In this paper, question number one which requires one to choose a scene and analyze it taking the position of the director of the play is answered. In the paper scene three act four whose setting is based in England is chosen foe analyses. Malcolm who is the father of Duncan takes his time to test the loyalty of his latest recruit, Macduff. Malcolm has an exemplary hope that he is a greater Tyran than Malcolm and therefore Malcolm have a hope of making Macduff good by displaying him into an open display of his loyalties. Macduff is seemed to be angered against the untitled Macbeth. Malcolm also agrees to provide his help in the struggle (Maillard). Macduff is entirely convinced to engage I the rebel army and also to seek revenge against Macbeth after Ross came up with the breaking news that his family was slaughtered.
The scene also includes a passage that shows that England's King Edward has been able to provide Malcolm and hence Malcolm has been healing the sick through supernatural means (Maillard).
Act 4 scene three, therefore, develops the essential issues related to loyalty and courage. The matters of loyalty and courage are brought out on two different occasions, first concerns the testing of the commitment of Macduff by Malcolm. The second test is when Macduff's challenges were further advanced when he was faced with a problem of the death of his family members. Also, Macduff swore to take revenge on Macbeth (Maillard).
As a director, would try to make the people involved understand this scene as a job interview. Malcolm starts the scene by providing a suggestion that, Macduff may be having strategy of betraying him as a sacrifice related to Macbeth as his previous leader. The poetry in this play rises to the maximum pitch in this act of scene. The state of mind of Macbeth brought out in this scene act is not worthy, hence according to my view, this act four of scene three seems to be the turning point in Macbeth's career. Up to the point of act four of scene three of the play, it can be said that Macbeth has had been able to maintain his strength of mind and self-control which is enough for him to push through his subjects and to hide from the public from viewing the evil ways he has obtained them. There is a fatal evidence of the collapse of the power of Macbeth as a ruler (Singh).
It is fascinating mostly when it comes to comparing the behaviors of Macbeth immediately after Dan was murdered with his actions when the ghost of Banquo was present. There is also the fact that, Macbeth passes beyond his wife' control, she had been in a position to control him up to the Murder of Duncan and control and direct him through the excitement that he had after that. In this scene, the wife is unable to control him and is forced to always listen helplessly to the words that he utters which contributes to betray his guilty secrets. The collapse of the mental powers of Macbeth is shown by the dialogue which involves him and his wife after the retirement of the guests (Barnes).
Both sides at which the guests are sited, Macbeth have taken up the role king who has left his throne to mingle up with his nobles. The king says that he will sit down amongst his nobles, but he is barred from sitting down by the anxiety which arises from the fact that he is waiting for assault news of Banquo. At this moment Macbeth turns to the door and at the same time see the murderer at the door.
From the overview of the scene above therefore as a director, the scene brings about some aspects of murder. According to the basic understanding of the scene, it comes out that there the leader who is Macbeth taking the roles of the king is not comfortable when one of the members is alive, and now he wants to take it by himself to finish off the person. The scene also brings out our attention the belief that there is an existence of ghosts in the community and that they are very effective in our communities today. Macbeth has got his assassin whom he uses to fulfill his needs at any time to assassinate those whom he wants to finish off.
As a director of the play, can give some overview of how this scene would work out to be an exciting and fully compatible with the other scenes and also to create continuity of the story. The scene, therefore, will work out by setting everything in order and setting the stage to friendly to offer the required environment of the play. The scene shall work in a way that, all the characters who are involved in the play need to have a grasp of what to be done during the action of the play. The scene is in the traditional setting, for example, Macbeth being a symbol of a king of the people or community involved. The scene involves injustices such as murder, and hence there are some secrets which are always kept from the ordinary people by the topmost ranked people (Maillard).
There are several tones which shall be regarded in this scene. There is an aspect of low tone which is depicted by Lady Macbeth in (3.4.27); this is because Lady Macbeth chooses not address Macbeth in a low tone to avoid embarrassing him in the crowd. There is also an aspect of low tone where Macbeth sees the murderer, and he turns unto him where he was standing at the door and talks to him in a shallow tone to make sure that there is no one who was getting what they were conversing.
There is also an aspect of the tone of respect for the different ranks of the people involved in the scene. The tone of respect is brought out in the scene especially when the word sir was used in the scene especially in (3.4.7) when Lady Macbeth was addressing Macbeth hence showing that there was respect among the leaders.
Gestures are expressions which are always used to convey a message with the use of body parts and not words of mouth. They make one to understand better whatever being told and have a good knowledge of the message.
There shall be some several physical motions and actions in this scene. For example, the coming in and out of the ghosts. As it is always known, the ghosts always don't walk while coming nor walk while going away. Therefore, the ghosts shall be coming from nowhere straight to the seat reserved for Macbeth, and they want lea e they shall be vanishing at once. Another motion to be considered in this scene is when Macbeth sees the murderer at the door, he shall move slowly toward the door to talk to the murderer in a low tone. A place where gesture shall be applied is when in (3.4.15), where a gesture shall be murderer explains to Macbeth how the throat was cut, he would use his fingers to demonstrate that to him. The Lords when replying to Macbeth, they shall show their honor to the authority by bowing down their heads. Thus this is also one of the sections which shall be used in this scene. Another form of gesture that shall be applied in this scene is when Lennox is showing Macbeth where his reserved seat (3.4.47), Lenox shall use his fingers to show Macbeth his place.
When Ross also asks the people to rise because the master was not feeling well, he would possibly employ a gesture to demonstrate his words by hands (3.4.51).
There should be different costumes used in this scene to differentiate the various characters in the play depending on the roles set for the character. For example, in the case of ghosts, they should be putting on black costumes to bring their true perception of being ghosts. The ghosts can also put on masks which slows them to hide that face of human beings and bear the real' faces of ghosts (Craik).
Another costume that can be very important is that for the king, this is since the kingship is a significant position and therefore should have different outfits to signify the critical position. Thus, the king who is Macbeth shall wear a special dress for example that made from the skin of the cows or lions to entirely signify that he is the leader of the tradition of the area. Also, the top leader can be given a sword as a prop to mean that he is the one to lead the people under him into wars against their enemies. The lords can be treated as the guards in the story. Hence the guards can be given a distinctive uniform as a costume to show their identities as the guards of the place. The guards can also be provided with a toy gun made very well in the design of real guns to makes them complete as soldiers (Chaudhuri).
There several types of music which can be used in different steps of the scene because every type of music used signifies something, for example, when the ghosts enter, the kind of music that can be used is that which bring fear amongst those who are in the scene. To merely alert the people of danger that are coming, another kind of music that can be used is that which, includes the names of the main characters such as Macbeth to allow the audience always to remember the main characters and used to convey their characteristics to the audience.
Music which signifies happiness can also be used in the scene. The happiness signifying song can be used at the start of the scene when the characters enters the stage. Therefore, as a result of the discussion, it is clearly evident that every music that is used in scene signifies different things in the play. Hence the choice of music in the play must be done carefully in order to match each music with the function it needs to perform. Music in the play also is very significant since it helps to draw the attentions of the audience to the play more and more.
Barnes, Jennifer. Shakespearean Star. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Singh, R., and Mahesh Kumar Arora. "Three UK based Film-Adaptations of Shakespeares Macbeth: A Comparative Analysis." International Journal Of English And Education (2015): 387-391.
Craik, Katharine A., and Tanya Pollard, eds. Shakespearean sensations: experiencing literature in early modern England. Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Chaudhuri, Rituparna Ray. "Analysis of Lady Macbeth's Character..." (2015).
Maillard, S. Murdering Ministers: A Close Look at Shakespeares Macbeth in Text, Context and Performance. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016
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