take of the play "Macbeth") to help me effectively communicate the importance of these themes.

To begin with, Equivocation is an important theme because Macbeth and his wife do this throughout the whole play and film once they have decided to take over the throne and murder Duncan, the King (act 1 scene 5). Macbeth is not good at equivocating and his wife knows it. In Act 1 Scene3, she tells him in a conversation before Duncan arrives at their house to "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it". They do this so they can disguise what they really want to do.

At the Banquet Macbeth holds in Act 3 Scene 4, he starts seeing Banquo's ghost. He is the only one who can see this but he gets scared and starts reacting in front of his guests at the Banquet. He gets scared and thinks that someone is playing a trick on him. He starts talking in fear to the ghost and orders it to go away. His guests, worried, get up to leave but Lady Macbeth equivocates and says, "Sit worthy friends. He is often thus and has been from his youth". She covers up for him and is still loyal to Macbeth. In the end, he still talks in fear which forces Lady Macbeth to send the guests home.

Onto our second theme, the overthrow of Natural Order is made clear after unnatural things happen. The first is when Lady Macbeth prays to demons to take away everything that makes her a woman and to make her full of cruelty and evil. She urges Macbeth to kill Duncan so they can get the Kingdom. In the film, Ella Macbeth has set up everything and has done everything. She has only left the murder of Duncan for Joe Macbeth but even when he does it, he forgets to leave the knife there and he starts bleeding as well, mixing his blood with Duncans on the knife. Ella Macbeth then goes and...