Macbeth
The 'Scottish Play' (as some call it) chills me to the bone and yet exhilarates me with its fire and doom. It is one of the few Shakespearean tragedies (the only one, perhaps?) in which the protagonist never comes to any saving self-awareness before the end. From the moment he encounters the Weird Sisters upon the heath, he is doomed. Is he?
I have seen several versions of Macbeth. I think the version with Ian McKellen as the protagonist and with Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth is one of the most starkly horrifying ones that I've seen. Hardly any props or stage, just psychological drama, torment and death. Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is another powerful take on it (actually, his Ran is also a pretty effective version of King Lear).
An old literature teacher of mine recommended TV versions and even taped the play for us. I remember going to sleep with the audio in my ears and waking up the next day to score a top grade for English Literature. I learnt a lot from Macbeth, and later on, from Lear. Great men, subtle temptations; often, the greater the man, the easier the workings of the subtle snare.
I have seen this too, that a well-intentioned monarch of lesser strength be overtaken by his ambitious protegé and removed. I have seen it again, in waking dream and nightmare. Shakespeare wrote in such deep-veined thrombosis that it is impossible not to be moved (no matter what kind of clot you are) to extremes of disgust, pity, and vicarious terror. Right now, I am thinking of such things because the Folio Society is offering a limited Letterpress edition (1000 copies only!) of that play at GBP245 only. Or you can get Macbeth, Lear, Othello and Hamlet for only GBP1030! That's only about the price of a notebook computer...
Heh. Venality.
I have seen several versions of Macbeth. I think the version with Ian McKellen as the protagonist and with Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth is one of the most starkly horrifying ones that I've seen. Hardly any props or stage, just psychological drama, torment and death. Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is another powerful take on it (actually, his Ran is also a pretty effective version of King Lear).
An old literature teacher of mine recommended TV versions and even taped the play for us. I remember going to sleep with the audio in my ears and waking up the next day to score a top grade for English Literature. I learnt a lot from Macbeth, and later on, from Lear. Great men, subtle temptations; often, the greater the man, the easier the workings of the subtle snare.
I have seen this too, that a well-intentioned monarch of lesser strength be overtaken by his ambitious protegé and removed. I have seen it again, in waking dream and nightmare. Shakespeare wrote in such deep-veined thrombosis that it is impossible not to be moved (no matter what kind of clot you are) to extremes of disgust, pity, and vicarious terror. Right now, I am thinking of such things because the Folio Society is offering a limited Letterpress edition (1000 copies only!) of that play at GBP245 only. Or you can get Macbeth, Lear, Othello and Hamlet for only GBP1030! That's only about the price of a notebook computer...
Heh. Venality.
Labels: Literature, Macbeth, Shakespeare
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