Power And Control In Macbeth

Shakespeare has been quoted on a daily basis and you probably never realised. 400 years ago, he explored raw emotions that created an ongoing link between his works and his readers. This is established in his renowned 1606 tragedy Macbeth and the 2005 Mark Brozel adaptation Macbeth Retold. Shakespeare delved into the deep desire for power and control which negatively results in guilt and the exploration of the human psyche. Their application by Brozel in a 21st-century setting shows how Shakespeare’s ideas and writing continue to be relevant to a significant extent.

Obtaining power and control is the greatest desire of mankind. Take Macbeth’s initial thought about murder in Act 1 Scene 3. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakespeare evaluates Macbeth's guilt after killing King Duncan in Act 2 Scene 2. "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?" The hyperbole implies that there is not enough water to rid him of his guilt. Shakespeare reviews Macbeth's growing guilt and conscience in Act 3 Scene 2. “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife.” the metaphor brilliantly communicates how tormented Macbeth’s ‘mind’ has become, eroding his humanity through his degenerate greed for power. “Scorpions’ illustrates the pain Macbeth faces, however, his guilt forces him to inflict pain on others, like Macduff and his family. Brozel however utilises guilt and its impact on the human psyche through the motif of blood. Joe is framed drinking milk through a close-up shot, a symbol of purity and innocence. However, as Joe proceeds to open the bottle and drink in this shot, he hallucinated blood smeared all over his mouth. This emphasises how Joe has been tainted with Duncan’s blood resulting in a loss of innocence and purity. Brozel further emphasises this notion via Ella and Joe’s broken relationship. While the pair were complicit in the murder, their experience of guilt differs. Utilising a medium shot, Brozel demonstrates how Ella can justify looking at herself, however, Joe has become foreign to her. This deviates from Shakespeare’s original text, showing a fractured relationship. Therefore, due to it being a contemporary society, Brozel focuses on the vulnerability of humans, and Shakespeare’s exploration of guilt and the human psyche however adds a modernistic