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Home , Dunsinane (play), Fleance, Jack Reynor, Jed Kurzel, Justin Kurzel, King Duncan

© ATOM 2015 A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

ISBN: 978-1-74295-615-2 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Macbeth (2015) is an adaptation of ’s story of a good and potentially great man brought low by ambition. Directed by , from a screenplay by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso and Michael Lesslie, Macbeth stars as Macbeth and as . The film premiered in official competition at Cannes 2015. Justin Kurzel Curriculum links DIRECTOR

Macbeth is suitable viewing • analyse the representa- Justin Kurzel’s background as one of Australia’s best for students in Years 10 – 12. tion of ideas and atti- theatrical designers informs his strong visual storytell- It can be used as a resource tudes in Shakespeare’s ing as a director. in English, Literature and and Kurzel’s Macbeth to Media. consider how the texts Kurzel’s VCA graduating short, Blue Tongue, was represent the world and screened in over 13 international films festivals In English, Literature and human experience; including International Critic’s Week at the Cannes Media students are expected • develop the ability to Film Festival, New York Film Festival and won Best to discuss the meaning write analytic responses Short at Melbourne International Film Festival. His derived from texts, the to Kurzel’s Macbeth; first feature film Snowtown, produced by Warp Films relationship between texts, • hone their oral commu- Australia premiered at Adelaide Film Festival in 2011, the contexts in which texts nication skills through winning the Audience Award. Kurzel was awarded are produced and read, discussion of and debate Best Director at the AACTA Awards. The film has been and the experiences the about Kurzel’s Macbeth. released in the US, UK and most European countries, reader brings to the texts. screening in over 15 international festivals includ- The Macbeth study guide Many of the activities in this ing Toronto in 2011 and International Critics Week in supports students to achieve study guide assume a knowl- Cannes in 2012, being awarded Special Distinction of these aims by undertaking a edge and understanding of the President. close reading of the text. Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Teachers are recommended Kurzel also directs commercials and music videos. The activities in this study to provide excerpts from The Earth Hour campaign won a Titanium award at guide provide opportunities Shakespeare’s Macbeth Cannes Lions in 2007 while his British Council spot SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 for students to: to support the learning of won bronze the same year. His music video for The students who do have prior Mess Hall single ‘Pulse’ won Best Music Clip and • appreciate the aes- knowledge of the source Audience Award at St Kilda Film Festival and ‘Keep thetic quality of Kurzel’s text. The quoted dialogue Walking’ for the same band won Best Music Clip Macbeth; from Macbeth (2015) has of the Year in the Sydney Morning Herald. Kurzel • read closely and engage been written as prose rather adapted and directed Boner McPharlin’s ‘Moll’, which in detailed critical analy- than verse. forms part of a feature film comprising the adapta- sis of Kurzel’s Macbeth; tions of the short stories in Tim Winton’s The Turning. 2 Synopsis

Following a fierce battle in which Macbeth, banquet, and his preoccupation soon turns to ter- of Glamis and loyal general of ’s ror as the ghost of appears in the midst of forces, has finally killed Macdonwald, a traitor and the feast; a silent bloody spectre. Macbeth’s wild leader of rebel forces, he and fellow soldier Banquo fear is incomprehensible to everyone else so a des- encounter three women scavenging among the fall- perate Lady Macbeth calls an end to the banquet en soldiers. The women foretell that Macbeth will and shepherds Macbeth away from his guests. become and King of Scotland, Macbeth has a and his wife have already expressed while Banquo will be the father of future kings. run time of their disapproval and defiance of the new King by Both men are unnerved by the prophecies but for 113 minutes. abruptly leaving. the moment appear not to believe them. That night, Macbeth steals out of and At the battlefield campsite, Angus and Rosse ar- seeks out the strange women again. After induc- rive from the King’s court to pass on thanks from Cast ing him into a drugged stupor, they tell him that their royal master for the success in battle and to Macbeth: his throne is safe until Birnam Wood comes to bestow upon Macbeth the title Thane of Cawdor. Michael Fassbender Dunsinane, and he will not die by the hand of any The previous holder of the title has been killed for man born of a woman. This seemingly impossible treachery against the crown. Lady Macbeth: prediction brings a measure of relief to Macbeth. Marion Cotillard When Macbeth goes to pay homage to the King, However once he learns that Macduff has gone to Duncan tells him that he has made arrangements Banquo: England to join with , who has raised an to visit his home at Inverness to celebrate the vic- Paddy Considine English army to claim back his throne, Macbeth tory. At Inverness, a letter from Macbeth arrives, exacts revenge by having Macduff’s wife and three informing Lady Macbeth of the prophecy. Lady Malcolm: young children hunted down and publicly killed. Macbeth, who has not seen her husband over Jack Reynor Unable to trust anyone, and increasingly drawn the long years of war and is grieving the loss of down the path of tyranny, Macbeth begins to kill their only child, feels the seed of an idea grow in Duncan: any who he fears might oppose him. her mind. She plans for her husband to kill King Duncan so that they can assume the throne. Lady Macbeth, meanwhile, has been slowly driven Macduff: mad by her guilt in the wake of killing Duncan and Arriving home, Macbeth is at first reluctant to do the realisation that she has lost her husband, just harm to Duncan, but Lady Macbeth’s persuasion like she once lost a child. Unable to escape her and Duncan’s announcement that his callow son : grief, and unable to make any connection with Malcolm will succeed him spur him to act. After the husband she loves so much, she returns to feasting and drinking liberally, Duncan retires to Inverness seeking absolution. She dies soon after. bed, unaware that Lady Macbeth has drugged Rosse: his guards. While Inverness sleeps, Macbeth Ross Anderson Alone now but for his hired mercenaries, Macbeth kills Duncan. Surprised after the act by Malcolm, learns that many of his thanes are deserting him Macbeth is at the mercy of the young Prince, but Lennox: to join Malcolm’s approaching army. As the army Malcolm loses his nerve and flees Inverness. David Hayman reaches Birnam Wood, they set it alight. Charred leaves and bark are carried on the wintry winds to- When Macduff discovers Duncan’s body the next Menteith: wards Dunsinane. Macbeth realises the first part of morning, Macbeth immediately slays his attend- Maurice Roëves the prophecy is coming true. Undaunted, he calls ants, not out of rage and grief as he says, but in for his armour and reawakens the soldier within. order to silence them. To everyone else, it ap- Macdonwald: Hilton McRae pears that Malcolm has been the chief conspirator. Summoning his remaining forces around him, he Macbeth, taking advantage of the confusion and leaves the safety of the castle to face Malcolm’s Witches: grief caused by Duncan’s death, and marshalling army, which is led by a vengeful Macduff. Macbeth Seylan Baxter, his popularity amongst the people, is crowned knows that it is over, that he cannot fight the Lynn Kennedy, King of Scotland. Banquo, however, has suspi- prophecy that he has embraced as his destiny. Amber Rissmann cions of his own based on their encounter with Surrounded by the ghosts of those he has killed, the prophetic women. Despite now seemingly Macbeth is finally able to see where his ambition SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 : secure and crowned in Duncan’s former royal seat has led him, and gives himself over to his inevitable Lochlann Harris at Dunsinane, Macbeth senses Banquo’s doubts death. and orders his murder, and that of his young son Angus: Fleance. James Harkness As Malcolm enters Dunsinane to claim back the throne, a child steals onto the battle ground and As Macbeth sits down to a feast that night he Seyton: finds Macbeth’s body. It is Fleance. Bending learns that while Banquo has been killed, Fleance Scott Dymond down, he takes Macbeth’s sword in his hands and escaped. He is unable to concentrate on the disappears. 3 Shakespeare’s Online ‘Macbeth’ resources

Historical sources suggest that Shakespeare’s Teachers looking for resources that provide tragedy Macbeth was first performed between GLAMIS THOU an analysis of Shakespeare’s Macbeth are 1599 and 1606. The play was most likely writ- ART, AND advised to access the following websites: ten during the reign of James I. James was a CAWDOR; patron of Shakespeare’s acting company, and of AND SHALT Absolute Shakespeare – Macbeth all the plays Shakespeare wrote during James’s BE WHAT http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/ reign, Macbeth most clearly reflects the play- THOU ART macbeth/macbeth.htm wright’s relationship with the sovereign. PROMIS’D. BBC – GCSE Bitesize - Macbeth YET I DO FEAR http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ The earliest account of a performance of Macbeth THY NATURE. gcsebitesize/english_literature/ is 1606 at the Globe Theatre. The text was first IT IS TOO FULL dramamacbeth/ printed in 1623. Set in Scotland, the play illustrates O’TH’MILK enotes – Macbeth the damaging physical and psychological effects of http://www.enotes.com/topics/macbeth OF HUMAN political ambition on those who seek power for its Insight English in Year 11 - Macbeth own sake. KINDNESS, http://www.englishinyear11.com.au/pdf- TO CATCH a4567BNdMMx88/Macbeth_article.pdf Shakespeare’s source for the tragedy is the ac- THE NEAREST Macbeth Study Guide | LitCharts count of Macbeth, King of Scotland, in Holinshed’s WAY. THOU http://www.litcharts.com/lit/macbeth Chronicles published first in 1577 and again in 1587. WOULDST BE No Fear Shakespeare - Macbeth Holinshed’s Chronicles was a history of England, GREAT; ART http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/ SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and NOT WITHOUT Penguin Teacher’s Guide to Macbeth his contemporaries. The real Macbeth took the AMBITION, http://www.penguin.com/static/pdf/ throne of Scotland in 1040, after killing his cousin BUT WITHOUT teachersguides/macbeth.pdf King Duncan I. Duncan’s eldest son, Malcolm, THE ILLNESS Sparknotes – Macbeth ended Macbeth’s reign in 1057 by killing him in SHOULD http://www.sparknotes.com/ battle and later assuming the throne as Malcolm III. shakespeare/macbeth/ ATTEND IT. Another of Holinshed’s Scottish narratives concerns the murder of King Duff by Donwald. LADY MACBETH 4 1. The film as adaptation

Divide an A3 page into four equal sections. Use the headings: same, different, in and out to make notes that compare Kurzel’s adaptation of Macbeth with the source text.

In the same section of the page list the similarities. In the different sec- tion of the page list the differences. In the in section of the page list fea- tures of the film that are not included in the source text. In the out section of the page list features of the source text that are omitted from the film.

While this may seem like a basic task, it 2. The Battle will allow you to develop an informed and of Ellon credible evaluation of the adaptation. Take this task one step further by discussing why TILL HE The opening scene of the film is an infant’s funeral. some of these decisions may have been UNSEAM’D The mourners gathered on the bleak hillside stand made. It is important to acknowledge that HIM FROM in silence. Stones are placed over the infant’s eyes. modifications can at times be explained by THE NAVE TO Macbeth and Lady Macbeth stand closest to the the use of the medium of film. Discussing funeral pyre, mourning the loss of their only child. TH’CHOPS, what has been added and what has been omitted is also a way to generate an under- AND FIX’D • Why is the funeral scene a fitting way to begin standing of the filmmaker’s purpose. HIS HEAD Macbeth (2015)? UPON OUR The opening shot of the lifeless infant establishes • ‘To me, it’s a western.’ – Justin Kurzel BATTLEMENTS. the theme of grief. As you watch the film consider Shakespeare’s Macbeth is usually re- AND, TO the following question: ferred to as a tragedy. CONCLUDE, Are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth corrupted by Did Kurzel’s choice of genre surprise VICTORY FELL power or by grief? you? Why do you think Kurzel thinks ON US. Macbeth can be labeled a western? Kurzel underlines Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s loss • Is the dialogue of the film truthful to the LENNOX through the portrayal of the father and son relation- original text? ship of Banquo and Fleance and the Macduff family. • Understanding and evaluating Macbeth (2015) as an adaptation involves an The Battle of Ellon is bloody and brutal. The collective investigation of the film’s production and dehumanising nature of death in this sequence is elements. Production elements are in contrast to the portrayal of the infant’s death and the techniques filmmakers use to tell burial. stories: - camera techniques • ‘Civil war rages in Scotland. The traitor - acting Macdonwald leads mercenaries against King - mise en scene Duncan. Few remain loyal to the crown. Macbeth, - editing Thane of Glamis, leads a weary army. The King - lighting has sent him his last reserves. The war will be

- sound decided at the Battle of Ellon.’ SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Working with a partner, prepare a Explain the significance of the card that appears PowerPoint presentation that describes in the opening segment of the film. Why is it nec- and explain the use of one of the listed essary? What does Kurzel suggest by informing production elements to contribute to the audience that ‘few remain loyal to the crown’ the audience’s understanding of the and by describing the army that Macbeth leads narrative. as ‘weary’? Why is the text written in blood red letters on a black background? • How does Kurzel use production elements to 5 3. The promise of greatness

The characters referred to in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as either the witches or the weird sisters appear in the opening scene of the film. They are witnesses to the burial of the infant. On the battlefield at Ellon they greet Macbeth with the promise of his future:

‘Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! depict the savagery of war? ‘WE SHOT IT Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All ALL OUTSIDE. hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter. Macbeth is first shown as a grieving father. His grief is WE WERE key to understanding his motivation. On the battlefield ABLE TO They tell Banquo: at Ellon, he is deeply affected by the loss of a young EXPLORE THE soldier, taking the time to mourn his death despite the ‘Hail! Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not chaos and carnage of the battlefield. It is a poignant MADNESS so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get moment that reflects Macbeth’s sensitivity. IN THESE kings, though thou be none.’ BRUTAL AND • Describe the significance of the character of the UNFORGIVING Later, having received the news of the Thane young soldier. What does Macbeth’s response to AND of Cawdor’s treachery, Macbeth and Banquo the boy’s death suggest about Macbeth’s nature? BEAUTIFUL converse about the witches’ prophecies. LANDSCAPES.’ Lennox relays the news of the battle to King Duncan, • Explain the significance of the whispered KURZEL conversation between Macbeth and ‘Doubtful it stood; as two spent swimmers, that Banquo as they lie side by side by the fire- do cling together and choke their art. The merci- side. Comment on how the acting of both less Macdonald from the western isles of Kernes Michael Fassbender and Paddy Considine and Gallowglasses is as supplied; and Fortune, on establishes the characters of Macbeth his damned quarrel smiling, show’d like a rebel’s and Banquo and the nature of the men’s whore but all’s too weak. For brave Macbeth well relationship. he deserves that name. Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execu- The conflict between good and evil is a central tion, like Valour’s minion, carved out his passage, till theme of Shakespeare’s play. When we meet he fac’d the slave; which ne’er shook hands, nor bade Macbeth he is as good as his circumstances farewell to him, till he unseam’d him from the nave to will allow. He serves his king loyally and looks th’chops, and fix’d his head upon our battlements. after his soldiers. And, to conclude, victory fell on us. As you watch the film consider the following • How does Lennox’s report portray Macbeth? question: Describe King Duncan’s response. How does Kurzel portray the presence of The harshness of the world of Macbeth is paralleled good and evil in the world of Macbeth? by the harshness of the natural landscape. • Macbeth: This supernatural soliciting can- Of his adaptation of Macbeth, Kurzel has claimed, not be ill; cannot be good. If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing ‘We shot it all outside. We were able to explore the in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, madness in these brutal and unforgiving and beautiful why do I yield to that suggestion whose landscapes.’ horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 my seated heart knock at my ribs, against • As you watch the film, search for evidence to the use of nature? Present fears are less endorse Kurzel’s claim. than horrible imaginings. If Chance will Begin your notes by describing Kurzel’s use of have me King, why, Chance may crown the natural world in the funeral sequence and the me, without my stir. Battle of Ellon sequence. Your notes should also What does Macbeth’s soliloquy suggest consider the natural landscapes that feature in the about his understanding of power? Inverness and Dunsinane sequences of the film. 6 kindness, to catch the nearest way. Thou 4. The murder of wouldst be great; art not without ambition, but King Duncan without the illness should attend it. Explain the role Lady Macbeth plays in the Lady Macbeth (reads): They met me in the day of SONS, assassination of Duncan. Does Lady Macbeth success; and I have learn’d by the perfect’st report KINSMEN, want power at any cost? Is her tragedy and that they have more in them than mortal knowledge. THANES, AND of her husband, her doing? Is Marion Cotlllard’s When I burned in desire to question them further, YOU WHOSE Lady Macbeth as manipulative and power- they made themselves air, into which they vanish’d. hungry as you expected her to be? PLACES ARE Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came mis- • ‘Demurely sinister’ – is this an apt description sives from the King, who all-hail’d me, Thane of THE NEAREST, for Lady Macbeth as she welcomes Duncan to Cawdor; by which title, before, these Weird Sisters KNOW, THAT Inverness? saluted me, and referr’d me to the coming on of WE WILL time, with Hail, King that shalt be. ESTABLISH Duncan chooses his visit to Inverness to announce OUR ESTATE the heir to the throne, • What does Macbeth’s letter to Lady Macbeth UPON OUR reveal about his encounter with the weird ELDEST, ‘Sons, kinsmen, Thanes, and you whose places are sisters? MALCOLM the nearest, know, that we will establish our estate • Come, you Spirits, That tend on mortal WHOM upon our eldest, Malcolm whom we name hereafter thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from WE NAME The Prince of Cumberland.’ the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty. HEREAFTER Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my Macbeth: The Prince of Cumberland! That THE PRINCE OF • milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Wherever is a step on which I must fall down, or else in your sightless substances you wait on CUMBERLAND. o’erleap, for in my way it lies. If it were done, Nature’s mischief. Come, thick Night, And pall DUNCAN when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well It were done thee in the dunnest smoke of Hell, That my quickly if th’assassination could trammel up

keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor the consequence, and catch with his surcease SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, success: that but this blow might be the be-all To cry, ‘Hold, hold!’ Hie thee hither, that I may and end-all here, but here, upon this bank and pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come. But the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee in these cases, we still have judgement here; from the golden round. that we but teach bloody instructions, which, Lady Macbeth: Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; being taught, return to plague th’inventor. This and shalt be what thou art promis’d. Yet I do even-handed Justice commends th’ingredience fear thy nature. It is too full o’th’milk of human of our poison’d chalice to our own lips. He’s 7 here in double trust. First, as I am his kinsman and WHEN YOU • ‘The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood his subject, strong both against the deed; then as DURST DO is stopp’d; the very source of it is stopp’d. Here his host, who should against his murderer shut IT, THEN lies Duncan, His silver skin lac’d with his golden the door, not bear the knife myself. Besides, this YOU WERE blood; there, the Murderers. Steep’d in the colours Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath A MAN; AND, of their trade, Had I but died an hour before this been so clear in his great office, that his virtues chance, I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this TO BE MORE would plead like angels, trumpet-tongu’d, against instant, there’s nothing serious in mortality.’ the deep damnation of his taking-off. I have no THAN WHAT Why does Kurzel have Malcolm discover Macbeth spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vault- YOU WERE, in Duncan’s bedchamber? How does this change ing ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on YOU WOULD the audience’s understanding of Malcolm’s deci- th’other. BE SO MUCH sion to flee? Is Macbeth’s remorse genuine? In Shakespeare’s text this announcement is made MORE THE • Macbeth: I am in blood stepp’d in so far that in Act 1 Scene 5 prior to the visit to Inverness. MAN. should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious Why do you think Kurzel made this change to the as go o’er LADY MACBETH narrative sequence of the play? Blood as image and symbol is central to Macbeth. After murdering Duncan, Macbeth and Lady Banquo’s premonition of danger is made evident in Macbeth let the rain wash away the evidence of the Inverness sequence. Fleance naïve to the murder- the bloody deed. ous ways of the world plays with another boy. As you watch the film, document the way that Kurzel uses blood and the colour of blood to chart • ‘A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, and yet both Macbeth’s acts of loyalty and betrayal. I would not sleep: merciful powers! Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in In Act 2 Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a repose!’ drunken porter answers the knocking at the gates of Explain Banquo’s unsettled state of mind. Why Macbeth’s castle, ‘Here’s a knocking indeed: if a man does he give Fleance his sword? were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key.’ Macbeth’s decision to proceed no further is chal- lenged by his wife. This scene is significant given the While the Porter offers some comic relief given the emphasis on the physical intimacy between Macbeth bloody betrayal of Act 2 Scene 2, Kurzel has omitted and Lady Macbeth. the character from his interpretation.

• Lady Macbeth: When you durst do it, then you • Why do you think Kurzel omitted the character were a man; and, to be more than what you were, of the Porter? Do you think that the narrative is you would be so much more the man. compromised by this omission? Does Lady Macbeth denouncing Macbeth as a • Macduff: Shake off your downy sleep, man. Death’s coward goad him into killing the King? counterfeit. You come and look on death itself. • Is this a dagger, which I see before me, the handle How does Kurzel use production elements to por- toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. tray Macduff’s discovery of Duncan’s murder? Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling, as • Macduff: Wherefore did you so? to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, Macbeth: Who could refrain, that had a heart to a false creation, proceeding from the heat-op- love, and in that heart, courage, to make love pressed brain. Thou marshall’st me the way that I known? was going; and such an instrument I was to use. How does Macbeth justify his killing of the Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’other senses, guards? How does Macduff regard his decision? Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still, there’s no How is Macbeth’s decision to avenge the murder such thing. It is the bloody business which informs of Duncan viewed by Lennox and Angus? thus to mine eyes. Explain the apparition of the young soldier in this While Malcolm is suspected of murdering his father, scene? Why does Kurzel have him lead Macbeth Banquo is suspicious of Macbeth, to Duncan’s bedchamber? ‘Thou hast it now. King, Cawdor, Glamis, all as the As Macbeth crouches by Duncan’s beside, Duncan weird women promis’d; and, I fear, Thou play’dst wakes. He sees Macbeth. Macbeth silences Duncan, most foully for’t. Yet it was said, it should not stand in SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 placing a hand over his mouth. The scene is intercut thy posterity. with shots of Lady Macbeth in prayer. • Macbeth: Full... full of scorpions is my mind! Having stabbed Duncan to death, Macbeth is over- How does Kurzel use story and production ele- whelmed by the deed. He is by Duncan’s bedside, his ments in the scene depicting the coronation of hands covered in Duncan’s blood, holding the dagger Macbeth as King of Scotland and in the scene when Malcolm walks in. that follows in the ’ bedchamber to depict Macbeth’s state of mind? 8 IF’T BE SO, FOR BANQUO’S ISSUE HAVE I FIL’D MY MIND; FOR THEM THE GRACIOUS DUNCAN HAVE I MURDER’D. PUT RANCOURS IN THE VESSEL OF MY PEACE, ONLY FOR THEM; TO MAKE THEM KINGS, THE SEED OF BANQUO.

MACBETH

‘They hail’d him father to a line of kings upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown, and put a barren sceptre in my grip, thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding. If’t be so, for Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d. Put rancours in the vessel of my peace, only for them; to make them kings, the seed of Banquo.

• Is Banquo incorruptible? • How does Macbeth justify his decision to murder Banquo and Fleance?

Kurzel’s Banquo is a loving and also vigilant father. He does all he can to protect his son from danger and maintain his son’s innocence.

Banquo and Fleance are attacked as they ride in the forest surrounding the castle. Fleance witnesses his father’s brutal death. He cries then runs for his own life. Fleance stops momentarily when he sees the child belonging to the Weird Sisters then runs on.

5. The murder • How does Kurzel use production elements to of Banquo establish tension in the scene depicting the murder of Banquo and the attempted murder Having murdered King Duncan and taken his of Fleance? place as ruler of Scotland, Macbeth is plagued by paranoia and guilt. He resorts to further The ghost of Banquo haunts the coronation violence to remove any obstacles that threaten celebrations. Lady Macbeth takes charge, his hold on power. He turns on Banquo fearing desperate to protect her husband. what he has claimed immorally will be taken from him by another man’s son. • Macbeth: Then comes my fit again I had else been perfect; whole as the marble, founded • What comment does Kurzel’s Macbeth make as the rock, as broad and general as the about power? casing air but now, I am cabin’d, cribb’d, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 • How does Kurzel portray the void that confin’d, bound in to saucy doubts and follows power for Macbeth and Lady fears. Macbeth? Is it the news of Banquo’s death or of Fleance’s escape that disturbs Macbeth? The lack of an heir weighs heavily on Macbeth’s Explain Macduff and Lady Macduff’s mind, as does the promise that the Weird Sisters decision to leave, despite Lady Macbeth’s made Banquo, encouragement and Macbeth’s command that they stay. 9 6. ‘Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be’

Unable to sleep, Macbeth ven- tures out at sunrise in search of the weird sisters. Dressed in his nightshirt, his feet bare, his behaviour is confused. He speaks to the air. The women appear. One is holding a baby. Another is making a potion. Macbeth drinks the hallucino- genic brew.

• Macbeth: I will to the Weird Sisters: more shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, by the worst means, the worst. For mine own good, all causes shall give way. Macbeth: Infected be the air whereon they ride; and damn’d all those that trust them! Why does Macbeth seek the counsel of the Weird Sisters? 7. The killing of As before, Macbeth commands the women to Macduff’s family speak. MURDER! Lady Macduff: Murder! Murder! Murder! I have ‘Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care who MURDER! done no harm! I have done no harm! Murder! chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are.’ MURDER! I HAVE DONE NO HARM! Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth seizes the ‘Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be… until I HAVE DONE NO opportunity to exert his tyranny over others. He Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill surprises the castle of Macduff, apprehending ‘his HARM! MURDER! shall come against him.’ wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace LADY MACDUFF him in his line. • What role do Kurzel’s Weird Sisters play in Macbeth’s tragedy? Are they like or unlike In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macduff’s family are Shakespeare’s witches? murdered in Act 4 Scene 2 by hired assassins. The • Young soldier: Be bloody, bold, and reso- murders happen offstage. Macbeth does not ap- lute: laugh to scorn the power of man, for pear in the scene. none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.

Macbeth: Then live, Macduff: what need I In Kurzel’s Macbeth, Lady Macduff and her children SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 fear of thee? But yet I’ll make assurance are burned at the stake. The onlookers watch double sure, and take a bond of Fate: thou the public execution in silent horror. Even Lady shalt not live. Macbeth is made a witness to the callous slaugh- Explain Kurzel’s decision to use the ap- ter. Her anguish is apparent as she watches on. parition of the young soldier to foretell Macbeth’s future. • Macbeth: Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? 10 8. The Queen is dead

The of Act 5 Scene 1 is re- placed by Lady Macbeth’s visit to her former home. A desolate Lady Macbeth returns to the chapel. Her disturbed state of mind is evident as she speaks to an apparition of an infant.

• Is this visit evidence of repentance and a need for absolution? Of what significance is Lady Macbeth’s belief in a superior and divine power? • Lady Macbeth: Yet here’s a spot. Out, damned spot! out, I say! Hell is murky! Fie, my Lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? What, will these hands ne’r be clean? No more o’that, my Lord, no more o’that: you mar all with this starting. Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Wash your hands, put on your The spirits that know all mortal consequence ‘IF THOU nightgown; look not so pale. To bed, to bed: have pronounc’d me thus ‘Fear not, Macbeth; COULDST, there’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, no man that’s born of woman shall e’er have DOCTOR, CAST come, come, give me your hand. What’s done power upon thee.’ THE WATER OF cannot be undone. To bed, to bed …to bed. To Does Macbeth believe he is invincible? bed, to bed, to bed. MY LAND, FIND • Macbeth: Why are you silent? How does Kurzel portray Lady Macbeth’s How does Lady Macbeth react to the public HER DISEASE, madness? execution of Lady Macduff and her children? In AND PURGE IT what sense is this scene a turning point in Lady TO A SOUND Macbeth appeals to the doctor to cure his wife, Macbeth and Macbeth’s relationship? Did you AND PRISTINE feel sympathy for Lady Macbeth in this scene? HEALTH, ‘If thou couldst, Doctor, cast The water of my land, I WOULD find her disease, And purge it to a sound and pris- Far from Dunsinane, Angus appeals to Malcolm to APPLAUD tine health, I would applaud thee to the very echo, return to Scotland. Malcolm is ready to return, as is THEE TO THE That should // applaud again.’ Macduff. VERY ECHO, THAT SHOULD It is too late. Lady Macbeth is already dead. Angus: Alas, poor country! It’s almost afraid to know // APPLAUD itself. It cannot be call’d our mother, but our graves. Does Macbeth abandon Lady Macbeth? AGAIN.’ • • Macbeth: She should have died hereafter: Macduff: What’s our newest grief? MACBETH There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, The newest grief is one that affects Macduff per- creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To sonally. Malcolm informs Macduff of his loss, the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty ‘Your castle is surpris’d; your wife, and babes, death. Out, out, brief candle. Life’s but a walk- savagely slaughter’d.’ ing shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets

his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Malcolm exhorts Macduff to convert his grief to more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound anger. England has given them ten thousand men. and fury, signifying nothing. They can return to Scotland to confront the tyrant How does Kurzel use story and production Macbeth. elements to portray Macbeth’s response to his wife’s death? • Macduff (shouts): He has no children. Describe and explain the role that Macduff’s grief plays in Macbeth’s downfall. 11 THIS PUSH Working with a partner, write a detailed com- 9. Birnam WILL CHEER mentary of the final sequence. Wood comes to ME EVER, OR Use the following questions to make notes Dunsinane DISSEAT ME about the sequence: NOW. I HAVE What is the sequence about? Macbeth’s soliloquy highlights the void that has Why is the sequence significant? LIV’D LONG followed his rise to power, How does the filmmaker use production ele- ENOUGH. MY ments to convey meaning? Macbeth: This push will cheer me ever, or disseat WAY OF LIFE • Why does Kurzel’s Macbeth end with Fleance me now. I have liv’d long enough. My way of life Is IS FALL’N INTO taking Macbeth’s sword? fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf; and that which THE SERE, should accompany old age, as honour, love, obedi- THE YELLOW ence, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but LEAF; AND in their stead, curses, not loud, but deep, mouth- THAT WHICH honour, and breath, which the poor heart would SHOULD fain deny, and dare not. ACCOMPANY OLD AGE, AS • Does Macbeth deserve our ? HONOUR, LOVE, A fire in Birnam Wood turns Dunsinane red. Macbeth is determined to fight to the death – OBEDIENCE, TROOPS OF ‘I’ll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack’d – FRIENDS until Macduff emerges from the billowing smoke to MACBETH confront Macbeth with the revelation that he is of woman born. Macbeth’s death is brutal as Macduff avenges his loss and reclaims Scotland. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 • Macbeth: I will not yield, to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet, and to be baited with the rabble’s curse. Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane, and thou oppos’d, being of no woman born, yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff; lay on, Macduff. And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’ 12 Credits Production companies: A Studiocanal, Film4 presentation in association with DMC Film, Anton Capital Entertainment SCA amd Creative Scotland. A See- Saw Films production Director: Justin Kurzel

Screenwriters: Todd Louiso, Jacob Koskoff & Michael Lesslie

Producers: , a. Identify the similarities and differences , Laura 10. Other between the original and the adapted or Hastings-Smith adaptations transformed text. Executive producers: Tessa b. Analyse the extent to which meaning is Ross, Olivier Courson, Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been adapted time changed when a text is adapted to a dif- Danny Perkins, Jenny and time again for the cinema screen. If your ferent form. Borgars, Bob Weinstein, parents studied Macbeth at secondary school c. Evaluate the effectiveness of the selected Harvey Weinstein they have probably watched ’s adaptation. 1971 film. Other well-regarded adaptations Director of photography: include ’ 1948 film and Akira Suggested adaptations: https://en.wikipedia. Kurosawa’s (1957). Justin org/wiki/Macbeth_on_screen. Kurzel is not the first Australian director to adapt Editor: Chris Dickens Macbeth. Geoffrey Wright’s Macbeth (2006) set in the ganglands of a modern day Melbourne. Macbeth (2015) Music: • What reasons can you give for Macbeth’s online Production designer: enduring appeal to filmmakers? Fiona Crombie • Have you ever seen a performance of Official website Shakespeare’s Macbeth? Was the produc- http://www.macbeth-movie.com/ Costume designer: tion loyal to the original? Official Facebook SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 Jacqueline Durran • Have you ever watched a film or television https://www.facebook.com/Macbeth.The. adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth? Movie Casting: Jina Jay • Analysing and evaluating an adaptation of Official Instagram Shakespeare’s Macbeth https://instagram.com/macbeth_movie/ Make-up and hair Drawing on your knowledge and understand- Official Twitter designer: Jenny Shircore ing of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, analyse and https://twitter.com/macbeth_movie evaluate an adaptation of the play. Internet Movie Database Your response should: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2884018/ 13 A FILM BY JUSTIN KURZEL

MACBETHACADEMY AWARD®-WINNING FROM THE PRODUCERS OF THE KING’S SPEECH

OCTOBER

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