This started out as a comment in a different thread, but became long enough to deserve its own post.
Rowling has said that Macbeth might be her favorite Shakespeare play, and that it influenced the self-fulfilling prophecy. I recently re-read Macbeth, and now think she might have also had Macbeth in mind when she wrote the final duel in the Great Hall between Harry and Lord Voldemort:
In both cases, the villain has recently lost a magical form of protection, which he had thought was impossible to lose. Macbeth thought there was no way that Birnam forest would ever come to Dunsinane. Voldemort thought until a day ago that no one else knew about his Horcruxes, which are now all destroyed.
This villain is seeing the tide of the battle turn against him. Siward says to Malcolm: "The day almost itself professes yours, And little is to do." Voldemort has just lost most of his Death Eaters, including Bellatrix.
But he still thinks he's invincible because of one last layer of magical protection he still has. Macbeth can't be killed by anyone born of woman. Voldemort has the Elder Wand, and believes he is finally its true master.
He is challenged by a guy whose family he wiped out (Macduff/Harry). At first, the villain is boastful, since he still believes he's invincible, but then the hero reveals a piece of information that completely unsettles him. For Macbeth,
>Macbeth: Thou losest labor....I bear a charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born.
>
>Macduff: Despair thy charm, And let the angel whom thou still hast served Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb Untimely ripped.
>
>Macbeth: Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cowed my better part of man!
In Harry Potter, this was really two reveals (first that Snape was loyal to Dumbledore all along, and second that Snape was never the master of the Elder Wand). But the same cycle of villain cockiness, then stunned disbelief when his view of things is shattered, happens twice:
>"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like and old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stampi
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Examples:
The Virgin Macbeth:
-has to commit treason to gain power
-murders best friend in his sleep
-easily corrupted
-tortured by guilty conscience
The Chad Macduff:
-honorable
-beloved by all
-survives the entire play
In the tomorrow, tomorrow lines and when he showed Macduff mercy before the fight, and when he said I have lived long enough. My way of life Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf... All that evidence points to Macbeth having remorse and empathy and thus a conscience (before this I was convinced he was a sociopath). Yet he chooses still to fight. Can it be more than his pride? He understood that his actions were wrong and in the end, and his will to choose good was too weak. But what happened to his overwhelming amount of emotion in the beginning? The guy who freaked out about murder then goes on to murder an entire family. Pride cannot explain this.
In the scene with Lady Macduff and her son, I'm having trouble understanding her relationship with her husband. She obviously frustrated that her husband abandoned her, and she says he was a traitor. Does this mean she hates him?
Macbeth could only be killed by a man born if woman, so in the play Macduff is able to kill him because he was not born of woman, he was born via c-section. So if he’s born by a transgender guy, he technically not born of woman.
I'm reading Macbeth right now and it struck me as odd. Was that a popular naming convention back then?
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Summary:
A Scottish lord becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife supports him in his plans of seizing power.
Director:
Joel Coen
Writers:
Joel Coen, William Shakespeare
Cast:
- Denzel Washington as Macbeth
- Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth
- Alex Hassell as Ross
- Bertie Carvel as Banquo
- Brendan Gleeson as Duncan
- Corey Hawkins as Macduff
- Harry Melling as Malcolm
-- Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Metacritic: 87
VOD: Theaters, Apple+
rhythmic and inexorable, perfect balance of playing the text and the setting very straight with a subtly psychedelic atmosphere. stellar performances from denzel washington, frances mcdormand, and especially corey hawkins as macduff. what did you guys think?
A play on words.
>!I found the decision in Coen's film to have Ross deliver Macbeth's head to Malcolm very perplexing. Macduff was the object of Macbeth's obsession and the satisfying payoff is always when Macduff stands triumphant after they battle. I understand that Coen's film draws more attention to Ross' deceitfulness but still to make him the centre of this important scene I feel betrays the original intent. Does anyone else feel this way after watching the film? Any other criticisms? !<
>Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head
MACDUFF
>Hail, king! for so thou art: behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:
Hail, King of Scotland!
)