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  1       :;       9:1«@7KH,GHDO(JRRUWKe Superego is the representative of our relationships with our parents. As children, we acknowledge them as superior beings, admire them, fear them, and eventually assimilate them. The Ideal Ego is, therefore, the heir of the Oedipus complex, hence, the expression of the most powerful tendencies, of the most important OLELGLQDO GHVWLQLHV RI WKH ,G >«@ :KLOH WKH (JR LV SULPDULO\ WKH representative of the outer world, of reality, the Superego opposes it as the advocate of the inner world. The conflicts between the Ego and the Superego represent, ultimately, the opposition between reality and the SV\FKH´)UHXG± 285, my translation)

Psychoanalytic criticism as a trend in modern literary theory resorts largely to the basic principles put forth by Sigmund Freud. Its representatives actually use Freudian concepts like the interpretation of dreams, the existence of the unconscious, the tripartite composition of the psyche, and the Oedipus and (OHFWUDFRPSOH[HVLQDQDO\VLQJOLWHUDU\WH[WV³,WVHHPVQDWXUDO´0XUILQEHOLHYHV ³WR WKLQN DERXW OLWHUDWXUH LQ WHUPV RI GUHDPV /LNH GUHDPV OLWHUDU\ ZRUNV DUH ILFWLRQVLQYHQWLRQVRIWKHPLQG«/LNHDOLWHUDU\ZRUNDGUHDPPD\KDYHVRPH Ϯϴ 

truth to tell, but, like a literary work, it may need to be interpreted before that truth FDQ EH JUDVSHG´ 0XUILQ   )ROORZLQJ )UHXG¶V ILUVW DSSOLFDWLRQ RI psychoanalytical criticism to literature ± The Relation of the Poet to Daydreaming (1908), many influential representatives of Modernism like Robert Graves, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, and Marcel Proust resorted to psychoanalytical concepts in both their novels and critical writings. Although, at first, looking into the text, critics that rely on psychoanalytic theories are actually about analysing the author, his/her repressed wishes, guilt, unresolved emotions, etc. Thus, the literary text and the characters in it are UHJDUGHG DV SURMHFWLRQV RI WKH DXWKRU¶V RZQ SV\FKH RI WKH PDQLIHVW FRQWHQW RI what is latent and hidden (which reminds of the way in which Freud explained the mechanisms of dreams). Psychoanalytic critics may strive to find what the author never actually intended to reveal, the unconscious of the author that emerged to WKH µVXUIDFH¶ LQ WKH IRUP RI D FKDUDFWHU $V 3HWHU %DUU\ VLPSO\ SXWV LW WKH\ associate WKH µRYHUW¶ OLWHUDU\ FRQWHQW ZLWK WKH FRQVFLRXV DQG WKH µFRYHUW¶ FRQWHQW ZLWK WKH XQFRQVFLRXV FRQVLGHULQJ WKH ODWWHU DV ³EHLQJ ZKDW WKH ZRUN LV µUHDOO\¶ DERXW´  A different perspective has shifted the focus from the alleged repressions of the author to those of the reader. Elizabeth Wright explains that in the following terms: ³:KDW GUDZV XV DV UHDGHUV WR D WH[W LV WKH VHFUHW H[SUHVVLRQ RI ZKDW ZH desire to hear, much as we protest we do not. The disguise must be good enough to fool the censor into thinking that the text is respectable, but bad HQRXJK WR DOORZ WKH XQFRQVFLRXV WR JOLPSVH WKH XQUHVSHFWDEOH´ LQ Jefferson and Robey, 1991: 149) 5HZRUGLQJ WKLV VWDWHPHQW LQ )UHXGLDQ WHUPV WKH UHDGHU¶V LG ORQJV IRU WKH ³XQUHVSHFWDEOH´DQGWKHHJo must be fooled by the text to allow the id to reach out. Before providing a brief account of psychoanalytical criticism based on theories WKDW UHLQWHUSUHW DQG GHYHORS XSRQ )UHXG¶V ± OLNH -DFTXHV /DFDQ¶V ± it might be Ϯϵ 

useful to indulge in an exercise of Freudian psychoanalytic criticism. Given the subject of this paper, the starting point was provided by the Austrian SV\FKRDQDO\VW¶V YLHZV RQ Macbeth DYDLODEOH LQ KLV  DUWLFOH ³Some Character-types Met with in Psycho-DQDO\WLFDO :RUN´. The character in focus is /DG\0DFEHWK³WKHFKDUDFWHUZKRFROODSVHVZKHQVKHKDVDWWDLQHGKHUJRDODIWHU VWULYLQJ IRU LW ZLWK LQH[KDXVWLEOH HQHUJ\´ )UHXG   P\ WUDQVODWLRQ  Freud analysed this female character considering, first of all, her determination, lack of scruples and her readiness to sacrifice her own womanhood: ³&RPH\RXVSLULWV That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood, Stop up tK¶DFFHVVDQGSDVVDJHWRUHPRUVH«´,-45)

Freud noticed and quoted the moment when Lady Macbeth hesitates to murder Duncan on the grounds of his resembling her father ± ³+DG KH QRW UHVHPEOHG 0\IDWKHUDVKHVOHSW ,KDGGRQHLW´,,  ± but he did not make any associations with his own theories on the Electra complex. He just recorded her reluctance and moved on to the second part of the play, the beginning of the end for the one who had become queen, observing her disappointment and disillusionEXWDOVRKHUFDOPO\SXWWLQJXSZLWK0DFEHWK¶VK\VWHULDDWWKHEDQTXHW and her attempts at saving face in front of the guests. The last scene in which /DG\0DFEHWKDSSHDUVWKHVOHHSZDONLQJVFHQH9 GUHZ)UHXG¶VDWWHQWLRQQRW because of the remorse ± JHQHUDWHGSV\FKLFGLVHDVHZKLFK³PRUHQHHGV>«@WKH GLYLQHWKDQWKHSK\VLFLDQ´9 EXWEHFDXVHRIKHUWKRXJKWVWKDWVWLOOFRQFHUQ KHUGHSDUWHGKXVEDQG³)LHP\ORUGILH$VROGLHUDQGDIHDUG":KDWQHHGZHIHDU who knows it, when none can call our SRZHUVWRDFFRXQW"´9 )LQGLQJ /DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ LQH[SOLFDEOH )UHXG WULHG WR UHWUDFH6KDNHVSHDUH¶VUHDVRQLQJEH\RQGWKHOLPLWVRIWKHSOD\LWVHOI+HVWDWHGWKDW disappointment, once the deed is done, is not sufficient, neither is the ϯϬ 

impossibility of bearing the guilt inside one stereotypical feminine soul, ³RULJLQDOO\ PHHN DQG ZRPDQO\´ $V Macbeth is written on the occasion of the anointing of James I, whose birth once made Elizabeth, the Virgin-Queen, bemoan her own inability to procreate, Freud saw it as a play about fruitfulness and the perpetuation of dynasties. The Macbeths are doomed because they do not have heirs and they do not have heirs because of their crimes. The murder of 'XQFDQLVDOPRVWDSDUULFLGHWKHPXUGHURI0DFGXII¶s children is a crime against the sanctity of the perpetuation of the species. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is SXQLVKHGIRUKHUVSHFLILFUHTXHVWIRUXQVH[LQJ)UHXGFRQFOXGHGWKDW³WKHGLVHDVH affecting Lady Macbeth and the transformation of her murderous courage into remorse [are] reactions against her childlessness, which convinces her that ir is LPSRVVLEOHWRHVFDSHWKHODZVRIQDWXUH´P\WUDQVODWLRQ  As Freud sought ± pointlessly ± for realism and verisimilitude in Macbeth, his study continued by simply refuting the above statement on the grounds of the UDSLG HYROXWLRQ RI WKH HYHQWV LQ WKH SOD\ ³7KHUH LV QR WLPH IRU D SURJUHVVLYH GHFHSWLRQDERXWKHUKRSHVIRUIHFXQGLW\WRGHYHORSWRGHVWUR\WKHZRPDQ¶VLQQHU health and to make the man DGRSW D UDJLQJ GHILDQFH´ )UHXG VWDWHG    Nonetheless, having his own theory rejected, Freud found it difficult to label the 0DFEHWKV¶ SUREOHP DV LQVROXEOH DQG WULHG WR LGHQWLI\ D VROXWLRQ IRU D QHZ hypothesis. He relied on the investigation of SKDNHVSHDUH¶V WHFKQLTXH RI embodying one character in two personages, who would not be fully understood unless the unity is recovered. Thus, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth would be facets of the same character and his or her actions alone could not be explained. Without agreeing entirely, Freud identified a few instances that may support this idea: ³7KHJHUPVRIWHUURUEUHDNLQJRXWLQ0DFEHWKRQWKHQLJKWRIWKHPXUGHU further develop in his wife, not in himself. He had the dagger hallucination before the murder, yet, later, it is Lady Macbeth who gets [mentally] ill. $IWHUWKHPXUGHUKHKHDUVYRLFHVFU\LQJRXWLQWKHKRXVH³6OHHSQRPRUH 0DFEHWKGRHVPXUGHUVOHHS´DQG³0DFEHWKVKDOOVOHHSQRPRUH´, EXW>«@ the queen is the one who wakes up and, wandering through the night, ϯϭ 

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A possible and plausible Freudian interpretation based on these arguments would lead indeed to the conclusion that the Macbeths are two characters, but one conscience. Speculating on the tripartite system proposed by Freud in 1923, one might state that Lady Macbeth stands for the id, driven by the pleasure principle, escaping the conventions of honour and morality and showing no concern for the consequences, while Macbeth is the negotiating ego, who eventually submits to the impulses of the id. Freudian theories have the merit of providing a starting point for a series of other interpretations throughout the twentieth century. Some of the newer WKHRULHV UHDFWHG DJDLQVW )UHXG¶V ZKHUHDV RWKHUV GUHZ XSRQ WKHP enriching and casting a new light upon them. The Jungian theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious is worth mentioning in the former category, and so are the harsh critiques of the early theorists of the Feminist movement, who overtly accused Freud of misogyny. This direction will be dealt with in the following section, the one presenting the theoretical outline of feminist literary criticism. The French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) stands as a representative of the latter direction, contributing to and re-evaluating )UHXG¶V SV\FKRDQDO\VLV /DFDQ LV SDUWLFXODUO\ IDPRXV IRU GHVFULELQJ WKH WKH structure of the unconscious as similar to that of language. Elizabeth Wright sees /DFDQ¶V WKHRULHV DV D UHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQ RI FODVVLcal Freudianism in the light of structuralism and post-VWUXFWXUDOLVP7KXV/DFDQWRRNXS6DXVVXUH¶VFRQFHSWVRI signifier and signified, but he also contradicted the Saussurean theory of the realm RIWKRXJKWVZKLFKZRXOGEH³FKDRWLFE\QDWXUH´TWGLQ:Uight in Jefferson and 5REH\    )RU /DFDQ WKLV FKDRV LV ³D VWDWH RI RUJDQLF QHHG ZLWK D PLQLPDOLQVWLQFWXDOJXLGDQFH´:ULJKWLQ-HIIHUVRQDQG5REH\ ZLWKLQ WKH IUDPH RI WKH LQIDQW¶V H[SHULHQFH WKDW /DFDQ SXQQLQJO\ FDOOV ³KRPPHOHWWH´ ϯϮ 

language comes to work. The function of language is not to communicate, but to offer the subject a place from which he can speak, and this subject only comes to being when it has developed a concept of self. According to Lacan, this takes place at a stage WKDWKHGHVFULEHGDV³the mirror stage´3ULRUWRWKLVVWDJHZKLFK is said to occur after the sixth month of life, the child exists in a realm of the Imaginary, in which there is no distinction between self and other. During the mirror stage, the child sees his reflection in the mirror and starts gradually to become aware of his/her individuality and uniqueness, and steps, at the same time, LQWRWKHUHDOPRIWKH6\PEROLFGRPLQDWHGE\WKHSDWULDUFKDOODZµ7KH1DPHRI WKH)DWKHU¶DVDUHSUHVVLYHILJXUHSue Thornham explains: ³/DFDQKDGGHVFULEHGWKHLQIDQW¶VHQWU\LQWRFXOWXUHDVRFFXUULQJWKURXJK firstly, its identification with its own mirror image and consequent sense of possessing an independent identity, and, secondly, its entry into the µ6\PEROLF 2UGHU¶ via the acquisition of language. The Symbolic Order, argues Lacan, is patriarchal, constructing meaning through sets of binary oppositions²for example, man/woman, mind/ nature, activity/passivity² LQZKLFKWKHµPDOH¶WHUPLVDOZD\VSULYLOHJHG,WLV the Law of the Father, and its privileged signifier is the Phallus. It is opposed to the realm of the Imaginary, the world of the first mother-child relationship in which the child acquires, through seeing its reflection, a sense of itself as a separate bHLQJ´-35)

For Lacan, language operates in metaphoric or metonymic terms to remind WKH VXEMHFW RI WKH SHUPDQHQW SUHVHQFH RI WKH 2WKHU 7KLV ³2WKHU´ EHFRPHV WKH ZRPDQWKDWLVWKHH[FOXGHGWHUPWKHRQHWKDWLVIRXQGODFNLQJWKH3KDOOXV³WKH transcendental signifier, the marker of gendered difference, a symbol of power DQGDXWKHQWLFLW\´*UHHQDQG/H%LKDQ 3ODFHGWKHUHIRUHRXWVLGHWKH Symbolic, the realm of femininity and otherness is, in Lacanian terms, ³XQUHSUHVHQWDEOH DQG DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK WKH XQFRQVFLRXV´ *UHHQ DQG /H%LKDQ    7KHUHIRUH LW LV QRW VXUSULVLQJ WKDW ³SKDOORFHQWULVP´ KDV DWWUDFWHG D ϯϯ 

vast series of attempts to deconstruct it and to establish, at the same time, in different terms, the coordinates of feminine identity.

II. 2. Feminist Criticism $OOPRYHPHQWVDQGWKHRULHVXQLWHGXQGHUWKHµXPEUHOOD¶RIIHPLQLVPVKDUH the basic distinction between sex and gender; hence, such definitions of ³IHPDOHQHVV DV D PDWWHU RI ELRORJ\ DQG IHPLQLQLW\ DV D VHW RI FXOWXUDOO\ GHfined FKDUDFWHULVWLFV´0RLLQ-HIIHUVRQDQG5REH\  The feminist trend in literary criticism emerged in the 1960s, aiming at exposing the secondary position that women were assigned in the patriarchal, canonical literature, on the one hand, and at promoting gender equality, on the other. Representatives of this critical trend agree that its discourse is primarily activist and political: ³)HPLQLVWFULWLFLVP« LVDVSHFLILFNLQGRIpolitical discourse; a critical and theoretical practice committed to the struggle against literature and VH[LVP QRW VLPSO\ D FRQFHUQ IRU JHQGHU LQ OLWHUDWXUH >«@´ 0RL LQ Jefferson and Robey, 1991: 204)

Nonetheless, the activism of the early feminist critics interested primarily LQFRPPHQWLQJRQZRPHQ¶VUHSUHVHntations in canonical writings throughout the history of literature verged, at times, on absurdity. The works of great Renaissance playwrights like Shakespeare are good cases in point. One should not accuse the playwright of misogyny prior to establishing the mindset of his era; moreover, one should not expect even one of the most brilliant minds of the sixteenth century to reason and, subsequently, write according to the principles of gender equality established four hundred years after his death. As a matter of fact, RQH FRXOG UHIXWH WKH WKHRULHV RQ 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V DOOHJHG PLVRJ\Q\ FRQVLGHULQJ those Shakespearean characters that openly express their femininity and bask in their feminine power, like Rosalind (As You Like It), Portia (The Merchant of Venice), Beatrice (Much Ado about Nothing) or Helena ($OO¶V :HOO 7KDW (QGV ϯϰ 

Well). Escaping the stereotypical representation of women as victims or evildoers (that is victimizers), these characters are, on the contrary, powerful and intelligent. There are indeed numerous Shakespearean characters that fully abide by patriarchal representation patterns, like the incestuous Gertrude and the hysterical Ophelia (Hamlet), the submissive Desdemona (Othello), the ungrateful Regan and Goneril (King Lear) or the vengeful Tamora (Titus Andronicus), but Shakespeare seems to flit in and out pre-established mental and representational frames, therefore an accusation of misogyny in his case can be easily rejected. In this context, the most difficult to grasp and problematic appear to be the cases of Katharina (The Taming of the Shrew) and the witches in Macbeth (with Lady Macbeth conveniently included as the fourth witch in numerous interpretations of the play). To account for the terms in which the early feminist critics analyse gender roles in literature, one must remark that, from their perspective, the patriarchal ideology, defining the history of literature, is seen as helplessly sexist. The antipatriarchal attitudes in criticism developed upon the depiction of traditional roles ± ³ZRPHQDVEHLQJHPRWLRQDOLUUDWLRQDOZHDNQXUWXULQJDQGVXEPLVVLYHDQGPHQ DV EHLQJ VWURQJ SURWHFWLYH DQG GHFLVLYH´ 7\VRQ    /HDYLQJ DVLGH WKH examples mentioned above, it is essential to state that feminist criticism in its earliest and simplest forms fought an attitude, that of regarding woman as the other, the margin, lacking what man allegedly has. According to these feminists, women are oppressed by patriarchy socially, politically and psychologically. They challenge the representatioQVRIZRPHQLQWKHOLWHUDU\FDQRQH[DPLQLQJZRPHQ¶V experience and power relations, and aim at completing the canon with literary works written by women. Lois Tyson develops upon the patriarchal image of woman in the following terms: ³,IVKHDFFHSWVKHU traditional gender role and obeys the patriarchal rules, she is a good girl; if she does not, she is a bad girl. These two roles ± also referred to as Madonna and whore or angel and bitch ± view women only in terms of how they relate to the patriarchal orGHU´7\VRQ ϯϱ 

Unfortunately, such a statement creates a difficult situation: the male author stands no chance, and he abides by the rules of patriarchy in portraying women as either good or bad. It could be said that the early feminist critics did not really offer a viable solution when it came to creating feminine characters; their RQO\ JRDO ZDV VHHPLQJO\ WR DGMXVW WKH FDQRQ VR WKDW LW ZRXOG LQFOXGH ZRPHQ¶V writings. Although the lines above might induce the idea that feminist criticism is seen as an exaggerate attitude towards literature, the reality is actually different, as the theories proposed evolved over the years in much more complex and interesting directions. Since the aforementioned statements proved themselves insufficient to make out a case, and they could not constitute a theory per se, feminists started looking around and building up various approaches, naturally based upon their concern with fighting patriarchy, but adding supporting elements. In fact, as Green and LeBihan remark, ³,WLVFHUWDLQO\QRORQJHUSRVVLEOHWRFDOORQHVHOIDQµXQTXDOLILHG¶IHPLQLVW critic: one has to be a deconstructionist feminist, a Marxist feminist, a OHVELDQ IHPLQLVW D PDWHULDOLVW IHPLQLVW RU D FRPELQDWLRQ RI WKHVH ODEHOV´ (1996: 228)

There was a trend, at the beginning of the 70s, which regarded Freudian SV\FKRDQDO\VLV DV WKH XOWLPDWH HQHP\ RI ZRPHQ PDNLQJ )UHXG¶V ZRUNV responsible for the patriarchal attitudes against women. A relevant example in this respect might be .DWH 0LOOHWW¶V Sexual Politics (1970), which remains a groundbreaking work on patriarchal attitudes in literature and not only (she also approaches other fields of study like philosophy, psychology and politics). Stating that the chief institution of patriarchy is the family and that the role allotted to women is limited to the level of the biological experience (i.e., giving birth to and taking care of their children), the human achievement, interests and ambition

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SHUWDLQLQJ WR PHQ RQO\ .DWH 0LOOHWW UHVSRQGHG WR )UHXG¶V WKHRU\ RQ Whe penis envy in the following terms: ³&RQIURQWHGZLWKVRPXFKFRQFUHWHHYLGHQFHRIWKHPDOH¶VVXSHULRUVWDWXV sensing on all sides the depreciation in which they are held, girls envy not the penis, but only what the penis gives one social pretensions to´ 187, qtd. at www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/millett.html)

An opposing trend of ideas regarding psychoanalysis emerged in the IROORZLQJ \HDUV ZLWK -XOLHW 0LWFKHOO¶V Psychoanalysis and Feminism (1974), which did not dismiss Freudian psychoanalysis and used the very important distinction between sex as a matter of biology and gender as a construct, VRPHWKLQJDFTXLUHGDQGQRWLQQDWH0LWFKHOO¶VDUJXPHQWDWLRQUHOLHGRQ\HWDQRWKHU faPRXV ZRUN RI WKH HDUO\ IHPLQLVP LH 6LPRQH GH %HDXYRLU¶V The Second Sex DQGLWV EDVLFSULQFLSOHDFFRUGLQJWR ZKLFKµ2QH LV QRW ERUQDZRPDQEXW UDWKHU EHFRPHV RQH¶ 0LWFKHOO ULJKWIXOO\ QRWLFHG WKDW SV\FKRDQDO\VLV GLG QRW LPSRVH ZRPDQ¶V VWDWXV LQ VRFLHWy or family, but it observed and analysed it. In the introduction of her book, she agreed that popularized Freudianism induced indeed WKHLGHDWKDW³SV\FKRDQDO\VLVFODLPVZRPHQDUHLQIHULRUDQGWKDWWKH\FDQDFKLHYH true femininity only as wives and motherV´ EXW VKH VWDWHG WKDW SV\FKRDQDO\VLV VKRXOG QRW EH QHJOHFWHG LI LQWHUHVWHG LQ ³XQGHUVWDQGLQJ DQG FKDOOHQJLQJ WKH RSSUHVVLRQRIWKHZRPHQ´[LLL  0LWFKHOO¶V WKHRULHV DOVR GUHZ RQ /DFDQLDQ SV\FKRDQDO\VLV 0LWFKHOO proposed a re-reading of Freud in terms of the moment when sexual division is produced within society. This is the moment when the child has been imposed the law of patriarchy, the mark of the phallus, simultaneous with the creation of the distinction between male and what is not male, masculinity and the feminine other. In Lacanian terms, this is the Symbolic, preceded by the pre-Oedipal, also named the Semiotic, the carnivalesque. The latter, defined as multivalent and polyphonic, is considered, in some concurrent feminist theories, as the area of the feminine. Mitchell argued that: ϯϳ 

³,W LV MXVW ZKDW WKH SDWULDUFKDO XQLYHUVH GHILQHV DV WKH IHPLQLQH WKH intuitive, the religious, the mystical, the playful [...] the notion that ZRPDQ¶VVH[XDOLW\LVPXFKPRUHRQHRIDZKROHERG\QRWVRJHQLWDl, not so phallic. It is not that the carnival cannot be disruptive of the law, but it GLVUXSWVRQO\ZLWKLQWKHWHUPVRIWKDWODZ´TWGLQ/RGJH 

Peter Barry comments on another feminist study similar in its conceptual IUDPH WR 0LWFKHOO¶V LH -DQH *DOORS¶V Feminism and Psychoanalysis (1982), in which, he claims, the focus shifts from Freud to Lacan. Gallop explained that, in /DFDQ¶V V\VWHP WKH SKDOOXV LV QRW WKH SK\VLFDO REMHFW EXW D V\PERO RI SRZHU whose fullness of signification is not attained by men either. The conclusion was WKDW/DFDQ¶VZULWLQJLVUDWKHUDQHPERGLPHQWRIWKHIHPLQLQHWKHVHPLRWLFDVSHFW of language, due to its abstruseness. Thus, Gallop fought the accusation of PLVRJ\Q\DJDLQVWWKH)UHQFKSV\FKRDQDO\VW¶VWKHRULHV1995: 131). A completely different approach neither rejected psychoanalysis as an agent of patriarchy, nor defended it as a necessary evil, but followed and used it for feminist purposes. This was the approach of the French School of Feminism, best represeQWHG E\ -XOLD .ULVWHYD +pOqQH &L[RXV DQG /XFH ,ULJDUD\ WKDW combined Lacanian psychoanalysis, structuralism and Derridean deconstructive FULWLFLVPZLWK6LPRQHGH%HDXYRLU¶VIHPLQLVWSULQFLSOHVWRDGYRFDWHDQGVXSSRUW a mode of writing pertaining to women, which is the pFULWXUHIpPLQLQH. Since this W\SHRIZULWLQJLVQRWIRFXVHGXSRQLQWKLVSDSHUEXWWKHWKHRULVWV¶FRQFHSWVFDQ and will prove useful in the analysis of the gender power mechanisms at work in MacbethDVNHWFKRIWKH)UHQFKIHPLQLVWV¶WKHRries is compulsory. Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian feminist novelist and philosopher, was very PXFK LQIOXHQFHG E\ -DFTXHV /DFDQ¶V WKHRULHV RQ WKH V\PEROLF VWDJH DQG phallocentrism. As Terry Eagleton remarks: ³7KH V\PEROLF RUGHU RI ZKLFK /DFDQ ZULWHV LV LQ UHDOity the patriarchal sexual and social order of modern class-society, structured around the µWUDQVFHQGHQWDOVLJQLILHU¶RIWKHSKDOOXVGRPLQDWHGE\WKH/DZZKLFKWKH ϯϴ 

father embodies. There is no way, then, in which a feminist or pro-feminist may uncritically celebrate the symbolic order at the expense of the imaginary: on the contrary, the oppressiveness of the actual social and sexual relations of such a system is precisely the target of the feminist FULWLTXH´

Thus, Kristeva opposed the symbolic stage to a previous one, not the Lacanian imaginary, but the semiotic. She explained that, at the pre-Oedipal stage, the child has no access to the language, so it communicates by means of the µSXOVLRQV¶ ZKLFK ZRXOG FRQVWLWXWH D IRUP RI VLOHQW ODQJXDJH. Since the preOedipal stage is associated with the mother, whereas the symbolic is associated ZLWK WKH µQRP GX SqUH¶ .ULVWHYD FRQQHFWHG WKH VHPLRWLF ZLWK IHPLQLQLW\ IRU DW least) two reasons: on the one hand, the pulsations fully manifest prior to the stage of the gender separation, and on the other hand, they are not completely replaced by language: ³7KHVHPLRWLFFDQVWLOOEHGLVFHUQHGDVDNLQGRISXOVLRQDOSUHVVXUHZLWKLQ language itself, in tone, rhythm, the bodily and material qualities of language, but also in contradiction, meaninglessness, disruption, silence DQGDEVHQFH7KHVHPLRWLFLVWKHµRWKHU¶RIODQJXDJHZKLFKLVQRQHWKHOHVV LQWLPDWHO\HQWZLQHGZLWKLW´LQ(DJOHWRQ

The semiotic negates precise meanings and fixed signs of male power *RGIDWKHUDXWKRULW\HWF µ%XUGHQHG¶ZLWKWRQHUK\WKPDQGFRQWUDGLFWLRQWKH language is no longer able to offer a clear division between masculinity and femininity and thus the binary oppositions are deconstructed up to a point where one cannot tell the masculine and the feminine apart. The relation between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is one of the best examples available in the world of literature, in which the semiotic, overshadowing the language, makes the distinction impossible. The wriWLQJV RI DQRWKHU UHSUHVHQWDWLYH RI WKH )UHQFK 6FKRRO +pOqQH ϯϵ 

Cixous, focus on the binary opposition system as well. Cixous, although FRQVLGHUHG D UDGLFDO IHPLQLVW ³UHSXGLDWH>G@ WKH ODEHO RQ WKH JURXQGV WKDW LW perpetuate[d] the hierarchical opposition of masculine/feminine, which she [was] WU\LQJ WR GHFRQVWUXFW´ /RGJH    +HU ZULWLQJV DWWDFN WKH SDWULDUFKDO FXOWXUH EDVHG XSRQ WZR XQLILHG FRQFHSWV LH /DFDQ¶V V\PEROLF SKDOOXV DQG 'HUULGD¶V ORJRFHQWULVP FRLQHG DV ³SKDOORJRFHQWULVP´ 6KH UHJDUGed the sexual GLIIHUHQFH DV FRQVWUXFWHG E\ WKH ODQJXDJH DQG ³VRXJKW WR HVWDEOLVK D IHPDOH identity, language and writing which would subvert and/or deconstruct the SKDOORFHQWULFLW\RIWKH6\PEROLF2UGHU´7KRUQKDPLQ*DPEOH  In Sorties (1975), HpOqQH &L[RXV ZDV LQ VHDUFK RI WKH ZRPDQ¶V SODFH LQ WKHSDWULDUFKDORUGHURIWKHODQJXDJH+HUDUWLFOHRSHQVZLWKWKHTXHVWLRQ³:KHUH LVVKH"´IROORZHGE\DVHWRIRSSRVLWLRQV ³$FWLYLW\SDVVLYLW\ Sun/Moon Culture/Nature Day/Night Father/Mother Head/Heart Intelligible/sensitive Logos/Pathos Form, convex, step, advance, seed, progress Matter, concave, ground ± which supports the step, receptacle 0DQ:RPDQ´&L[RXVLQ/RGJH

Cixous noticed that these terms are attributed positive and negative status, the negative being constantly on the side of Woman. Thus, she argued that the theories of culture, society, art, religion, family, language have all been elaborated along the lines of the same system. Man always wins in this hierarchy: ³VXERUGLQDWLRQof the feminine to the masculine order appears to be the condition IRU WKH IXQFWLRQLQJ RI WKH PDFKLQH´ &L[RXV LQ /RGJH    +RZHYHU ϰϬ 

having established that sex and gender are two different concepts, the latter being a construct and not a given, CL[RXVVOLSSHGIURP³WKHZRPDQLVDOZD\VRQWKHVLGH RI SDVVLYLW\´ LQ /RGJH    WR D QHFHVVLW\ WR ³DYRLG WKH FRQIXVLRQ PDQPDVFXOLQHZRPDQIHPLQLQH´LQ/RGJH IRUVKHFODLPHG³WKHUH are men who do not repress their femininity, women who more or less forcefully LQVFULEH WKHLU PDVFXOLQLW\´ LQ /RGJH    ([SODLQLQJ WKDW &L[RXV¶V ultimate aim is ³WRSURFODLPZRPDQDVDVRXUFHRIOLIHSRZHUDQGHQHUJ\DQGWRKDLOWKH advent of a new feminine language which ceaselessly subverts these patriarchal

binary

schemes,

where

logocentrism

colludes

with

SKDOORFHQWULVP LQ DQ HIIRUW WR VLOHQFH DQG RSSUHVV ZRPHQ´ 0RL LQ Jefferson and Robey, 1991: 211),

Toril Moi comes to the conclusion that Cixous found it difficult to distinguish her concept of feminine writing from that of female writing. $V WKH IHPLQLVWV¶ SXUSRVH ZDV WKH GHFRQVWUXFWLRQ RI ³SDWULDUFKDO PHWDSK\VLFV´0RLLQ-HIIHUVRQDQG5REH\ &L[RXV¶VVWXG\KDVWXUQHG out to be a valuable tool in identifying the gender roleVDWZRUNLQ6KDNHVSHDUH¶V Macbeth. If with Kristeva the gender distinction is made impossible, in the light RI&L[RXV¶VWKHRULHVWKHUROHVDUHUHYHUVHG 

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CHAPTER III Interpretations: In Shakespeare We Trust

III.1. Cathartic Violence. Lady Macbeth and Feminine Power in 5RPDQ3RODQVNL¶VMacbeth (1971) ³,WZLOOKDYHEORRG 7KH\VD\EORRGZLOOKDYHEORRG´,,,

Released at a time when the general trend in adapting Shakespeare for the screen was that of minimum recontextualization, RRPDQ3RODQVNL¶VThe Tragedy of Macbeth (1971) is not revolutionary in this respect. As shown in the first chapter on film adaptations, the film directors of the 60s and the 70s simply moved from stage to screen, taking advantage of the development of technology WRUHDFKDODUJHUDXGLHQFH+RZHYHU3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth LVPXFKPRUHWKDQµ\HW DQRWKHU 6KDNHVSHDUH ILOP¶ LW LV LQ IDFW RQH RI WKH PRVW LQIOXHQWLDO ILOPLF UHSUHVHQWDWLRQV RI 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V SOD\ DQG WKLV SDSHU ZLOO SURYLGH HYLGHQFH WR sustain this claim. ,WLVZRUWKSRLQWLQJRXWWKDW3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth can be analysed only by paying much attention to the socio-political background of the 70s. Therefore, before embarking on the film analysis proper, it is necessary to give a very short presentation of the context in which the film was released. One of the public reactions to the Vietnam War was a youth movement that would influence the mindset of entire generations for many years ahead. The newly-growing hippie subculture favoured a philosophical frame that could be traced back to the Cynics RI WKH $QFLHQW *UHHFH PL[LQJ -HVXV &KULVW¶V DQG *DQGKL¶V WHDFKLQJV (XURSHDQ concepts of the fin-de-VLqFOH, music and, last but not least, advocating free love as a means for peace. The momentum of the movement was, undoubtedly, the Woodstock Festival (1969): three days of music, sexual orgies, and drug abuse led ϰϮ 

to mixed reactions on behalf of the authorities and in the media. But ³ZKDW¶VGRQH FDQQRWEHXQGRQH´Macbeth, V.1): the hippies made a Puritanical America look with a more indulgent eye on sexual liberation, thus attaining a goal that Playboy Magazine had aimed at since 1955. Unfortunately, during the period, things escalated and what had primarily started as a reaction against the war absurdly transformed itself into a reign of terror on the other side of America, where members of the Charles Manson FRPPXQH JXLGHG E\ SKLORVRSKLHV PLVXQGHUVWRRG IURP 7KH %HDWOHV¶ O\ULFV SURSKHVLHG DQ DSRFDO\SWLFDO UDFH ZDU $SSDUHQWO\ WKLV µIDPLO\¶ DLPHG DW triggering the war effectively through their extremely publicized murders. One of their acts of extreme violence was the famous assassination of a pregnant actress, 6KDURQ 7DWH 5RPDQ 3RODQVNL¶V ZLIH ³,W ZLOO KDYH EORRG 7KH\ VD\ EORRG ZLOO KDYH EORRG´ (Macbeth, III.4.123). Polanski took the Shakespearean line quite literally and, in the context of the rise of the gory horror films with highly explicit sexual content, he managed to create, probably, the most horrific film adaptation of the Scottish Play. However, the situation in the world of cinema at the beginning of the 70s was less categorical than during the 90s. With all the transformations, rearrangements of the text, interpolations ± to be dealt with further on ± 3RODQVNL¶V film is, in the end, a classic Macbeth, LWLVVWLOO6KDNHVSHDUH3RODQVNLµRSHUDWHG¶ RQ WKH WH[W KHDYLO\ IURP D WUDGLWLRQDOLVW¶V VWDQGSRLQW \HW VOLJKWO\ IURP D PRUH permissive perspective. It is all about the perception and the more or less thorough knowledge of the original text. Unless one peUIRUPVDµVXUJLFDO¶LQYHVWLJDWLRQRI WKH VFULSW OLQHV OLVWHQLQJ WR WKH DFWRUV¶ YRLFHV LQ WKH KHDGSKRQHV ZKLOH UHDGLQJ through the play, one may fail to notice all the alternations of the text, except for the obvious ones, as it is the case of the added finale. No one should think that, since hippie liberties, free sex, Playboy and gory films have been mentioned, 3RODQVNL¶VMacbeth LVMXVWDVH[¶Q¶YLROHQFHVRUGLGSURGXFWLRQ,WGRHVWDFNOHERWK concepts of the misunderstood modern anarchy of the period; nonetheless, it is still an above-the-average rendition of the Shakespearean play.

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Film critics almost unanimously praise The Tragedy of Macbeth as one of the classics among the productions based upon this particular play. Internet Movie Database ± IMDB ± lists about 50 films entitled Macbeth3RODQVNL¶VILOPRSHQV WKH OLVW DFFRPSDQLHG E\ D WDJ WKDW ODEHOV LW DV ³RQH RI WKH EHVW YHUVLRQV RI D 6KDNHVSHDUH SOD\ WKDW >RQH@ KD>V@ VHHQ´ 2I FRXUVH WKH ILOP KDV PDQ\ IODZV starting with some rather hilarious renditions of the supernatural ± excusable because of the year when the film was made, but still hilarious and disposable. Unfortunately, the special effects in Macbeth ± the glowing dagger (A7), to be more specific ± remind of the effects used in the films for children and that can hardly stand as a compliment for Polanski or his editing team. But then again, to pass a fair judgment, this is a 1971 film and the eyes of the film-goer at the beginning of the millennium should look more tolerantly on the special effects of the time. On the other hand, what can be judged ± regardless of the year of production ± is the acting style, especially that of the protagonists, which is, here and there, inconsistent and unprevailing. It is well-known that it is not recommendable to recite Shakespearean blank verse too emphatically; that is a URRNLH¶V PLVWDNH DFFHSWDEOH RQO\ LQ DQ RXWODQGLVK WKHDWUH 6KDNHVSHDUH LV HPSKDWLF KLV YHUVH LV XVXDOO\ ULFK EXW µHQULFKLQJ¶ LW HYHQ PRUH E\ D SRRU exaggerated performance may easily lead to ridicule. The cast of The Tragedy of Macbeth is not made of rookies, therefore they are not emphatic at all. On the contrary, some of them are flat and linear even during the most dramatic moments. Francesca Annis, the actress cast in one of the leading roles, is, unfortunately, the best example in this respect. She is beautiful, but her performance is inexpressive and does not do justice to her character, one of the most interesting in the entire Shakespearean gallery of women. Despite her youth, (she was 26 when cast in Macbeth), one would have expected Francesca Annis to EHPRUHJLIWHGLQGHDOLQJZLWKWKHFRPSOLFDWHGFKDQJHVRIKHUFKDUDFWHU¶VVWDWHRI mind from ambition and evil-doing to insanity. Maybe it would be relevant at this point to mention that Polanski had DQRWKHUDFWUHVVLQPLQGIRU/DG\0DFEHWK¶VSDUWEXWKHKDGEHHQUHIXVHGEHFDXVH ϰϰ 

of the controversial sleepwalking scene, which, in this production, reveals Lady Macbeth stark naked (A14). This was, apparently, one of the conditions set by Hugh Hefner, the owner of Playboy, who actually paid for the whole production. Polanski did not see this as too high a price to pay, although purists claim that the 6KDNHVSHDUHDQ WH[W LV WKXV VHYHUHO\ DOWHUHG ZLWK WKLV YHU\ µRPLVVLRQ¶ ³Gentlewoman: Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed; throw her night-gown upon her´ Macbeth, V.1, our emphasis). $ORQJVLGH /DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V VHQVXDOLW\ ZKLOH HQWLFLQJ KHU KXVEDQG LQWR PXUGHU (A5), the sleepwalking scene is, roughly speaking, responsible for the sexuality that this production of Macbeth stands accused of. Nevertheless, 3RODQVNL¶V casting (more or less willingly) Francesca Annis as a leading actress might have proven a high price after all, precisely because of the ultimate result i.e., a modest performance. Well-DFWHG/DG\0DFEHWK¶VFKDUDFWHUKDVDOOWKHPHDQVWRVXUSDVV KHUKXVEDQG¶VQHYHUWKHOHVV)UDQFHVFD$QQLVRIIHUVRQO\VHOGRPPRPHQWVRIWKLV kind. On the other hand, Polanski insisted that the scene of sleepwalking had been conceived with Lady Macbeth naked only because she would have looked more fragile that way. This statement is meant to subversively undermine all implications of feminine power, pointing rather to a patriarchal perception of femininity. In this particular frame, the naked woman does not point to sexuality, but to a form of regressum ab utero, where the adult woman is reduced to the status of an infant, functioning and reasoning exclusively at the level of pulsations. Not only is the woman silenced, and allowed to express herself only when found in a state at the edge of reason, but she is also made to regress. ,Q WKH OLJKW RI /DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V SRUWUD\DO RQ WKH ZKROH LQ 3RODQVNL¶V ILOP WKH statement above seems rather incongruous. Although the sexual revolution was in bloom, Polanski might have feared the voices of the Shakespearean purists, who could have condemned him for allowing Playboy Magazine to get involved in the production and then this statement can be but an excuse. It is unreasonable to believe that a magazine such as Playboy would have been interested in producing a film after Macbeth, probably the least sexually enticing Shakespearean play, just IRU DUW¶V VDNH 3OD\ER\ QHHGHG VRPHWKLQJ LQ Macbeth to attract their targetϰϱ 

customers and undressing Lady Macbeth proved to be the least aggressive intrusion in the Shakespearean text. Therefore, rather than looking for misogynist LPSOLFDWLRQV LQ WKH VFHQH DQG LQ 3RODQVNL¶V VWDWHPHQW RQH VKRXOG UHJDUG WKH sleepwalking scene as a commercial compromise and nothing more. It has been repeatedly remarked that Macbeth is the most misogynist Shakespearean play, partly because of the evil nature of the women involved, partly because of the indecisive character of Lady Macbeth, proven weak after the murder by her insanity and subsequent untimely death. Although Freud tried to DQDO\VH/DG\0DFEHWK¶VEHKDYLRXURQWKHJURXQGVRILQFRPSOHWHZRPDQKRRGGXH to childlessness, her transformation in the original text seems somehow to lack consistency, the very few hints at her humanity being insufficient to raise such a level of guilt. At first, Lady Macbeth even seems superior to her husband, who, although proven courageous in battle, reveals a cowardly lack of determination. So, she is the one who assumes the role of the leader, whereas her husband only submits to her homicidal requests, more or less against his own will, taking the XQIODWWHULQJSDUWRIDQDJHQWRIWKHZRPDQ¶VGHVLUHV6WDUWLQJDVDIXOOPHPEHURI 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V JDOOHU\ RI JUHDW IHPLQLQH FKDUDFters, seemingly filling in the PLVVLQJSDUWRIWKH³YLOODLQHVV´/DG\0DFEHWKJUDGXDOO\ORVHVLPSRUWDQFHZLWKLQ the plot of the play) and mental sanity to the point of a death suggested as XQGLJQLI\LQJ+HUGRZQIDOOSDUDOOHOV0DFEHWK¶VDVFHQVLRQWRZDUGVWhe status of a tragic hero who made a fatal mistake. To some extent, her destiny mirrors .DWKDULQD¶V ± WKH µVKUHZ¶ LV ³WDPHG´ VLOHQFHG E\ D SOD\ZULJKW ZKR FDQ EH conveniently interpreted as a misogynist from this point of view. One of the innovations of 5RPDQ 3RODQVNL¶V ILOPLF UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI Macbeth is that of using a very young cast. Previous adaptations used middleaged actors for the parts of the two protagonists, occasionally opting for a Lady Macbeth visibly older than her husband, in order to explain her power over him or, maybe, her connection with the three witches. Polanski did not do away with this connection completely: for one thing, one of the witches is also young and, at a first sight, she can be mistaken for Lady Macbeth herself, for another, the film HPSKDVLVHV WKH VHQVDWLRQ RI D ZRPDQ¶V VH[XDO SRZHU RYHU KHU PDWH 3RODQVNL ϰϲ 

chose to cast a very beautiful young woman as Lady Macbeth, arguing that ³GLUHFWRUV DOZD\V SUHVHQW /DG\ 0DFEHWK DV D QDJJLQJ ELWFK %XW SHRSOH ZKR GR ghastly things iQOLIHWKH\DUHQRWJULPOLNHDKRUURUPRYLH´TWGLQMacbeth: An Exploration of Horror, web). The statement is virtually correct, for the sake of YHULVLPLOLWXGHDQGHYHQPRUHVWULNLQJLQWKHFRQWH[WRI³XQVH[PH´$ ZKLFK has been explained by various scholars as a wish for amenorrhea. To avoid making things too complicated, one may simply refer to an element of LQWHUWH[WXDOLW\HPSKDVLVHGE\'RXJODV%URGH³3RODQVNL¶VLQWHUSUHWDWLRQJUDGXDOO\ WRRNVKDSHGXULQJWKHSHULRGIROORZLQJ=HIILUHOOL¶V Romeo and Juliet, a film that proved the commercial possibilities for Shakespeare and produced with the young DXGLHQFHLQPLQG´ 7KHUHIRUH0DFEHWKDQG/DG\0DFEHWKPD\VWDQG as a malicious counterpart of the young Verona couple (A11). Although PolanVNL¶VILOPLVIDUIURPEHLQJDFURZG-pleaser, this may be indeed an element added for commercial reasons; nonetheless, one would rather stick to considering this decision of the director as a means to insinuate into the filmic text strong sexuality that triggers gender power relations. An awkward contrast with the gloomy atmosphere of the settings is provided by the white outfit Lady Macbeth wears, a gown almost bridal, which, RQFH VSRWWHG ZLWK WKH EORRG RI 'XQFDQ $  HQKDQFHV WKH GLUHFWRU¶V YLVLRQ RI the character (quoted above): she is a fair, young, strawberry blond woman in a white dress. None of these features could possibly announce the evil inside her, the cold-blooded murderer that she proves after all to be, despite her rather incidental twinge of conscience in Act II, scene 2. The scene with the preparations IRU 'XQFDQ¶V PXUGHU ZKHQ VKH VD\V ³+DG KH QRW UHVHPEOHG P\ IDWKHU DV KH VOHSW,KDGGRQH¶W.´,, LVDFWXDOO\XQLTXHLQWKHSOD\DQGFRPSOHWHO\PLVVLQJLQ the film, and the sole hint at a conscience that will eventually awake to her downfall. Of course, there can be another possible interpretation of this quotation, from a psychoanalytical perspective, surprisingly, unnoticed by Freud himself in his analysis of Macbeth. Thus, Lady Macbeth, voicing her repressed affection for her father, may have been fixated on the father figure since the phallic stage and this, according to Freudian theories, represents the famous penis envy, which, in ϰϳ 

WXUQ GHWHUPLQHV ZRPDQ¶V IXWXUH GHYHORSPHQW DV GRPLQatrix and may lead to forms of neurosis such as hysteria. While it would be far-fetched even to ascribe this logic to Shakespeare, it would not be that surprising for Polanski to have known psychoanalytical theories, and to have conscientiously removed any psychoanalytical connotations from the construction of his feminine protagonist. In addition, by casting so young an actress, Polanski seems to reject completely WKH)UHXGLDQWKHRU\DFFRUGLQJWRZKLFK/DG\0DFEHWK¶VHYLOQDWXUHLVDFWXDWHGE\ her impossibility to be a mother. The lines so frequently quoted from Lady 0DFEHWK¶VVROLORTX\³&RPHWRP\ZRPDQ¶VEUHDVWVDQGWDNHP\PLONIRUJDOO´ (I.5.47- DVZHOODV³,KDYHJLYHQVXFNDQGNQRZ+RZWHQGHUµWLVWRORYHWKH EDEHWKDWPLONVPH´,-55), are completely and carefully removed from the script. Polanski seems to dare the critics to find at least one hint in Lady 0DFEHWK¶VOLQHVWRGUDZSV\FKRDQDO\WLFDOFRQFOXVLRQV Despite her final scene(s), the Shakespearean Scottish Queen stands, at least LQ 3RODQVNL¶V UHQGLWLRQ IRU D UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI SRZHU D UHYHUVHG LPDJH RI ZKDW IHPLQLVWFULWLFLVPFODLPHGWREHDYLFWLPRISDWULDUFK\$V+pOqQH&L[RXVSXWLW ³:RPDQLVDOZD\VRQWKHVLGHRISDVVLYLW\(YHU\WLPHWKHTXHVWLRQFRPHV up; when we examine kinship structures, whenever a family model is EURXJKWLQWRSOD\>«@DVVRRQDVWKHUHLVDZLOOWRVD\VRPHWKLQJ$ZLOO desire, authority, you examine that and you are led right back ± to the father. You can even fail to notice that there is no place at all for women in WKH RSHUDWLRQ ,Q WKH H[WUHPH WKH ZRUOG RI µEHLQJ¶ FDQ IXQFWLRQ WR WKH H[FOXVLRQRIWKHPRWKHU´LQ/RGJH 7KDWLVGHILQLWHO\QRWWKHFDVHZLWK/DG\0DFEHWKLQ3RODQVNL¶VILOP2QH could go as far as stating that it is not the case in the Shakespearean play either. It is highly debatable whether even Macbeth himself bears masculine attributes. He is weak-willed, driven by feeling rather than intellect, manipulated by the ZRPDQ¶VGDUNGHVLUHVLQGHFLVLYH%\FRQWUDVW/DG\0acbeth stands, both in the play and ± more obviously ± in the film, for activity, logos, intelligence, progress, ϰϴ 

will. She is the new he3HUKDSVRQFHKDYLQJDOOWKHVLJQVRIWKH/DG\¶VZHDNQHVV in the original text removed, Roman Polanski strove to recreate the character as a more powerful woman than that which Shakespeare ± caught in the prejudices of his age ± could have portrayed. Adding the ingredient of sexuality ± more often than not, an element made to control the man and not the other way round ± one can conclude that Lady Macbeth deconstructs, or better said, demolishes all the theories on Macbeth as a misogynist play. :KDWGRHVUHPDLQµXQUHVROYHG¶LQWKLVUHVSHFWLV/DG\0DFEHWK¶VGRZQIDOO DQGSUHPDWXUHGHDWK³6KHVKRXOGKDYHGLHGKHUHDIWHU7here would have been a WLPHIRUVXFKDZRUG´ (V. 5) (A16). Of course, Roman Polanski could not have altered the course of the play; a director may modify the source of the adaptation to a certain extent. Crossing the line results in atrocious parodies (as it is the case with Hamlet 2 (2008)). Therefore, powerful or not, main character or not, Lady Macbeth must go insane and die in the film, as she does in the play. One can but UHO\ RQ WKH 6KDNHVSHDUHDQ WH[W VROHO\ ZKHQ DQDO\VLQJ WKLV SDUW VLQFH 3RODQVNL¶V filmic text is just an accurate transposition at this point. Harold Bloom sees Lady 0DFEHWK¶VJHWWLQJRIIWKHVWDJH³DIWHU$FW,,,VFHQHH[FHSWIRUKHUVKRUWUHWXUQ LQ D VWDWH RI PDGQHVV DW WKH VWDUW RI $FW 9´    DV D PHDQV IRU Shakespeare to make Macbeth the dominant figure. However, looking at Lady Macbeth from a historicist perspective, she should have died ± here or hereafter, it is less important. Macbeth is a political play, meant to please James I, after all, supposedly a king from BanquR¶V OLQHDJH WKHUHIRUH %DQTXR¶V HQHPLHV VKRXOG KDYH EHHQ HOLPLQDWHG 6LQFH WKH VRXUFH RI WKH 6KDNHVSHDUHDQ SOD\ +ROLQVKHG¶V Historie of Scotland EDUHO\ PHQWLRQV 0DFEHWK¶V ZLIH1, Shakespeare needed an effective way to dispose of this particular character. Insanity and death had already proven efficient enough in Hamlet and it is a common device for the Renaissance tragedies, anyway. 1

³7KHZRRUGVRIWKHWKUpHZHLUGVLVWHUVDOVRRIZKRPHEHIRUHye haue heard) greatlie incouraged him herevunto, but speciallie his wife lay sore vpon him to attempt the thing, as she that was verie DPELWLRXV EXUQLQJ LQ YQTXHQFKDEOH GHVLUH WR EHDUH WKH QDPH RI D TXpHQH´ (+ROLQVKHG¶s Chronicles, Volume V: Scotland, p. 269, available at www.shakespearenavigators.com/macbeth/Holinshed/Holin269.html. 

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/DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V HYROXWLRQ WKURXJKRXW WKH SOD\ LV GRRPHG WR HQG LQ decline. Tormented with ambition, Lady Macbeth is, as even Holinshed had SRLQWHG RXW EHIRUH 6KDNHVSHDUH WKH PDLQ PDQLSXODWRU RI 0DFEHWK¶V PLQG +HU lines bear stereotypes of manliness. Apart from the soliloquy in which she invokes the spirits (I.5.39-54), Lady Macbeth may seem only to shrewdly manipulate her husband into doing the deed with recurrent references to his manhood. He is, in turn, stuck within the same stereotypical mould ± QRWRQO\KDVKH³GRQHWKHGHHG´ OHVVIURPDPELWLRQDQGPRUHWRZLSHDZD\KHU³LQILUPRISXUSRVH´LPSUHFDWLRQ but he makes use of similar means to convince the two men to become the murderers of Banquo and Fleance. He manipulates the two hired killers just as his wife manipulated him. The language of the two is not able to offer a clear distinction in the issue of masculine/feminine dichotomy. A new question could be raised: is Lady Macbeth masculine or is Macbeth feminine? This is a situation similar to the one posited by Cixous in her article ± ³>D PDQ@ ZKR >GRHV@ QRW UHSUHVV KLV IHPLQLQLW\ DQG >D ZRPDQ@ ZKR >«@ LQVFULEHV >KHU@ PDVFXOLQLW\´ LQ Lodge, 1988: 289) and it remains practically unanswered, because of the semiotic, which negates precise meanings and fixed signs of male power (God, father, authority, etc, in general, husband, in this particular case.). Thus, the Scottish Play slips from a tragedy of ambition towards a story which, paraphrasing Kristeva, explores sexual hybridity and ambiguity (2005: 155). The roles are definitely reversed up to a point that corresponds with the crowning of Macbeth as King of Scotland. After this moment, Lady Macbeth UHWUHDWVWRKHUµQDWXUDO¶SRVLWLRQLPSRVHGE\SDWULDUFKDOUXOHVVKHLVRQO\DZLIH The crown, a symbol of power, restores male authority. The moment can be seen as a political allegory of the contemporary events. The playwrigKWSXWVZRPDQµLQ KHUSODFH¶VWDUWLQJZLWKWKHFRURQDWLRQ,WVKRXOGQRWEHIRUJRWWHQWKDWWKHFURZQ± and, implicitly, power ± was held by a woman throughout the last decades of the sixteenth century and at the dawn of the seventeenth century. With the coronation of James I, the age of feminine power comes to an end. The visual text is very relevant at this point: Macbeth is crowned in an open space reminding of

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6WRQHKHQJHVXJJHVWLQJWKDWKHKDVJRWWKHDQFHVWRUV¶DSSURYDODQGWKDWSDWULDUFKDO order is reestablished. $OWKRXJKVKHKDVGHWHUPLQHG'XQFDQ¶VGHDWKVKHLVNHSWLQWKHGDUNDERXW 0DFEHWK¶V SODQV ³%H LQQRFHQW RI WKH NQRZOHGJH GHDUHVW FKXFN  7LOO WKRX DSSODXG WKH GHHG´ (III. 2. 45-46). These lines epitomize the concept of phallogocentrism: the man has been returned the Phallus ³WKH WUDQVFHQGHQWDO VLJQLILHUWKHPDUNHURIJHQGHUHGGLIIHUHQFHDV\PERORISRZHUDQGDXWKHQWLFLW\´ (Green and LeBihan, 1996: 179) and the logos (Cixous in Lodge, 1988: 287). 0DFEHWK¶VQHZO\IRXQGDXWKRULW\DQGQHHGWR protect his wife may spring for his new position, either that of the King or that of the murderer. Either way, the EDODQFHKDVEHHQUHVWRUHGEHWZHHQWKHµQDWXUDO¶SRVLWLRQRIWKHVWURQJHUPDOHDQG that of the weaker female, and the play carries on along these coordinates. Insufficiently developed, the woman may just disappear. It happened to Ophelia, too, if one strives to look for recurrent patterns. Polanski felt an urge to stress the guilt, therefore he added a scene in which Lady Macbeth is depicted re-UHDGLQJKHUKXVEDQG¶VOHWWHUIURP$FW, $  right before her suicide (A15) (which, surprisingly enough for the violent manner of the film, is not shown until completed). The dead body lies on the ground $ GXULQJ0DFEHWK¶VIDPRXVVSHHFK ³/LIH¶Vbut a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 6LJQLI\LQJQRWKLQJ³9 2QHPXVWQRWORRNXSRQ3RODQVNL¶VLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRI/DG\0DFbeth as so GLYRUFHGIURP6KDNHVSHDUH¶VDVOHDVWQRWWRWKHH[WHQWWKDWRWKHUSURGXFWLRQVHJ Mickey B, Scotland PA RUWKH$XVWUDOLDQµJDQJVWD¶Macbeth) display. Despite his undeniable personal touch in the interpretation and portrayal of the character ± as /DG\0DFEHWK¶VDJHLVDFWXDOO\OHIWDWWKHGLUHFWRU¶VGLVFUHWLRQ± Roman Polanski ϱϭ 

IROORZHG :LOOLDP 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V WH[W FORVHO\ &RQVLGHULQJ LQWHUWH[WXDOLW\ DQ exercise of parody or pastiche, one may notice that neither of these descriptions applies to the Polanskian rendition. It would be more appropriate to describe 5RPDQ 3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth in Genettian terms as the co-existence of two hypoand hyper-texts or, even more accurately, to see it in the frame of Roman -DNREVRQ¶V WKHRU\ RI LQWHUVHPLRWLF WUDQslation. While the lines are only slightly modified, the sound and the image come to enrich the experience, no matter if the focus is on characters, key events or elements of setting. As stated in the second chapter, Macbeth ± the play ± may be approached from various critical perspectives. So may Macbeth ± the film. The interpretation of the film in psychoanalytical and feminist terms could be completed by comments on certain choices at the level of the visual text that contribute to representing alterity. Thus, the wild and uncivilised settings filmed by Polanski on location reveal a barbarous Scotland as the territory of the other that, at a first sight, might point, if seen in postcolonial terms, to the fact that the director intended to create a negative hetero-image of the Scots. However, re-evaluating the choice of the setting and taking into account that The Tragedy of Macbeth is a rather faithful adaptation of the Shakespearean play, one cannot reasonably accuse Polanski of xenophobic attitudes against the Scots. It is obvious that the territory of Scotland during the years described not by Shakespeare, but by Holinshed in his chronicles, was anything but refined and civilised, therefore this is only UHDOLVPDQGYHULVLPLOLWXGHDWZRUNLQ3RODQVNL¶VILlm and nothing more. Roman Polanski has been repeatedly referred to as the kind of director that is not banal but rather anti-canonical (his film 5RVHPDU\¶V%DE\, 1968, gained him this label). Therefore, one would expect a Polanski film to break the barriers of the genre, at least in a few definite aspects. Polanski UHLQWHUSUHWHG/DG\0DFEHWK¶V part in a way that would have simply puzzled ShakespearH¶V FRQWHPSRUDULHV Furthermore, he chose to leave the storyline unfinished with an anticipatory end that depicts Donalbain in a hypostasis very similar to that of Macbeth at the EHJLQQLQJRIWKHILOPLHWKHHQFRXQWHUZLWKWKHZLWFKHV³XSRQWKHKHDWK´. He connected intertextually with OthelloSXWWLQJ5RVVLQ,DJR¶VVKRHVDQGLQFUHDVLQJ ϱϮ 

his importance in the plot. Last but not least, he lent realism to the play, cutting scenes and rendering soliloquies as voice-overs. Ultimately, Polanski had to render, as conveniently as possible, two major characteristics of Macbeth as a tragedy that has its action develop during the dark, mediaeval times and that does not aim in the least at realism, but makes use of magic and symbolism. His realism is painfully real, whereas magic is hallucinatory and unreal. Thus, clearly divided, the two come eventually to intertwine, creating a Tragedy of Macbeth close enough to the one that the original text unveils beyond its many ambiguities. The next pages will discuss the extreme violence of the film, detailing on how it was rendered and, more important, justified. In the beginning RI WKLV FKDSWHU 6KDURQ 7DWH¶V QDPH ZDV PHQWLRQHG Victim of one of the most famous murders of the twentieth century, she was 5RPDQ3RODQVNL¶VZLIHDQGMXGJLQJE\WKHHIIHFW RQWKHPDVVHVRQHFDQHDVLO\ imagine the devastating effect on her husband. Since The Tragedy of Macbeth was the first film Polanski made after this unfortunate event, critics unanimously connected it with the unleashed graphic violence of the film. However, Macbeth ZDVQRWWKHILUVWµEORRG\¶ILOPRIWKH3ROLVKGLUHFWRU7KHRYHUIORZ of gory horror movies of the same decade might as well indicate his submitting to the demands of his contemporary audiences, in other words, sheer consumerism. Of course, this is highly debatable, since this is about Shakespeare, on the one hand, and Polanski, on the other; still, it is a hypothesis worth mentioning. Although far from an in-depth film analysis, this chapter is ultimately DERXWDILOPKHQFHEHIRUHJRLQJRQVSHFXODWLQJRQ3RODQVNL¶V UHDVRQVLWZRXOG be appropriate to describe the most horrific scenes and to illustrate them with HORTXHQW LPDJHV 7KH ILUVW RQH LV WKH 7KDQH RI &DZGRU¶V GHDWK D GHWDLOHG execution completely missing from the original text (A3). Of course, Shakespeare could not foresee technological progress or that his works would endure over the next four centuries, therefore he did not write anything that actors could not show on the Renaissance stages. But the gallows are significant not because they are horrid, but due to an image of the dead body hanging that lingers in MaFEHWK¶V ϱϯ 

eyes, while his thoughts start knocking off in the known direction. It is almost a warning, which will be rounded off in the end of the film, when Macbeth is beheaded (A17). An anonymous user of IMDB has as eloquently commented on this particular scene: ³3RODQVNL« PDNHVXVHRIVRPHLQWHUHVWLQJFDPHUDWHFKQLTXHV7KHPRVW remarkable is the point-of-YLHZ VKRW IURP 0DFEHWK¶V VHYHUHG KHDG :H actually see through his eyes for some time, although his vision is (understandably) blurry. Then, as his head is paraded around atop a pike, the sound gradually fades out. A very creepy moment, indeed, as the DXGLHQFH ZDWFKHV 0DFEHWK GLH IURP KLV RZQ SHUVSHFWLYH´ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067372/)

Two other scenes are actually horrific and may entitle film critics to connect Macbeth ± WKH ILOP ZLWK 3RODQVNL¶V RZQ OLIH H[SHULHQFH LH WKH WUHDFKHURXVPXUGHURI.LQJ'XQFDQDQGWKHPDVVDFUHRI0DFGXII¶V IDPLO\7KH former begins with burdensome silence, in darkness, with only some pale light IOLFNHULQJRQWKHIDFHRIWKHPXUGHUHUWREH3RODQVNLµDOORZV¶WKHNLQJWRIDFHKLV assassin. In the Shakespearean text, the murder is not rendered explicitly, it obviously took place between the first two scenes of Act II, but for the reasons indicated above, it is not brought visually to the stage. However, Polanski did not want to make a determined man out of his personal Macbeth, but (as already shown in the discussion concerning Lady Macbeth) a weak character, driven by KLVZLIHUDWKHUWKDQKLVRZQDPELWLRQV7KHUHIRUHKHµRSHQV¶WKHH\HVRI'XQFDQ ZKRHYHQXWWHUVDSHUSOH[HG³0DFEHWK´DQGWKLVLVDFWXDOO\WKHVSULQJWKDWVHWVRII the murder ± Macbeth could no longer escape, once seen with the knife in his hand QHDU WKH NLQJ¶V EHG 7KH FURZQ IDOOV RII WKH EHG $  HIIHFWLYH YLVXDO symbol of the regicide, the ultimate subversion of authority, and the king is VWDEEHGHLJKWWLPHV$ 7KLVLVWKHFORVHVWLPDJHWR6KDURQ7DWH¶VGHDWKZKRVH autopsy revealed a strikingly similar murder. Polanski, however, repeatedly denied DQ\FRQQHFWLRQEHWZHHQKLVZLIH¶VPXUGHUDQGKLV6KDNHVSHDUHDQILOP:

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³0RVW $PHULFDQ FULWLFV DVVXPHG WKDW ,¶G XVHG WKH ILOP IRU VRPH FDWKDUWLF SXUSRVH ,Q IDFW ,¶G FKRVHQ WR PDNH Macbeth because I thought that Shakespeare, at least, would preserve my motives from suspicion. After the 0DQVRQPXUGHUVLWZDVFOHDUWKDWZKDWHYHUNLQGRIILOP,¶GFRPHRXWZLWK QH[WZRXOGKDYHEHHQWUHDWHGLQWKHVDPHZD\,I,¶GPDGHDFRPHG\WKH charge would have bHHQRQHRIFDOORXVQHVV´ (Polanski, 1984: 297, qtd. in Bamber, 2008: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2008/cteq/macbeth/#10) Polanski brought in an argument that could be easily accepted ± when making a film about murder, one has to actually show the murder, for the sake of verisimilitude. In support of his idea of a highly realistic Shakespeare, he stated that: ³,I\RXXVHWKHVFUHHQDVDPHGLXPWKHQZKDW\RXWHOOKDVWREHWROGE\YLVXDOPHDQV´ (Dubois, ³Playboy Interview: Roman Polanski´, vol. 18, no. 12, December 1971, p. 96, qtd. in Bamber, 2008: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2008/cteq/macbeth/#10). The next scene to be brought into discussion seems to follow the same pattern, that of the need to show murder. The scene of the murder of the Thane of )LIH¶V IDPLO\ HQULFKHG ZLWK DQ DOOXVLRQ WR 5RVV¶ LQYROYHPHQW LQH[LVWHQW LQ WKH Shakespearean text, is the one that attracted the most vehement critics due to its extreme brutality inflicted on children. The images speak for themselves, so do the mind-penetrating screams. Contradicting previous statements regarding personal implications in the production, Polanski declared that this particular scene originated in a childhood memory: ³0\WUHDWPHQWRIDQRWKHUVFHQHZDVEDVHGRQDFKLOGKRRGH[SHULHQFH7KLV is the moment in Act IV when the murderers dispatched by Macbeth burst in on Lady Macduff and her young son. I suddenly recalled how the SS officer had searched our room in the ghetto, swishing his riding crop to and fro, toying with my teddy bear, and nonchalantly emptying out the KDWER[IXOORIIRUELGGHQEUHDG7KHEHKDYLRURI0DFEHWK¶VKHQFKPHQZDV

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inspired by that recROOHFWLRQ´(Polanski, 1984: 291, qtd. in Bamber, 2008: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2008/cteq/macbeth/#10) $IWHUVXFKDVWDWHPHQW3RODQVNL¶VFODLPVRIGHWDFKPHQWIURPKLVSHUVRQDO experiences are preposterous. Moreover, critics seem to have regarded the final frame of the scene that shows the bloodied baby in the cradle as an image of Tate DQG3RODQVNL¶VXQERUQFKLOG$  Magic and superstitions play an undeniable part in the entire Shakespearean work. Fairies, magical potions, magi, ghosts or witches populate KLVZRUOGVVRPHWLPHVDWWKHHGJHRIPHQ¶VUHDOPLQKDELWLQJWKHZRRGVDQGWKH islands, sometimes interfering and ± questionably ± LQIOXHQFLQJWKHPRUWDOV¶OLYHV The presence of the supernatural in the works of the Renaissance playwright should constitute an argument in itself against any critical tendency to regard and, subsequently, interpret Shakespeare as a creator of realist drama. Macbeth, marked more than any other play by the interference of the feminine supernatural, becomes enticing for gender studies scholars not only with regard to the Scottish TXHHQ EXW DOVR WR WKH WKUHH ³Z\UG VLVWHUV´ 7KH TXHVWLRQ PRVW RIWHQ SRVHG LV whether the feminine influence exercised upon Macbeth from the two directions is D V\PERO RI WKH HYLO WKDW OLHV LQ ZRPHQ¶V KHDUW RU D VXUH VLJQ RI WKH IHPLQLQH power. These two interpretations do not exclude one another, otherwise, and this gives way to endless debates upon the assumed Shakespearean misogyny. For regarding woman as inextricably evil is almost as inappropriate, in the eyes of anti-patriarchal radicals, as placing her in an inferior position, in the shadow of man. Such perspectives are deleterious to the entire history of literature, not only to Shakespeare or his Macbeth in particular. This chapter has set out to refute the accusations of misogyny against Shakespeare and to demonstrate, subsequently, that the gender struggle in Macbeth favours, more often than not, woman, her power and, going back to the )UHQFK IHPLQLVWV¶ WKHRULHV KHU EHLQJ WKH voiced part. The four films develop, to different degrees, along, roughly speaking, the same lines, and this is one of the very reasons why they have been selected from the immense list of adaptations or ϱϲ 

interpretations of Macbeth for the screen or television. The feminine characters of WKHRULJLQDOSOD\JDLQSRZHUWKURXJKVH[XDOLW\LQ3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth, due to the influence of the sexual revolution in the 60s. This was hardly the case with the Bard, therefore the sexuality at work in all the four films analysed is one of the major departures from the original play and, at the same time, one of the most obvious instances of hypertextuality connecting the 1971 film with the twentyfirst century ones. ,Q3RODQVNL¶VILOPVH[XDOLW\DVDQH[SUHVVLRQRIIHPLQLQHSRZHUKRZHYHU WLPLG LV H[FOXVLYHO\ /DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V SDUW 7KH ZLWFKHV DUH QRW WKH EHDUGHG creatures Macbeth and Banquo encounter ± ³\RXVKRXOGEHZRPHQDQG\HW\RXU beards forbid me to interSUHW WKDW \RX DUH VR´ ,-47); yet, they are not sexually attractive either. The innovation consists in introducing a very young third witch, alongside the very old ones (A2). This young weird sister has no other apparent role than to complete the triad from the original text, but the physical appearance of the actress playing that part may lead to the speculation that Polanski purposely looked for a certain resemblance to Francesca Annis, Lady Macbeth in the film. This is, otherwise, the only hint at the critical interpretation RI /DG\ 0DFEHWK DV WKH µIRXUWK ZLWFK¶ WKHUHIRUH 3RODQVNL UDWKHU VHHPV QRW WR embrace this particular interpretation, allowing the two sets of feminine forces to H[HUWWKHLULQIOXHQFHXSRQ0DFEHWK¶VFRQVFLHQFHLQGHSHQGHQWO\IURPone another. )ROORZLQJ WKH RULJLQDO WH[W FORVHO\ WKH RSHQLQJ RI 3RODQVNL¶V 0DFEHWK belongs to the three witches and their short anticipatory dialogue, rendered in UHYHUVH RUGHU RI WKH OLQHV WKH IDPRXV FKLDVPXV ³)DLU LV IRXO DQG IRXO LV IDLU  Hover throXJKWKHIRJDQGILOWK\DLU´,-11), which ends the first scene is, in fact, the very first sentence uttered in the film. The two lines in the dialogue UHIHUULQJ WR *UH\PDONLQ WKH ZLWFK¶V DWWHQGDQW VSLULW D JUH\ FDW ± Barnet, 1963: 37) were deleted as irrelevant. The setting is chosen by Polanski, since the 6KDNHVSHDUHDQ WH[W RQO\ LQGLFDWHV ³DQ RSHQ SODFH´ 3RODQVNL¶V RSHQ SODFH LV WKH VHDVKRUHZLWKZHWVDQGVDWDEORRGUHGGDZQDQGKLVZLWFKHV¶DFWLRQVDUHYLVXDOO\ effective in acquiring proleptic RYHUWRQHVWKH\EXU\DGHDGPDQ¶VKDQGKROGLQJD knife, pouring blood and chanting (A1). The ritual, obviously witchcraft, suggests ϱϳ 

that the events in Macbeth are not predicted by the three weird women, but triggered by supernatural forces. The scene in which Macbeth hears the actual predictions (I.3) is concentrated to a minimum, the nursery rhymes uttered by the witches prior to the encounter being deleted in the filmic text. The original soundtrack composed by the Third Ear Band takes over, in an anticipatory tune reminding of operatic overtures, while the camera focuses, throughout the entire scene, on the images of the two men, in a medium-shot that leaves the witches out of the sight, their voices being superimposed. The supernatural effect is thus enhanced and the combination of image and sound has a powerful impact, although it is partially DQQXOOHGE\WKHZLWFKHV¶H[LWWKURXJKDGRRUZLWKWKH\RXQJHVWZLWFKLQH[SOLFDEO\ VKRZLQJWKHPHQEHKLQGKHUDQGE\0DFEHWK¶VPLVPDWFKHGDQGGLVSRVDEOHZRUGV abRXW WKHLUYDQLVKLQJ ³,QWRWKHDLUDQGZKDW VHHPHGFRUSRUDO PHOWHGDVEUHDWK LQWRWKHZLQG´,-84). 2Q WKH RWKHU KDQG WKHZLWFKHV¶ WKLUG VFHQH FRUUHVSRQGLQJ WR WKH VHFRQG encounter with Macbeth (IV.1), is excessively based on hallucinatory visual effects, pertaining, despite the nakedness of the women, not to sexuality, but to grotesque (A12). Influenced by the probable interpolation of the goddess Hecate LQ WKH RULJLQDO WH[W ³(QWHU +HFDWH DQG WKH RWKHU 7KUHH :LWFKHV´- IV.1.39), Polanski chose to UHSUHVHQWWKHILUVWVFHQHRI$FW,9DVDGHPRQLFDOµFRQJUHVVXP¶ casting a significant number of old women, to assist the three witches in preparing WKH PDJLFDO EUHZ 7KH VFHQH SUHILJXUHV WKH ZLWFK\ RUJ\ LQ *HRIIUH\ :ULJKW¶V Macbeth, nonetheless; nothing RIWKHVRUWWDNHVSODFHLQ3RODQVNL¶VSURGXFWLRQ,W LVEXWDQRWKHUDUJXPHQWLQGHIHQFHRIWKHLGHDWKDWWKHSURGXFWLRQLVQRWµVROGRXW¶ to the requirements of a sexually-driven market, as the involvement of Playboy might suggest. The prophecies are shown kaleidoscopically, fairly difficult to follow at a normal pace, but a trained eye should notice that the first apparition, ³DQ $UPHG +HDG´ LV 0DFEHWK KLPVHOI WKDW WKH VHFRQG ³D %ORRG\ &KLOG´ LV actually the same image to be seen later in the film during the massacre of 0DFGXII¶V IDPLO\ ZKLOH WKH ER\ UHVHPEOHV 0DFGXII¶V HOGHU VRQ $Q LQWHUHVWLQJ case of prolepsis, the exclusive merit of Polanski that has nothing to do with the ϱϴ 

6KDNHVSHDUHDQ WH[W LV WKH LQVWDQW LPDJH RI 0DFEHWK¶V VHYHUHG KHDG WKH YHU\ image that would be frightfully shown in close-up at the end of the film. Interestingly enough, the image chosen for the cover-artwork of the DVD, released in 2002, is not an image of the two protagonists, but it belongs to this very scene; more specifically, it is Banquo, wearing a crown and holding the mirror for Macbeth to see the line of the eight kings. Since this very important paratextual element should function as a synthesis of the entire film in one single image, the film critic might consider PRODQVNL¶V ILOP DV UHYROYLQJ DURXQG WKH murder of Banquo and the question of the lineage. Nevertheless, as already proven, The Tragedy of Macbeth LVPXFKPRUHWKDQWKDWPHHWLQJ6KDNHVSHDUH¶V vision in so many points, interpreting it and appropriating it in so many others, that it can be unmistakably considered one of the most successful adaptations for the screen of this bloody tragedy of treason and ambition. Despite minor flaws, owing mainly to technical possibilities in the film industry of the 70s (such as the VSHFLDO HIIHFWV  3RODQVNL¶V SURGXFWLRQ UHPDLQV HYHQ QRZDGD\V IRUW\ \HDUV DIWHU its release, a reference text in the analysis of the Shakespearean plays transposed into film and a source of inspiration for directors and scriptwriters approaching WLOOLDP6KDNHVSHDUH¶VMacbeth.

,,,*HRIIUH\:ULJKW¶VMacbeth (2006), or: Good Intentions Gone Awry ³/RRNOLNHWK¶LQQRFHQWIORZHU %XWEHWKHVHUSHQWXQGHU¶W´,-67) ,I WKH DQDO\VLV RI 3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth has led to the conclusion that (re)interSUHWLQJ 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V WUDJHG\ ZLWK PRGHUQ WHFKQLFDO PHDQV DQG ZLWKLQ the frame of modern concerns and perspectives has not interfered with the original WH[WLQWKHEODVSKHPRXVPDQQHUWKDWµHQHPLHV¶RIILOPDGDSWDWLRQVFODLPDQGRQ the contrary, has managed to produce a filmic masterpiece to stand by the original Shakespearean text, this section will prove the detractors right by setting off to ϱϵ 

VKRZKRZD ILOP DGDSWDWLRQFDQSUDFWLFDOO\UXLQ DSOD\³6RPHWKLQJZLFNHGWKLV ZD\FRPHV´,9 FKRVHQDVWKH tagline for the cover of the DVD in question, acquires thus unexpected (and undesired) connotations. The 2006 Australian production of Macbeth, also known as La Tragedia GHOO¶$PEL]LRQH, by the acclaimed director Geoffrey Wright, of Romper Stomper fame, may fall in both categories established in the theoretical framework: the critic may opt to treat it either as an interpretation, from a textual perspective, or as a revision, if time and setting are regarded as more relevant in the context of the adaptation process. This particular Macbeth is a hybrid production in which the Shakespearean text is preserved ± with a grain of salt, of course ± while the action is relocated in the present, in the streets of Melbourne, very much in the style of %D]/XKUPDQQ¶VRomeo + Juliet. History repeats itself involuntarily ± 3RODQVNL¶V MacbethRQHRIWKHPDMRUK\SRWH[WVRIWKLVILOPZDVFRPSDUHGZLWK=HIILUHOOL¶V Romeo and Juliet (1968). No one can really tell why the Macbeths are perceived as a more mature hypostasis of the Verona couple, should they have survived; it is, probably, an idea solely based on the scarceness of protagonists as a couple in 6KDNHVSHDUH¶VZRUN1RQHWKHOHVVWKHIDFWLVWKDWILOPVPDGHDIWHUWKHWZRSOD\V allow critics to envisage a connection, one way or another. Considering the textual preservation more relevant, this production of Macbeth has been included in this paper in the category of interpretations. However, the producers regard it as a revision, judging by the blurbs on the back cover of WKH'9'³VH[\KLJK-octane re-WHOOLQJRIWKHFODVVLF6KDNHVSHDUHVWRU\´ 7KHPDMRUIODZLVWKDWWKH\KDYHSUDFWLFDOO\µUHWROG¶QRWKLQJEHLQJFRQWHQWWRMXVW agglomerate elements of sheer consumerism, such as sex, drugs and violence unleashed. The filmic text hardly brings in anything original; the scarceness of critical views upon it speaks for itself. The study of the bibliography did not reveal any comments on this film and, as a result, this part of the paper will not cite authoritative opinions, except for a few short reviews published upon the release, and, occasionally, the very statements of the scriptwriters. Therefore, the analysis is mainly based on the direct impact of the film itself, in keeping with the film ϲϬ 

adaptation and intertextuality theories, as well as with the critical schools selected to support the analysis, that is feminism and psychoanalysis. :ULJKW¶V Macbeth IXQFWLRQV DV D K\SHUWH[W IRU 3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth, the 1990 retelling Men of Respect and the 1957 classical Joe Macbeth almost to the point of plagiarism, at least in terms of violence at work (in as far as the first hypotext is concerned) and in terms of recontextualization of the story as a struggle for power in the mafia clans (for the last two). However, the reason for including it in this analysis of the Scottish Play on film is that it serves a double purpose: on one hand, the film is brought in as a counterexample to successful film adaptation; on the other hand, it actually offers a different view upon gender power, displacing the character of Lady Macbeth from her protagonist position given by Shakespeare and, as shown, reinforced by Polanski. Surprisingly, the script is partially written by a woman, Victoria Hill, also cast as Lady Macbeth, and one might have expected a more feminist or, at least, feminine perspective upon the play, or the character in particular. This is not the case, for the resulting Macbeth cannot be more masculine than that ± a violent, futuristic production, placing emphasis on armed street fights, drug abuse and sex rather than on gender relations reversed, feminine power, equivocation, lack of determination, weakness and wickedness, and all the other elements the play abounds in. Anticipating the negative reviews, the scriptwriters issued a long statement in which they tried to cast light on some decisions they made in the process of displacing the Shakespearean tragedy in the world of organized crime. Their perception of themselves as adapters is, in the spirit of the age, not that of mediators fDFLOLWDWLQJWKHDFFHVVRIWKHSXEOLFDWODUJHWR6KDNHVSHDUH¶V ZRUNRU educators, as it will be the case with a contemporary production, Mickey B (2007), but that of mere entertainers and show-businessmen: ³%HFDXVHWKHPHGLXPLVVRYHU\H[SHQVLYHLW¶Vimportant to get returns on LQYHVWRU¶VPRQH\DQGILQGDVELJDQDXGLHQFHDVSRVVLEOH7KLVPHDQV\RX will market the film to an ever-broadening body of ticket-buyers. The ϲϭ 

broader you go, the less patient, on average, an audience mood becomes. In other words, the filmmaker must try and cater to mass tastes and enter WKHJHQUHZRUOGRIILOP´:ULJKWDQG+LOO2006: 1) 7KH³UHWXUQVRILQYHVWRU¶VPRQH\´PD\FRQVWLWXWHDYDOLGDUJXPHQWLQWKH contemporary culture of consumerism and McDonaldization, where icons like 6KDNHVSHDUH DUH GHFRQVHFUDWHG DQG DSSURSULDWHG WR VHUYH PHUHO\ DV FRQVXPHU¶V goods. There is no point in condemning such practices, which are part and parcel of the postmodern era and should be accepted as such. However, the filmmakers in question should have, perhaps, set some additional goals in order to come out ZLWKDQDWOHDVWEHDUDEOHDGDSWDWLRQRIWKH6FRWWLVK3OD\³,W¶VSUREDEO\EHVWQRWWR ORRN WRR GHHS IRU PHDQLQJ´ DV -RVK 5RVHQEODWW WKH ILOP UHYLHZHU RI The Austin Chronicle,

remarks

on

this

production

(2007:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/2007-08-10/515150/). The observation is quite accurate, for the Australian 0DFEHWK is but a flashy display of weapons, dead bodies lying on the concrete, soft pornography and disco lights, in the manner of Quentin Tarantino, addressing an audience who might just hold some painful memories of studying Shakespeare in high-school. The film opens ± naturally ± with the scene of the three witches deciding their encounter with Macbeth. The lines ³)LUVW:LWFK:KHQVKDOOZHWKUHHPHHWDJDLQ" In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Second Witch: When the hurly-EXUO\¶VGRQH :KHQWKHEDWWOH¶VORVWDQGZRQ Third Witch: That would be ere the set of sun. First Witch: Where the place? Second Witch: Upon the heath. 7KLUG:LWFK7KHUHWRPHHWZLWK0DFEHWK´,-10)

ϲϮ 

are the only ones uttered in no more or less than ten minutes. The next scenes are only silent depictions of shotguns and dead bodies, trying to recreate the fight in ZKLFK 0DFEHWK DQG %DQTXR HDUQ 'XQFDQ¶V JUDWLWXGH 7KH PRGHO DVVXPHG intertextually is, once again, Polanski: ³5RPDQ 3RODQVNL EHJLQV KLV ILOP YHUVLRQ RI µ0DFEHWK¶ ZLWK D FODVK RI mounted armies because he realized that the battle was not to be missed. It would be impossible to mount the battle in any but a symbolic way on VWDJH2QILOPWKRXJKQRWRQO\LVWKHEDWWOHSRVVLEOHLW¶VHVVHQWLDOWROHQG the movie a kinetic excitement that is described, but not seen, in the stage SURGXFWLRQ´:ULJKWDQG+LOO

Kinetic excitement is, indeed, desirable in a film; nevertheless, what the producers of this Macbeth have achieved is far from rising up to the expectations. The silent scenes take too long and, instead of creating a sense of movement, manage to bore and to break the alert rhythm well-established by the opening scene. 7KH µZLWFKHV¶ DUH \RXQJ VFKRROJLUOV GHYDVWDWLQJ WKH PRQXPHQWV LQ D cemetery (B2). Their look is highly attractive for any (male) viewer, so the commercial purpose is attained from the very first minutes. More importantly, they will eventually prove attractive to Macbeth himself, and this displaces the importance of Lady Macbeth in influencing the course of events, strengthening WKHLUUROH³A criminal Macbeth in our time is far more likely to be led astray by VH[\ \RXQJ ZLWFKHV WKDQ ROG KDJV´ :ULJKW DQG +LOO    7KLV LV WKH VFULSWZULWHUV¶MXVWLILFDWLRQ/LNHOLKRRGLVZKDWWKH\DUHORRNLQJIRUDSSDUHQWO\EXW tKLVLVKDUGO\DQHFHVVDU\DLPZKHQGHDOLQJZLWK6KDNHVSHDUH¶VSOD\V They failed to explain, however, why they considered the witches more LQIOXHQWLDO WKDQ WKH ZLIH LQ 0DFEHWK¶V GRZQIDOO /DG\ 0DFEHWK LQ WKLV ILOP perfectly sustains the argument of any anti-patriarchal feminist critic to regard Macbeth as a misogynist production. Nothing from the force of the original FKDUDFWHULVWREHIRXQGLQ9LFWRULD+LOO¶VSHUIRUPDQFH,I)UDQFHVFD$QQLVIDLOHG ϲϯ 

to be convincing as an actress, while her part, as shown, empowered Lady Macbeth from the original text, Victoria Hill delivered a Lady Macbeth lacking all the attributes that would entitle a critic to regard her as an embodiment of feminine power. She is depicted as weak and subjected to insanity from the beginning of the film, being presented in an interpolation that seems to support the )UHXGLDQ WKHRU\ DFFRUGLQJ WR ZKLFK /DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V IDOO LV D UHVXOW RI KHU childlessness. Thwarted by the absence of any child in the context of the famous OLQHV³,KDYHJLYHQVuck DQGNQRZ+RZWHQGHUµWLVWRORYHWKHEDEHWKDWPLONV PH´,- WKHVFULSWZULWHUV UXVKWR µIDEULFDWH¶DGHDGVRQ E\ ZKRVHJUDYH WKH0DFEHWKVPRXUQDWWKHEHJLQQLQJRIWKHILOP7KXVORVLQJWKHLUµEHORYHGVRQ¶ as the inscription on the marblHPRQXPHQW UHDGV WKH0DFEHWKV DUHµOLNHO\¶ ± to paraphrase Wright and Hill ± to become ruthless parricides (when murdering 'XQFDQ  DQG DOVR FKLOG PXUGHUHUV LQ WKH FDVH RI 0DFGXII¶V VRQ  5DWKHU WKDQ supporting this far-fetched psychoanalytical interpretation, refuted by Freud himself, as shown in the theoretical framework of this paper, the grave of the dead VRQ LV EXW D VXSSRUWLQJ DUJXPHQW IRU /DG\ 0DFEHWK¶V GHUDQJHG PLQG DQG GUXJ addiction, which, in turn, explain, though simplistically, her sleepwalking and VXLFLGH%% 2QWKHRWKHUKDQGVLQFH/DG\0DFEHWK¶VSDUWLVSUHWW\PXFK in keeping with the original text, the idea of showing her as a victim in the opening scenes muddles things up: the pale shadow of a Lady that Victoria Hill impersonates just cannot wake up from a cocaine-induced faint and start advocating a murder in cold blood (B4). So there is a missing link in the construction of the character. Lady Macbeth cannot be construed either as weak or as wicked, but as an unfortunate combination of the two. Following the trend set by Polanski in the beginning of the 70s, both protagonists have beautiful figures (B1). The exception is that now Lady 0DFEHWK¶VEHDXW\GRHVQRWKHOSKHUWULJJHUWKHPXUGHURXVUHVRUWVLQKHUKXVEDQG through sexual seduction. The idea is not completely abandoned, on the contrary, but the feminine power achieved through sexuality is transferred to the three witches. Macbeth, alone, hears their predictions ± ³DOOKDLO0DFEHWK+DLOWRWKHH Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail MaFEHWKWKDWVKDOWEH.LQJKHUHDIWHU´,-50) ± ϲϰ 

in Cawdor Club, where he keeps the traitor Macdonwald prisoner. The setting is full of coloured smoke and lighted with stroboscopes (B3), while the score is trance music ± all these concur to create a genuine sensation of a trance, most likely drug-induced. This is, otherwise, one of the very few scenes that actually carry significance in this violence-ridden production. The magic surrounding the wyrd sisters is enhanced by an element of great commercial impact during the first decade of the twenty-first century, i.e., vampirism, in the context of the huge VXFFHVV RI WKH DGDSWDWLRQV RI $QQH 5LFH¶V QRYHOV DQG HVSHFLDOO\ RI 6WHSKDQLH 0H\HUV¶ Twilight Saga. The wyrd sisters are grinning like vampires while they embrace and kiss Macbeth. The scene is, nonetheless, only the prelude to the VHFRQG VFHQH RI ZLWFKHV¶ SURSKHFLHV WKH IDPRXV $FW ,9 VFHQH  1HLWKHU LV vampirism an exclusive appanage of this scene. At the end of the film, Lady Macbeth is shown dead in a tub full of blood (B13), a visual intertext with the OHJHQG RI &RXQWHVV (OL]DEHWK %iWKRU\ 7KH VFULSWZULWHUV PDNH JUHDW XVH RI proleptic images ± the representation of Act I, scene 3 anticipates the sexual encounter of Macbeth and the witches in the rendition of Act IV, scene 1, while Lady Macbeth is shown, before her vile lines set out, unconscious in a tub. The foursome engaging Macbeth and the three witches in the scene corresponding to the one at the beginning of Act IV in the original text can be described, in terms of camera techniques, as one of the best scenes in the entire film, which, is, otherwise, very image-oriented. Maybe it is the time to notice that the entire production was shot in HD, which gives the image excellent accuracy. From the technical perspective, not much can be reproached to this Macbeth, unfortunately, what the present paper has set out to look for is the game of ideas, the way in which scriptwriters and directors have handled the Shakespearean text, a point in which WrighW¶VILOPLVLQFRQGLWH6H[LQDILOPDOZD\VVHOOVWKHUHIRUH IDLWKIXO WR WKH SULQFLSOH HQRXQFHG LH ³WKH UHWXUQ RI WKH LQYHVWRUV¶ PRQH\´ Wright and Hill flavour Macbeth with this seasoning too: the prophecies are delivered by the three witches while engaged sexually with Macbeth (B7-B10). Perhaps it would not be necessary to look further for meaning, as Rosenblatt puts it

(2007:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/2007-08-10/515150/); ϲϱ



undeniably, commercialism is everything that mattered in the rendition of this scene. From an anti-patriarchal feminist standpoint, it can be argued that the young girls are used as enchantresses for the masculine eye only, which would enhance the assessment of this Macbeth as a male-oriented production. The witches are objectified, sexually-ZLVHWKH\DUHWKHµEDGJLUOV¶7\VRQPHQWLRQVQRW DELGLQJE\WKHQRUPVRISDWULDUFK\ZKLOH/DG\0DFEHWKLVSDVVLYLVHGLQ&L[RXV¶ WHUPV DQG VLOHQFHG LQ .ULVWHYD¶V 7KH VH[\ XQGHU-age schoolgirls are said to have the same fXQFWLRQ DV WKH 6KDNHVSHDUHDQ Z\UG VLVWHUV ³Nevertheless, our ZLWFKHV SHUIRUP H[DFWO\ WKH VDPH IDWDOLVWLF IXQFWLRQ DV WKH RQHV LQ WKH SOD\´ ± Wright and Hill, 2006: 2). This is one of the very few points in which the scriptwriters choose to rely less on PRODQVNL¶VMacbeth and more on the text and on their own vision upon it. Their claim ± ³0DFEHWKLQRXUWLPHLVIDUPRUHOLNHO\ WREHOHGDVWUD\E\VH[\\RXQJZLWFKHVWKDQROGKDJV´:ULJKWDQG+LOO ± clearly indicates a sexist representation of thHIHPDOHFKDUDFWHUVLQ:ULJKW¶VILOP theirs being one of the stereotypical roles imposed on women by the contemporary society, that of an object meant to please the male. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, fills in another position of the woman in the contemporary world still ridden by patriarchal views and ideas: beautiful and useless, she is but DZLIHZKRDWWLPHVPD\VSHDNXSEXWZKRLVPDLQO\DGpFRULQKHUKXVEDQG¶V house. The blonde girl coming with Malcolm, replacing Donalbain, who has been writteQ RXW RI WKH VFULSW KDV D VLPLODU IXQFWLRQ 6KH XWWHUV VRPH RI 'RQDOEDLQ¶V OLQHV IURP WKH SOD\ RWKHUZLVH VKH KDV QR RWKHU UROH WKDQ WR ³VWD\ WKHUH ORRNLQJ QLFH´ 3HUKDSV WKH SURGXFHUV XQGHUVWRRG WKDW D ILOP DGGUHVVLQJ D SUHGRPLQDQWO\ male audience ought not to have a cast preponderantly masculine. Since the text limited their possibilities of displaying dozens of sexy women, they adapted it and brought what they needed on screen. For a fair judgment, the approach is neither irreverent, nor does it affect the original course of the play in any way; QRQHWKHOHVVLWURXQGVWKHDQDO\VLVRIZRPHQ¶VSDUWVLQ:ULJKW¶VMacbeth in terms RIFRPPHUFLDOLVPUDWKHUWKDQµJHQGHUWURXEOH¶

ϲϲ 

There is a second interpretation at hand, that of sexual enslavement of the male and feminine power acquired through sexuality, partially justifiable by the construction of Macbeth as a yielding character, in this film as much as in all other films analysed in this paper. This interpretation would strengthen the hypertextual relation wiWK 3RODQVNL¶V Macbeth; however, it would be completely far-fetched to even take this interpretation into consideration, in the general FRQWH[WRI:ULJKW¶VILOP6RLWPD\EHLQIHUUHGDQGHPSKDVLVHGWKDWWKLVILOPKDV a purposely male-oriented audience on account of the objectification and silencing of the feminine characters. +DG QRW WKH VFULSWZULWHUV RSHQO\ DFNQRZOHGJHG 3RODQVNL¶V LQIOXHQFH LW would have been easily noticeable anyway in the very scenes that brought the 1971 production the fame of the goriest filmic adaptation of the Scottish Play. But if 3RODQVNL KDG DQ H[FXVH LQ DWWDFKLQJ D FDWKDUWLF IXQFWLRQ WR YLROHQFH :ULJKW¶V production uses it, once again, for commercial purposes only. The Renaissance spectators were fond of violence and bloodshed; hence the success of the blood and WKXQGHUSOD\VOLNH.\G¶VSpanish Tragedy RU6KDNHVSHDUH¶VTitus Andronicus and, to some extent only, Macbeth itself. Nevertheless, when compared to the amount of violence in the contemporary visual arts ± irrespective of the medium, but especially in film ± the sixteenth-century theatregoers seem innocent. The film-goer of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries must see the actual murder, with an eye trained with the help of television news. Realism in showing murder is therefore UHTXLUHG:ULJKW¶VDQG+LOO¶VYLVLRQRI'XQFDQ¶VDVVDVVLQDWLRQIROORZVWKLVGLUHFWLRQ strictly. The scene is copied from Polanski and pasted into their film to the point of identification. The novelty they bring in is only attained with the help of technical improvements in the filmic techniques since the 70s: the scene in the 2006 production looks like a snuff film (B5, B6). While the commercial purpose is understandable, the remaining question is: what is left of the art of film? Neil Smith from Total Film FRPPHQWVLQWKLVUHVSHFW³,W¶VMXVWDORDGRIVRXQGDQGIXU\IDWDOO\ FRPSURPLVHGE\JUDSKLFYLROHQFHWKDWPDNHV5RPDQ3RODQVNL¶VYHUVLRQVHHP WDPH E\ FRPSDULVRQ´  http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/macbeth1). It is but one of the negative commentaries the production has gathered along the ϲϳ 

years from reviewers, which, alongside the poor ranking of the film on Internet Movie Database (4.7/10 on 22nd of April,   GHPRQVWUDWH WKDW WKH SURGXFHUV¶ DSSURDFKWR6KDNHVSHDUH¶VSOD\KDVIDLOHGGHVSLWHWKHSXEOLF¶VDVVXPHGDSSHWLWHIRU violence. It is, after all, a perilous bet to bring to the public a film like Geoffrey :ULJKW¶V Macbeth, which can only provide very well rendered scenes of violence and sexuality, and almost nothing in the area of meaning construction or of reLQWHUSUHWLQJWKH%DUG¶VYHUVH 7KH VFHQH RI WKH DVVDVVLQDWLRQ RI 0DFGXII¶V IDPLO\ LV HYHQ PRUH WURXEOHVRPH WKDQ WKDW RI 'XQFDQ¶V PXUGHU $ZDUH, most likely, of the critique addressed to Polanski for showing the murder of children, the producers of the Australian Macbeth chose to avoid it: the child is shot, but the spectators do not see the body. However, they compensated with an extremely sadistic execution of Lady Macduff, in close-up. The scriptwriters borrowed from the classical Mafia films, such as The Godfather, having the henchman strangle Lady Macduff with some wire. As if the murder were not violent enough, the sight is brutalised with the image of the murderer having an orgasm while his victim dies in pain. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this scene ± IRUZKLFKYLHZHUV¶GLVFUHWLRQ should have been advised ± is that the producers of Macbeth intended to shock at any costs and that they succeeded fully in this respect. Whether shocking the audience serves any commercial purpose, that is a totally different story; then again, judging by its ranking and sales, the film proved, in the end, a disappointment, for the public and with reJDUG WR µWKH UHWXUQ RI WKH LQYHVWRUV¶ PRQH\¶$FFRUGLQJWR,0'%%R[-office page, the sales in the weekend of the US release, June 17-24, 2007, amounted to only $644. For a better understanding of WKHILQDQFLDOGLVDVWHUWKHILJXUHVIRU%D]/XKUPDQQ¶V Romeo + Juliet, to which :ULJKW¶VSURGXFWLRQKDVEHHQFRPSDUHGZHUHRI7KHµLQJUHGLHQWV¶ were the same: modern re-telling and recontextualization, actors in vogue playing the leading parts, preserving the Shakespearean text (although it is more disturbing in Macbeth, because of the Australian accent). The notoriety of the play Romeo and Juliet in the contemporary age when compared with Macbeth¶VGRHV

ϲϴ 

not justify this immense difference, therefore, irrespective of the marketing tools, the quality of each film might have spoken for itself. 7KHLQWHUWH[WXDOFRQQHFWLRQZLWK%D]/XKUPDQQ¶VRomeo + Juliet is made obvious at a few points, one being representative for the culture of simulacrum of the postmodern turn-of-the-millennium, i.e., the circulation of information through media channels. Romeo + Juliet opens with a TV report about the tragedy of the two families. Lady Macbeth learns from the news about the assassination of Lady Macduff and her son, while Macduff receives the news via the same source. The most relevant meeting point of the two films is, nonetheless, the altered finale of Macbeth. After the suicide of Lady Macbeth, shown naked in a tub full of blood ± vampiric imagery, as stated before ± Macbeth is chased by Malcolm, Macduff and FleancHDQLQWHUSRODWLRQLQWHQGLQJWRVWUHVV0DFEHWK¶VGHIHDWLQWKH FRQWH[W RI ³QR VRQ RI PLQH VXFFHHGLQJ ,I¶W EH VR )RU %DQTXR¶V LVVXH KDYH , ILOOHGP\PLQG)RUWKHPWKHJUDFLRXV'XQFDQKDYH,PXUGHUHG´± III.1.64-66) in the chambers where the dead Lady lies. Macbeth dies lain near his wife, after NLVVLQJ KHU SDVVLRQDWHO\ D YHU\ µ5RPHR-and-Juliet-HVTXH¶ LPDJH LQWHQGHG probably, to encourage sympathy for the protagonists. As if the scriptwriters finally remembered that a Shakespearean tragedy is poetr\EHVLGHVYLROHQFHDQGEORRGVKHGIUDJPHQWVIURPWKHIDPRXV³/LIH¶VEXWD ZDONLQJ VKDGRZ´ soliloquy are displaced and used in voice-over for the ending VFHQHV ³$QG WKHQ LV KHDUG QR PRUH´ SXWV DQ HQG WR D ILOP WKDW FRXOG KDYH offered an alternative, contemporary tragedy of ambition (the subtitle Tragedia 'HOO¶ $PEL]LRQH clearly indicated this intention), but failed miserably to put to good use the intertexts available, starting with the Shakespearean tragedy itself, 3RODQVNL¶V LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ WKH 0DILD films and ending with Romeo + Juliet. Despite the quality of the image, the daring angles and camera techniques, the above-DYHUDJH SHUIRUPDQFH RI WKH OHDGLQJ DFWRUV *HRIIUH\ :ULJKW¶V Macbeth remains just another irrelevant recontextualization of the Shakespearean tragedy, finding no way to ever inscribe itself in the gallery of classical adaptations of the Scottish Play. Gratuitous sexuality and exacerbate violence concur with the absence of any relevant and meaningful transformation and adaptation to the ϲϵ 

twenty-first century realities to make out of Macbeth (2006) a completely disposable and forgettable experience. This chapter has aimed at showing how faithfulness to the original hypotext may result either in enhancement and improvement, with the help of certain audio-visual elements, but mostly with an intelligent reinterpretation of the WH[W 5RPDQ 3RODQVNL¶V The Tragedy of Macbeth), RU LQ D WHUULEOH ³GLVVHUYLFH WR OLWHUDWXUH´Stam, 2005: 2) *HRIIUH\:ULJKW¶VSURGXFWLRQRIMacbeth). Knowing how to recite Shakespeare in a film may be important; however, interpretations of the Renaissance tragedies require skill in handling many other textual components WRR LQ RUGHU WR EH FRQVLGHUHG VXFFHVVIXO ,I 3RODQVNL¶V LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ PDNHV DQ important and original stand in the canon of Shakespeare film adaptations, :ULJKW¶VGRHVQRWDQGLWVIDLOXUHKDVQRWKLQJWRGRZLWKLWVUHORFDWLQJWKHVWRU\LQ a twenty-first century setting. The success of Romeo + Juliet (1996) or of $OPHUH\GD¶VHamlet (2000) proves it otherwise.  

ϳϬ 

CHAPTER IV Revisions: A Tragedy in the Present Tense

The closing chapter of this paper deals with filmic productions that have little to do with the Shakespearean text of Macbeth and that take it, more or less, only as a starting point in bringing contemporary issues at the table. The films analysed in this part of the paper ± Scotland PA (2001) and Mickey B (2007) ± are independent productions, low-budgeted and less (or not at all) interested in the µVKRUWFRPLQJ¶RIWKHSRVWPRGHUQVRFLHty that is consumerism (although, looking superficially at Scotland PA D µ0DFEHWK DW 0DF'RQDOG¶V¶ RQH FRXOG GUDZ precisely this conclusion). Such dichotomies as good/bad and success/failure do no longer apply to these filmic texts, as it was the case with the two interpretations previously referred to. Both revisions stand as original adaptations which bring forth the well-known issues of Macbeth ± ambition, equivocation, gender power, good and evil, punishment of the wrong-doer in unexpected manners ± while relying on Shakespeare only in order to produce a coherent storyline. Re-contextualising the conflict at the heart of the Shakespearean play, both productions choose not to preserve the Elizabethan language, but to adapt the script to the production time and setting. ,QSRLQWRILQWHUWH[WXDOLW\WKHILOPVDUHOHVVLQGHEWHGWR5RPDQ3RODQVNL¶V The Tragedy of Macbeth; nonetheless, some connections can be grasped at a closer look. Otherwise, the two productions have been selected by virtue of their high originality in adapting the Shakespearean tragedy, facilitating its understanding by less cultured and disfavoured strata, in the case of Mickey B, and proposing an architextual intersemiotic transformation, from tragedy to comedy, in the case of Scotland PA.

ϳϭ 

IV.1. Turning Macbeth into a Laughing Matter: Scotland, PA (2001) Macbeth ZDV XQPLVWDNDEO\ FDWHJRULVHG DV D WUDJHG\ VKDULQJ WKH DWWULEXWH µWKH JUHDWHVW¶ZLWK Hamlet, King Lear and Othello. There is no reason to smile while reading or watching Macbeth on stage. As a rule, film adaptations of the play respected the frame and did not cross genre boundaries, consequently ranging IURPGUDPDDQGWKULOOHUWRDFWLRQILOPVDVLWZDVWKHFDVHZLWK*HRIIUH\:ULJKW¶V Macbeth analysed in the previous chapter). However, the theme of boundless ambition and the gender issues raised by the text proved applicable when approaching the Shakespearean tragedy in a humorous manner. The architextual transformation of Macbeth from a bloody tragedy into a comedy ought to be considered one of the most challenging types of adaptations ever recorded in the history of cinema. Courtney Lehmann identifies three such revisions: ³,Q -2, three parodies of Macbeth emerged to mark the turn of the new millennium: the Glenn Ridge High Star Wars: Macbeth (2001), Scotland, PA (2002) and Macbeth, the Comedy (dir. Alison LiCalsi,  ´ Though the show of Lady Macbeth naked or of Macbeth engaging sexually (in explicit scenes) with the witches and the dislocation of the story in a space of violence and homosexuality were bitterly criticised in prior productions, WKH 6KDNHVSHDUH SXULVWV¶ UDJLQJ IXU\ KDV QHYHU EHHQ PRUH LQIODPHG WKDQ LQ WKH FDVHRI%LOO\0RUULVVHWWH¶VScotland, PA. The film received mixed reviews: a few critics applauded the demarche, but most of them were unable to grasp its essence. The latter category considered Scotland, PA ³D WUDLOHU-trash version of Macbeth WKDWVKRXOGEHDYRLGHGOLNHDQ(OL]DEHWKDQSR[´5H[5HHG New York Observer on Rotten Tomatoes ³IODWDQGXQLQVSLUHG´.HYLQ7KRPDVLos Angeles Times on Rotten Tomatoes); ³D MRNH WKDW ZHDUV WKLQ SUHWW\ TXLFNO\´ &KDUOHV 7D\ORU

ϳϮ 

Salon.com  RU ³D FRPHG\ IRU SHRSOH ZKR FRXOGQ W PDNH LW WKURXJK WKH &OLII¶V Notes´3HWHU5DLQHUNew York Movies Magazine). The aim of this section is, therefore, to prove the above statements wrong E\ GHPRQVWUDWLQJ KRZ ZLWWLO\ :LOOLDP 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V Macbeth has been approached and re-contextualized in order to attain two main goals: on the one hand, to remind the world of the universality, both in time and space, of the Shakespearean work, and, on the other hand, to solve a very difficult exercise of transtextuality, that of transforming a tragedy into comedy. Although the treatment of humour could have been more complex, departing at least RFFDVLRQDOO\IURPEODFNKXPRXUWKXVDYRLGLQJIDOOLQJIODWDWWLPHVWKHSURGXFHUV¶ merit is unquestionable. Scotland, PA is an independent production, the exclusive merit of the American actor Billy Morrissette, who underwent massive change into a director and a scriptwriter for this debut. As he confesses on the DVD extras, the idea of WKHILOPµKDXQWHG¶KLPVLQFHKLJKVFKRROZKLOHZRUNLQJIRUD0F'RQDOG¶VIDVWIRRG UHVWDXUDQW KH UHDOLVHG WKDW DOPRVW DOO WKH FKDUDFWHUV¶ QDPHV LQ Macbeth FRQWDLQHG µ0DF¶ WKH *DHOLF ZRUG IRU µVRQ¶ $OWKRXJK KH VKDUHV FUHGLW IRU scriptwriting with William Shakespeare himself, not much of the original play is preserved in Scotland, PA, save a storyline following the original play pretty closely and a very limited amount of quotations, rendered in unexpected manners, DV LWLV WKHFDVHRIWKH µ7RPRUURZ¶VROLORTX\ UHFRUGHGRQ DPRWLYDWLRQDODXGLRtape. As Polanski once did, Morrissette embeds his personal experience in a personal Macbeth: the film is a nostalgic recollection of his adolescence spent in WKHVLQIXOOEORRPRIWKHKLSSLHHUDEHWZHHQWKHVWXG\RI6KDNHVSHDUH¶VSOD\V and work in a fast-food restaurant. The autobiographical elements are more than obvious, since the film relocates the story of the Scottish Play precisely in 1975, in a small town called Scotland, in the semi-rural state of Pennsylvania, where the 0F%HWKVDFRXSOHLQWKHLUWKLUWLHVGUHDPRIDFTXLULQJµSRZHU¶E\EHFRPLQJWKH owners of a fast-food restaurant. ³:KDW LI WKH 0F%HWKV ZHUH DOLYH LQ µ"´ LV WKH WDJOLQH DGYHUWLVLQJ WKH ILOPZKLFKFRXOGEHDQVZHUHGLQ6FRWWLVKVW\OHZLWKDQRWKHUTXHVWLRQ³:KDWLI" ϳϯ 

6DPHGLIIHUHQFH´7KHQDPHLVVOLJKWO\FKDQJHG± see the Mc instead of Mac of the Shakespearean play and the capitalized B ± but what is more important is that Lady Macbeth is, for the first time, given a name. Macbeth is, once again, Joe, an obvious intertextual link with the film Joe Macbeth (1957), and an allusion to his VWDWXVDVµHYHU\PDQ¶+HLVKRZHYHURIWHQFDOOHGMXst Mac. Lady Macbeth is Pat McBeth and, from the very initial letter, it is obvious that the audience will face, DJDLQ D UHYHUVDO RI WKH µQDWXUDO¶ SDWULDUFKDO RUGHU +LV LQLWLDO LV 0 IRU 0DWHU  KHUV LV 3 3DWHU  $V PXFK DV /DG\ 0DFEHWK IURP 3RODQVNL¶V film and Ladyboy from Mickey B3DW0F%HWKLVWKH³ZRPDQLQVFULELQJKHUPDVFXOLQLW\´&L[RXVLQ Lodge, 1988: 289), the force propelling a husband lacking ambition and determination. The departures from the play are more numerous and more obvious than in any of the other three films discussed in this paper, therefore, it might be useful, at this point, to sketch an outline of Scotland, PA. The film opens with the three witches, represented as a group of homeless hippies, two men and a woman (C1), a fortune-teller, in a carousel at an amusement park, then cross-cuts to introduce WR WKH DXGLHQFH WKH 0F%HWKV 'XQFDQ¶V HPSOR\HHV LQ D IDVW-food restaurant. Besides the initially not very transparent connection Macbeth ± 0F'RQDOG¶V D subtle hint at the fast-food culture provides the background of the owner, Norm 'XQFDQZKRKDGSUHYLRXVO\UXQDGRXJKQXWVKRSQDPHG'XQFDQ¶V'RQXWV7KH link that one can establish on the basis of similarity in sound with the name of another food industry giant in the United States, 'XQNLQ¶'RQXWVLVREYLRXVDQG this is but one of the allusions at the American stereotypical representations of success. The witches preserve nothing of the aura of malevolence they are endowed with in the original play and in its classical film adaptations. They make prophecies of bad luck, but come with a business idea, namely the famous driveWKUXLQWHUFRPV\VWHPWKDWKDVPDGH0F'RQDOG¶VIDPRXVVLQFHWKHV1DLYH± as 0RUULVVHWWH¶VSURWDJRQLVWDGGVODFNRILQWHOOLJHQFHWRWKHUHVWRIKLVVKRUWFRPLQJV ± Mac shares the idea with his owner, receiving only an insignificant promotion in return, as Duncan intends ± like the gracious Scot King ± to pass the business to his elder son, Malcolm, a young and restless rocker who only cares about his ϳϰ 

guitar and his band (C4). The negotiations between Mac and Pat go on abiding by the course of events Shakespeare imagined and end up in their frying Duncan alive in boiling oil. However, unlike the original text, the script of Scotland, PA VXJJHVWV WKDW WKH 'XQFDQ¶V GHath was accidental, the purpose of the two underachievers, as Pat describes her family, being robbery, not murder (C8). $ QHZ FKDUDFWHU LV LQWURGXFHG DW 'XQFDQ¶V IXQHUDOV /LHXWHQDQW (UQLH McDuff, replacing the vengeful Macduff of the original play. If James LeGros playing Mac and Maura Tierney cast as Pat McBeth (C7) are both convincing in their parts, McDuff, interpreted by the famous Christopher Walken, steals the ZKROH ILOP /W 0F'XII FRPHV WR 6FRWODQG 3$ WR LQYHVWLJDWH 'XQFDQ¶V assassination. The maiQVXVSHFWLV'XQFDQ¶VVRQ0DOFROPZKRKDGDILJKWZLWK his father on the night of the murder. While Malcolm is more than happy to give the business to the McBeths, who soon make it highly successful, owing to the ZLWFKHV¶ LGHD WKH YHJDQ OLHXWHQDQW VWDUWs suspecting the couple. The film moves along the coordinates of a classic policier, adopting the whole recipe of the genre: the investigation work of an ageing inspector, the auditions of the witnesses DPRQJZKLFK$QWKRQ\µ%DQNR¶%DQFRQL¶V& ZLOOSURYe the key to solving the case), the chasing of the transgressor on the roofs and, finally, his fall. In the meantime, the McBeths follow in the footsteps of their Shakespearean counterparts, with Pat going mad (the hand-washing is replaced with an obsessive attempt to hide a small burnt on her hand, which she gained when a drop of boiling oil reached her) and Mac hunting in the woods with Banko RQO\ WR PDNH WKH ODWWHU KLV JDPH 7KH DVVDVVLQDWLRQ RI 0F'XII¶V IDPLO\ LV GURSSHG DOWKRXJK LW GRHV FURVV 0DF¶V Pind, when one of the three KLSSLHVZLWFKHVQRWLFHV³2KWKDWZRXOG¶YHZRUNHGDERXWDWKRXVDQG\HDUVDJR 7KHVH DUH PRGHUQ WLPHV \RX FDQ¶W JR URXQG NLOOLQJ HYHU\ERG\´ 0F%HWK GLHV falling off the roof of the fast-food restaurant, Pat dies as a result of the blood loss, after she has cut the spotted hand with a cleaver, and Lt. McDuff starts a new EXVLQHVVLQWKHIRUPHU0F%HWK¶VUHVWDXUDQW& VHOOLQJYHJDQIDVW-food (C11). Although kitsch is the dominant feature of the entire Scotland, PA set, aspect which did not pass unnoticed by the reviewers, it must be stated that every ϳϱ 

element apparently displaced, too flashy or too coloured, plays its role in the construction of parody. Apart from being in itself an extremely interesting way of paying homage to the parodied original ± be it a literary work, author, film, etc. ± ³SDURG\LVRQHRIWKHPDMRUIRUPVRIPRGHUQVHOI-reflexivity, it is a form of interDUW GLVFRXUVH´ +XWFKHRQ    $ UHSXWHG WKHRULVW RI SRVWPRGHUQLVP /LQGD Hutcheon demonstrates that parody is not a parasitic and derivative, distasteful JHQUHEXW DIRUP RILPLWDWLRQ FKDUDFWHULVHGE\LURQLFLQYHUVLRQ D³VRSKLVWLFDWHG genre in the demands it makes on its practitioners and its interpreters [...] who must effect a structural superimposition of texts that incorporates the old into the QHZ³ 0DUJDUHW5RVHTXRWHGDQGFRPPHQWHGXSRQE\+XWFKHRQJRHV as far as equating parody with metafiction. Arguing with this too restrictive definition, Hutcheon agrees, nevertheless, that parody is an important device of self-reflexivity. In terms of metafictionality, Scotland, PA excels, not in the sense of the overt metafilmic representation of a making-of, but in a more covert and subtler way, permanently commenting upon its sources. The TXRWDWLRQ DERYH ³WKDW ZRXOG¶YH ZRUNHG DERXW D WKRXVDQG \HDUV DJR´ LV UHOHYDQW LQ WKLV UHVSHFW providing an explanation for writing out one of the key scenes in Macbeth, Act ,9VFHQHUHSUHVHQWLQJWKHPDVVDFUHRI0DFGXII¶VIDPLO\,WLVXVXDOO\WKHNLQd of explanation one would expect to find in the extra sections of the DVDs, in the GLUHFWRU¶V FRPPHQWDULHV DQG QRW GLUHFWO\ LQ WKH OLQHV GHOLYHUHG E\ WKH DFWRUV Similarly, Pat McBeth pays tribute to the character that inspired her own role: ³6RPHWLPHV \RX DQLPDOV IRUJHW WKHUH V D IXFNLQJ /$'@$WDOHWROGE\DQLGLRWIXOO of sound and fury, signifying notKLQJ´ 9-28) ± or adapted to the contemporary slang. Numerous examples could be given in this respect, but the most eloquent are the dialogues between Macbeth (Mickey B in this production) DQGKLV³ZRPDQ´/DG\ER\³,QILUPRISXUSRVH´,, LVWKus transposed into a JUDSKLF ³+DYH \RX ORVW \RXU EDOOV"´ ZKHUHDV KLV ZLVK IRU KHU WR ³%ULQJ IRUWK men-children only!/ For thy undaunted mettle should compose/ Nothing but PDOHV´ ,-  LV UHGXFHG WR DQ DSSUHFLDWLYH ³6KDNHVSHDUH@ ZDV QRW RI DQ DJH EXW IRU DOO WLPH´ 7KH SOD\ VHOHFWHG DV hypertext, Macbeth, displays a significant range of themes that have proven perfectly applicable in various environments in modern times. 

ϵϱ 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Works Cited 1.1. Primary Sources 1.1.1. Literary Texts x

Shakespeare, William (1997) Macbeth in A. R. Braunmuller, (ed.), The New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

x

Shakespeare, William (1963) Macbeth, edited by Sylvan Barnet, The Signet Classic Shakespeare, New York: New American Library.

x

Holinshed, Raphael (1808) Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume

V:

Scotland,

London:

J.

Johnson

et

al.,

available

at

www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/Holinshed/Holin269.html (accessed on November 24, 2010).

1.1.2. Filmic texts x

Magill, Tom (dir.), Mickey B (2007), a The Educational Shakespeare Company production, Northern Ireland.

x x

Morrissette, Billy (dir.), Scotland, PA (2001), a Lot 47 Films production, USA Polanski, Roman (dir.), The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971), a Columbia Pictures/Playboy production, USA/UK.

x

Wright, Geoffrey (dir.), Macbeth (2006), a Mushroom Pictures production, Australia.

1.2. Secondary Sources 1.2.1. Literary Theory and Criticism x

Barry, Peter (1995) Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.

ϵϲ 

x

Bloom, Harold (1998) Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, New York: Riverhead.

x

Butler, Judith (1999) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York: Routledge.

x

Chevalier, Jean and Alan Gheerbrant (1993) 'LFĠLRQDUGHVLPEROXUL, vol. II-III %XFXUHúWL(GLWXUD$UWHPLV

x

&L[RXV +pOqQH   ³6RUWLHV´ LQ 'DYLG /RGJH HG    Modern Criticism and Theory. A Reader, New York: Longman, pp. 286-293.

x

Culler, Jonathan (1997) The Literary in Theory, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

x

Eagleton, Terry (2008) Literary Theory: An Introduction, University of Minnesota Press.

x

Freud, Sigmund (1995) 3VLKRORJLD FROHFWLYă úL DQDOL]D HXOXL %XFXUHúWL (G Media Rex.

x

Freud, Sigmund (1999) 2SHUH  (VHXUL GH SVLKDQDOL]ă DSOLFDWă %XFXUHúWL Editura Trei.

x

Green, Keith and Jill LeBihan (1996) Critical Theory and Practice. A Coursebook, London and New York: Routledge.

x

Jung, Carl Gustav (1968) Man and His Symbols, USA: Dell Publishing.

x

Kristeva, Julia (2005) Noile maladii ale sufletului, Bucharest: Editura Trei.

x

Millett,

Kate

(1970)

Sexual

Politics,

quotes

available

at

www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/millett.html (accessed on December 29, 2010) x

Mitchell, Juliet   ³)HPLQLQLW\ QDUUDWLYH DQG SV\FKRDQDO\VLV´ LQ 'DYLG Lodge (ed.), (1988) Modern Criticism and Theory. A Reader, New York: Longman, pp. 425-430.

x

Mitchell, Juliet (1974) Psychoanalysis and Feminism, London: Penguin Books.

x

Mohor-Ivan, Ioana (2002) From Theory to Text. Criticism, Critics and Readings of Late Renaissance to Romantic English Literature, %UăLOD(GLWXUD Evrika.

ϵϳ 

x

0RL7RULO ³)HPLQLVW/LWHUDU\&ULWLFLVP´LQ$QQ-HIIHUVRQDQG'DYLG Robey (eds.), Modern Literary Theory: A Comparative Introduction, Barnes & Nobles, pp. 204-221.

x

0XUILQ 5RVV & ³3V\FKRDQDO\WLFDO &ULWLFLVP DQG Jane Eyre´ LQ Psychoanalytical

Criticism,

pp.

503-513,

available

at

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rlbeebe/what_is_psychoanalytic_criticism.pdf (accessed on November 24, 2010) x

6WHYHQVRQ 'DYLG %    ³)UHXG¶V 3V\FKRVH[XDO 6WDJHV RI 'HYHORSPHQW´

The

Victorian

Web,

available

at

www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/develop.html (accessed on November 24, 2010) x

7KRUQKDP6XH ³6HFRQG:DYH)HPLQLVP´LQ6DUDK*DPEOHHG The Routledge Companion to Feminism and Postfeminism, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 25-36.

x

Tyson, Lois (1999) Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, USA: Garland Publishing House.

x

:ULJKW (OL]DEHWK   ³0RGHUQ 3V\FKRDQDO\WLF &ULWLFLVP´ LQ $QQ Jefferson and David Robey (eds.), Modern Literary Theory: A Comparative Introduction, London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.

1.2.2. Film Adaptation Studies x

$FKDU\D .LUDQ   ³Mickey B VKRW DW 0DJKDEHUU\´ Literary Belfast, available

at

http://www.literarybelfast.org/article/87/mickey-b-shot-at-

maghaberry (accessed on September 28, 2010). x

Allen, Graham (2000) Intertextuality, London and New York: Routledge.

x

%DPEHU 0DUW\Q   ³0DFEHWK´ &LQpPDWKqTXH $QQRWDWLRQV RQ )LOP in Senses

of

Cinema,

Issue

46,

available

at

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2008/cteq/macbeth/#10 (accessed on April 22, 2011)

ϵϴ 

x

%URGH'RXJODV ³)DWDO9LVLRQ´LQShakespeare in the Movies. From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 175-187.

x

Cartmell, Deborah (2000) Interpreting Shakespeare on Screen, London: Macmillan.

x

)DELV]DN -DFHN   ³6KDNHVSHDUH DQG 7HOHYLVLRQ" 0HWD-televisual, My Dear Watson! Some Remarks on Recent Polish and English Television 3URGXFWLRQV RI 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V 3OD\V´ LQ *DEULHOD ,XOLDQD &ROLSFă HG  6KDNHVSHDUHDQD  7KH %XOOHWLQ RI WKH 6WXGHQWV¶ )RXUWHHQWK 1DWLRQDO Shakespeare Symposium*DODĠL*DODĠL8QLYHUVLW\3UHVVSS-40.

x

*HQHWWH *pUDUG (1997) Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree, translated by Channa Newman and Claude Doubinski, Nebraska University Press.

x

Hutcheon, Linda (2000) A Theory of Parody. The Teachings of Twentieth Century Art Forms, Illinois University Press.

x

Johnson, M.A. (1984  ³7UDQVODWLRQ DQG $GDSWDWLRQ´ LQ 0HWD 7UDQVODWRUV¶ Journal,

Vol.

29,

no

4,

pp.

421-425,

http://www.erudit.org/revue/meta/1984/v29/n4/003268ar.pdf

available

at

(accessed

on

September 28, 2010). x

/HKPDQQ &RXUWQH\   ³2XW 'DPQHG 6FRW 'LVORFDWLQJ 0DFEHWK LQ 7UDQVQDWLRQDO)LOPDQG0HGLD&XOWXUH´LQ5LFKDUG%XUWDQG/\QGD(%RRVH (eds.), Shakespeare, The Movie, II. Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, Video and DVD, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 231-251.

x

5DLQHU 3HWHU   ³Scotland, PA. 0RYLH 5HYLHZV´ New York Movies, available at http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/reviews/5652/.

x

5HHG5H[ ³5HYLHZRIScotland, PA´New York Observer in Rotten Tomatoes, available at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scotland_pa/reviews/#type=top_critics (accessed on April 22, 2011).

x

Riedel, JHQQLIHU ³7KH:LWFKHV¶,QIOXHQFHRQ0DFEHWK´LQShakespeare by Individual Studies, available at ϵϵ



http://web.uvic.ca/~mbest1/ISShakespeare/Resources/Witches/Witches.html (accessed on April 20, 2010). x

5RVHQEODWW -RVK   ³0DFEHWK´ Austin Chronicle, available at http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/2007-08-10/515150/ (accessed on April 22, 2011).

x

6PLWK

1HLO

 

³0DFEHWK´

Total

Film,

available

at

http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/macbeth-1 (accessed on April 22, 2011). x

6WDP5REHUW ³,QWURGXFWLRQ 7KH7KHRU\ DQG3UDFWLFHRI $GDSWDWLRQ´ in Robert Stam and Alessandra Raengo, Literature and Film. A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation, Oxford: Blackwell, pp 1-51.

x

7D\ORU&KDUOHV ³Scotland, PA. 5HYLHZ´Salon. Com, available at http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/review/2002/02/08/scotland (accessed on April 22, 2011).

x

7KRPDV.HYLQ ³5HYLHZRIScotland, PA´Los Angeles Times in Rotten Tomatoes, available at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scotland_pa/reviews/#type=top_critics (accessed on April 22, 2011).

x

Wright, Geoffrey and Victoria Hill (2006) :ULWHUV¶1RWHRQ7KLV$GDSWDWLRQRI Macbeth, available at www.macbeththefeaturefilm.com.au (accessed on April 22, 2011)

x

Zatlin, Phyllis (2005) Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation, Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 150-202.

x

*** (2001) Study Notes ± Scotland PA, available on the DVD menu.

x





³Macbeth

DQ

([SORUDWLRQ

RI

+RUURU´

DYDLODEOH

DW

http://celluloidwords.blogspot.com/2008/08/editorial-for-oct-07newsletter.html (accessed on April 22, 2011). x





³The

Tragedy

of

Macbeth´

IMDB,

available

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067372/ (accessed on April 22, 2011).

ϭϬϬ 

at

x



³:KDWSHRSOHVD\DERXWMickey B´ESC ± Understanding through Film, available at http://www.esc-film.com/film_reviews_micky_b.asp (accessed on September 28, 2010).

x

**** ³7KH 'HYLO 7DURW &DUG ´ Wikipedia. Free Encyclopedia, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_(Tarot_card) (accessed on September 28, 2010).

2. Works Consulted 2.1. Literary Theory and Criticism x

Dutton, Richard and Jean E. Howard (eds.) (2003) A Companion to

x

Hughes, Ted (1992) Shakespeare and the Goddess of Being, London: Faber &

6KDNHVSHDUH¶V:RUN9ROXPH7KH7UDJHGLHV, Oxford: Blackwell.

Faber. x

Jung, Carl Gustav (1991) The Collected Works. Volume IX: The Archetype and the Collective Unconscious, London and New York: Routledge.

x

/HJJDWW $OH[DQGHU   ³0DFEHWK $ 'HHG ZLWKRXW D 1DPH´ LQ 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V 7UDJHGLHV 9LRODWLRQ DQG ,GHQWLW\, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 174-204.

x

McGinn, Colin (2006) 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V 3KLORVRSK\ 'LVFRYHULQJ WKH 0HDQLQJ behind the Plays, HarperCollins E-Books.

x

Moschovakis, Nick (ed.) (2008) Macbeth ± New Critical Essays, New York: Routledge.

x

Plain, Gill and Susan Sellers (eds.) (2007) A History of Feminist Literary Criticism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

x

Ryan, Kiernan (2002) Shakespeare (third edition), New York: Palgrave.

2.2. Film Adaptation Studies x

Burnett, Mark Thornton and Ramona Wray (2006) Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ϭϬϭ



x

%XUW 5LFKDUG   ³7KH /RYH 7KDW 'DUH 1RW 6SHDN 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V 1DPH 1HZ 6KDNHVTXHHU &LQHPD´ LQ /\QGD ( %RRVH DQG 5LFKDUG %XUW HGV  Shakespeare, The Movie. Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV and Video, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 240-268.

x

Henderson, Diana E. (ed.) (2006) A Concise Companion to Shakespeare on Film, Oxford: Blackwell.

x

Jackson, Russell (ed.) (2000) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

x

Jess-Cooke, Carolyn (2007) Shakespeare on Film. Such Things as Dreams Are Made of, London & New York: Wallflower Press.

x

-RUJHQV -DFN -   ³5HDOLVLQJ 6KDNHVSHDUH RQ )LOP´ LQ 5REHUW Shaughnessy (ed.), Shakespeare on Film, London: Macmillan, pp. 18-41.

x

Stam, Robert and Alessandra Raengo (eds.) (2004) A Companion to Literature and Film, Oxford: Blackwell.

ϭϬϮ 

APPENDIX: SNAPSHOT GALLERY A. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH U.S.A. /U.K. 1971

Columbia Pictures / Playboy Production Director: Roman Polanski Writers: William Shakespeare (play) Roman Polanski Kenneth Tynan Cast: Jon Finch (Macbeth) Francesca Annis (Lady Macbeth) Martin Shaw (Banquo) Terence Bayler (Macduff) John Stride (Ross) Nicholas Selby (Duncan)

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A3

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A4

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A7

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A11

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A13

A14

A15

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B. MACBETH Australia, 2006 

Mushroom Pictures ‹”‡…–‘”ǣ Geoffrey Wright

Writers: William Shakespeare (play) Geoffrey Wright Victoria Hill

Cast: Sam Worthington (Macbeth), Victoria Hill (Lady Macbeth), Chloe Armstrong, Kate Bell and Miranda Nation (The



three witches), Steve Bastoni (Banquo), Lachy Hulme (Macduff), Gary Sweet (Duncan) etc.       ϭϭϬ 

B1. The Macbeth Family





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C. SCOTLAND, PA U.S.A., 2001  

Lot 47 Film Production  ‹”‡…–‘”ǣ Billy Morrissette 

”‹–‡”•ǣ William Shakespeare (play), Billy Morrissette 

ƒ•–ǣ James LeGros (Joe Macbeth) Maura Tierney (Pat Macbeth) Christopher Walken (Lt. Macduff) Kevin Corrigan (Banconi) James Rebhorn (Norm Duncan)         

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C2. A witch

C3. Mac

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C6. Mac, Pat & Banko

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C7. The McBeths

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D. MICKEY B Northern Ireland, 2007

Producer: Educational Shakespeare Company Director: Tom Magill Writers: Tom Magill Sam McClean Jason Thompson Cast: Jason Thompson ± LadyBoy Sam McClean ± Duncan David Conway ± Mickey B



           

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