Polanski’s Macbeth Movie Analysis Essay

When adapting a story from stage to screen--especially one of Shakespeare’s caliber--care must be taken to both respect the original and create an entertaining work of art. Literal adaptations are perhaps the hardest to pull off due to the much more rigid expectations of what it should be. Roman Polanski’s version of the classic Shakespeare tale is an almost perfect literal adaptation. Unfortunately, Polanski’s Macbeth is also a bland, unoriginal, and confusing retelling of a stroy that has so much to offer in regards to drama, horror, and entertainment as a whole.

Shakespeare’s original text paints the Macbeths as two people so clouded by ambition that they descend into violence and madness. However, Polanski waters down their characterization to the point that it seems completely infeasible that they could ever go through with such evil. Macbeth himself is not too different from the original text, but in the film he is a much flatter character. He has all the same lines in the film as he did in the play, yet the filmic Macbeth feels, at times, like a cardboard cutout of himself. Lady Macbeth’s character is the most disappointing characterization in the film. In the original text and Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood, Lady Macbeth is an incredibly strong and threatening lead who plays a major role in pushing Macbeth down this dark path. In Polanski’s version, she is reduced to a weak, weepy shell of a woman. In the play, Lady Macbeth is firm in her desire to kill Duncan and aggressively pushes and emasculates Macbeth to action, asking him “wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’,/ Like the poor cat in the adage?” (1.7,44-48). In the film, she says the same lines, but instead of pushing Macbeth through the aggression and strength of these words, she convinces him by crying. Part of the draw of the original story is how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth work together in their descent into degeneracy. However, by reducing Lady Macbeth to a crying mess from the very beginning, the audience loses out on a major aspect of the story. 

The mood and atmosphere of the film also contributed to its poor adaptation. Macbeth is considered to be Shakespeare’s take on horror, yet some of the stylistic choices take away from this theme. Polanski’s refusal to depart from the original text often ruins the suspense and terror of a given scene. While there is nothing wrong with creating a literal adaptation, some scenes just do not adapt perfectly from stage to screen. According to Gianetti, “few filmmakers would be willing merely to record a play, for in doing so they would lose much of the excitement of the original and contribute none of the advantages of the adapting medium, particularly its greater freedom in treating space and time” (Gianetti 403). While Polanski made use of various filmographic techniques, angles, and even special effects to adapt space and time to the screen, he did not adapt any dialogue to better suit this medium. For example, when the murderers kill Lady Macduff’s son (the egg), he delivers his line: “he has kill’d me, mother” (4.2,96). While in the play this is necessary in order for the audience to be sure what is going on, the fake blood and use of camera angles makes it unnecessary to say that. In fact, this line of dialogue comes off as borderline comical, in a sick sense, out of the sheer outrageousness of its happening. By keeping moments of dialogue like this identical to the play, the film is robbed of many powerful, horrifying, and saddening moments. However, there is one aspect where Polanski made a major departure from the play, and that is of course his many additions of nudity. At the beginning of the film, the depiction of the three witches is fine--they’re strange and creepy and that's about it. However, the harem scene is confusing and unnecessary. Nudity can be done in a classy manner, but this scene was completely gratuitous and nonsensical in the context of the film. First of all, there was no need to add thirty or so extra witches. They added nothing of substance to this scene. Secondly, the scene would’ve worked just as well if they wore clothes. In fact, the scene would likely have been more effective if the witches had clothes on because instead of being distracted and confused as to why they are all nude, the audience could just focus on the potion and Macbeth’s prophecy. These changes--or lack thereof--ruin the mood and atmosphere of the film, taking away the horrific and eerie aspects that are so integral to the story itself.

All in all, Polanski’s Macbeth is an almost perfect literal adaptation of the Shakespeare classic--but that isn't enough to make it a good adaptation. From dull characterization, to unfitting atmospheres, and confusing additions, Polanski’s film lacks the careful thought and depth that it needs to be great.