Shakespeare According to Roman Polanski and Orson Welles

Shakespeare According to Roman Polanski and Orson Welles

Any film maker when making their own interpretation of a play needs to create a general atmosphere relevant to the original script.

This would have been the case for Roman Polanski and Orson Welles when

each was creating his own version of act 1 scene 1 of Shakespeare's

Macbeth. In their individual historical contexts they each had

cinematic equipment at their disposal which Shakespeare did not have.

When the later called for lightening and thunder ,he was given thunder

boards, his play was performed in daylight with no special lighting

effects in 16th century England. However Shakespeare did have the

advantage of his audience understanding the superstitions concerning

witchcraft, which unfortunately a modern audience would not have.

Having noted these points Welles and Polanski follow Shakespeare's

requirements for his play in their cinematic interpretations of

Macbeth act1 scene1.

Polanskis witches were quite normal looking, one is young , one is old

and one is middle aged. They are also quite harmless looking, but that

is really deceptive. One witch is blind, one dumb and one deaf ; they

need and depend on eachother to stay alive. In Shakespeare's day 3 was

a magic number, the witches appearances are very dramatic, perhaps due

to their infirmities. The oldest witch is the most terrifying looking

because she has got no eyes and her skin has grown over the sockets.

It makes her look grotesque. Each appears to have their own

personality, which makes them seem more normal than stereotypical

witches.

Welles' witches seem much more traditional and stereo...

... middle of paper ...

...gger taken form the sack is

placed in the hand. This could symbolize the dagger that killed

Duncan. It is finished when some kind of seed is sprinkled over the

top. These could be seeds of ambition which will give Macbeth the

courage to kill. The sand is now pushed in from around the outside and

leveled out, finally one of the witches sprinkles blood over thse top,

which could be symbolic of Macbeths bloodspill. This all symbolizes

elements of punishment and violence.

Welles' version seems to follow Shakespeare's original script more

closely, although perhaps of his historical context of 1948 his film

is generally more stereotypical of how witches are presented.

Polanski's interpretation also reflects Shakespeares themes, but would

appeal more to a 21st century audience and would be the one I would

favor.