Innocence In Macbeth

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“Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang up them.” Through Lady Macduff’s son, William Shakespeare implies a piece of social commentary in Macbeth and that being there is more foul than fair in the world. Regarding good and evil, Shakespeare introduces the idea that evil triumphs good in the end. Roman Polanski’s version of Macbeth further emphasizes Shakespeare’s idea that unfavorable events occur to all people regardless of whether or not they are innocent.
Throughout the beginning of the scene, Polanski chooses to display innocence through both character actions and film techniques. In the opening part of the Lady Macduff scene, Polanski chooses to display children playing …show more content…

Polanski, agreeing with Shakespeare, adds on to this idea that foul prevails over fair in the end regardless of circumstance. One of the many decisions that support this reasoning in the film is when Ross motions to the Porter for the murderers to come through the gate. Ross is now depicted as evil and no longer an innocent figure. This is not the case in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Ross is viewed as an innocent and loyal gentlemen, not a malicious character. Polanski situates this idea in the audience’s mind that evil is present even within the righteous. Furthermore, every character who was slaughtered in the Lady Macduff scene was innocent. They were all images of purity and innocence. Polanski emphasizes Shakespeare’s commentary through all of these significant choices. Together, this scene sends a strong message that evil is ubiquitous.
Both Polanski and Shakespeare clearly agree that even the innocent and pure suffer in the hands of evil. Shakespeare reveals this in his play while Polanski takes what Shakespeare has written and completely brings it to a whole other level by visually emphasizing Shakespeare’s idea that foul is always present. Both Shakespeare and Polanski present evil as omnipresent in their works. Next to innocence, they bring some type of evil to outweigh the …show more content…

In all beginnings of innocence ending with it being destroyed, Polanski shares his beliefs that the innocent and pure are weak and vulnerable. This would be the reason for why he displays the horrific events of the scene. Overall, Polanski’s unique and uncanny choices are exceedingly powerful. Not merely does he do a great job of highlighting Shakespeare’s meaning, he connects with the audience and provokes this idea that evil is inescapable. Perhaps Polanski’s choices are so effective because they remind us of the awareness of existing fear within all of us, the knowledge that we are susceptible to the evil that is existent in our world. By viewing this fictional film of that fact, we are forced to recognize and contemplate this universal fear. This strange, yet memorable connection to the audience brings about such a basic, but deep cogitation that evil is not only existent within us, but also completely surrounding us in our world today. Despite the explanations of many religions worldwide, maybe evil is just that perplexing. Polanski shows the most well-known forms of innocence and purity in the opening of the scene only to completely demolish all of it in the end. The contrast of good and evil shown here unquestionably displays that evil outweighs good.
Although presented in different

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