Controlled Assessment Task

1. Controlled Assessment Task Compare your reading of Macbeth within the original script with the presentation of Macbeth in an adaptation. Use examples from the text in your response. In your discussion you should aim to: respond to the chosen drama texts critically and imaginatively make comparisons and explain links between their own reading and an adaptation, evaluating different ways of expressing Shakespeare’s meaning and achieving effects support ideas by choosing evidence from the drama texts

2. Grade Criteria

3. As the opening battle scene occurs in Act I Scene II of Shakespeare’s text, the audience witness the report of the fighting to the king. As the violent events of the battle are excluded from the plot and only described through Shakespeare’s use of elision, the audience are left to imagine Macbeth’s role within the battle, which would have been typical in 1606 as people had to rely on their imaginations and speech to create and sustain entertainment. The sergeant’s synopsis, whether truthful or exaggerated, glorifies his character both to King Duncan and the audience, causing them to view him immediately in a heroic light. Shakespeare’s use of the simile ‘as two spent swimmers’ reveals this heroism, suggesting the battle was at a standstill, a stalemate, and that the two sides, Scotland and Norway were equally matched and fighting desperately for their lives and country, implying that Macbeth faced a formidable and challenging opponent – one that requires heroism and skill to overcome. Indeed, the very first mention of his name is preceded by the adjective, ‘brave’, which establishes a high level of respect in the audience’s mind for leading the country in such a challenging context. In the 1600s the protection of one’s country was of paramount importance as Britain was often invaded or challenged by opposing forces or rulers.

4. However, the introduction to Macbeth’s character in Woolcock’s rendition is completely different; the viewer is immediately greeted, not with a description of Macbeth’s heroism, but a council flat door being forcefully kicked in, which throws the audience straight into the action of the battle. The changing of this scene is probably a result of Woolcock’s understanding of a modern audience, who in their addiction to television and gaming , is desensitised to mere descriptions or recounts, and require action to be played out on the screen in order to form an impression of the characters and plot. In contrast to the play, Macbeth is presented with no heroic qualities; the audience’s first glimpse is of his snarling face, paused on the screen with a caption of his name, ‘Macbeth’. This gives the impression, not of a focused, ‘brave’ warrior, but of a drug-fuelled, barbaric gangster whose reputation certainly does not precede him. In addition, any slight impression of heroism as he leads his fellow gangsters through the door is demolished by the camera shot of the opposing ‘Norway’ gang, sitting idly on the sofa in a drug-fuelled stupor – more like easy prey than opponents. Unlike Shakespeare’s ‘two spent swimmers’ the opposing sides are not equal in a battle, and Macbeth appears to be leading an ambush, violently attacking a defenceless opponent. Woolcock has not created a hero, but instead a villain from the start who the audience automatically take a dislike to.