William Shakespeare's Macbeth Act 2 Scenes 1 and 2

William Shakespeare's Macbeth Act 2 Scenes 1 and 2

Shakespeare's Macbeth was written between 1603 and 1606, in the time

of King James I. The play was written because King James was a past

Scottish king (King James the VI) whose ancestors featured in the

historical story that Macbeth was based on. It also included the

supernatural, a subject that King James was fascinated by and even

wrote a book on, 'Demonology'. Such supernatural points include the

three witches that start the chain of events, the strange occurrences

that happen after Duncan's murder and the apparitions that appear to

Macbeth throughout the play. Witchcraft was believed in Shakespeare's

times and being a witch was punishable by death as they were allied

with Satan. The play also compliments King James as in the true story,

the character Banquo (James' ancestor) was a traitor who helped

Macbeth and in Shakespeare's story, Banquo was cast as a hero who was

murdered by Macbeth. In this essay I will attempt to show how I would

direct Act 2 scenes 1 and 2 (the ones before and after the murder of

King Duncan) as a film.

For scene 1 I will begin by describing the surroundings in the scene.

The film will be set in the time of medieval Scotland, as it is the

most appropriate time to place the play. The sky will be pitch black

with very little lighting in the area, only dribbling candles and

small fires. The moon will be blanketed in thick cloud, further

enhancing the darkness of the scene and using pathetic fallacy to

great effect. The dagger later in the scene will not be visible to the

audience, to emphasise that Macbeth is losing grip with reality and

gradually turning mad. There will be dramatic music when he sees the

dagger and it will gradually increase in tempo as the speech

continues, dropping to normal at line 45 and cutting off to silence at

line 62. This I feel will add drama to the moment, as it is the focus

of the scene.