Macbeth Comparison Essay

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“I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none.” utters Michael Fassbender’s Macbeth, in a heavy Scottish accent, in a hushed tone, amid a racketing score. Macbeth’s mantra may as well be anything else – you can’t hear the dialogue anyway. It is clear that director Justin Kurzel prioritises the visceral over the cerebral in his endeavours to display Shakespeare’s tragedy for the umpteenth time. At first, its style seems like its the right choice; this Shakespearean adaptation is not like any other. Sadly, a terrific nous for visual flair is heavily burdened by inane plot choices, poor pacing and poorer character development.

It’s a wonder how Macbeth – Shakespeare’s shortest play – somehow feels both needlessly long and clumsily rushed. There are notable omissions of the playwright, where stylistically showy battle scenes with heavy use of slow motion and colour, but poor cogency and fluency, are substituted in instead. It’s a brave choice, but a foolish one – amid the chaos of sword-wielding and slaughter, the actual action is obscured inanely …show more content…

Fassbender tries his hardest to bring life to the titular character, but his stilted delivery (Kurzel at fault, rather than Fassbender himself) and rushed descent into madness diminishes any nuances that the character could possess. The plot jumps from days to months without any indication (Unless that indication was a brief unintelligible whisper), and as such, Macbeth’s madness doesn’t have any forewarning – he is sane, and, at once, insane. Marion Cotillard’s Lady Macbeth suffers from the same pacing problems; her demise is sudden, and due to the little screen time or dialogue afforded to her, there’s no emotional attachment to give her big scene any heft. I’m a huge fan of Cotillard, but she’s disappointingly tame, appearing disinterested and straining for an accent that doesn’t

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