Macbeth Research Paper

The play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare and performed by the SMU students, was a truly remarkable work of art. The quality of the play was overall amazing, including a very original and innovative stage (especially the images displayed from a projector), great lighting, effective blocking (including very believable fighting scenes), and most importantly, a truly impressive cast. All of the actors on the play were very professional, something that was evident in their tone of voice, posture, displays of emotion, and intensity of their performances. However, the actors that stood out the most were definitely Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, both who left their hearts on the stage through a passionate and emotional performance that reflected …show more content…
Overall, his acting technique was very impressive, given that he knew his lines and executed them perfectly, delivered them with a very strong and clear voice, had a firm posture and moved confidently, and was able to connect with the audience through his strong projection (especially in his monologues). In addition, it was clear that Murphy did his job when it came to defining his objectives and connecting his feelings to them, which allowed him to stay emotionally engaged in his performance. Since the very beginning of the play, Macbeth makes his super-objective clear: becoming a very powerful man (a strong figure of authority) in his country and his wife’s eyes. As a means to fulfilling this greater ambition Macbeth establishes a play objective, which is becoming the king of Scotland and keeping that power. However, he encounters several obstacles (such as King Duncan, Banquo’s descendants, and Macduff’s army) that he must overcome through his active intentions, which include killing the king, manipulating some men to kill Banquo and his son, and finally fighting against the English army. Judging from the intensity and emotional sincerity of his performance, it could be seen that the actor really did a good job of considering the stakes of not achieving his objectives, and used that fear as the emotional trigger that guided his acting and compelled him to carry out his tactics. For example, …show more content…
Just like the rest of the cast she had a great technique, however, even more remarkable was the evident work she put into analyzing the script in order to bring the infamous character of Lady Macbeth to life. Starting from the scene in which she invokes the spirits to ask for the necessary evil to proceed with the terrible deeds she has in mind (a very intense and powerful scene), she makes her super objective clear: having unlimited power. Through her dialogue and emotional display in this scene she reveals the depth of her ambition, and considering the stakes of not getting this power (which is not an option in her mind) is what fuels her to act in condemnable ways. Lady Macbeth is a great character to analyze, because her performance is the perfect example of an actor using active intentions in order to get something directly from another character. In order to achieve her super objective she needs her husband to become king (her play objective), and in order to achieve this she needs to overcome the obstacles of Macbeth’s conscience and the King himself. As it can be seen, the only way she could achieve her objective is through Macbeth himself (since he has to kill the king and then take his place), so therefore, her active intentions clearly involve getting a reaction from him. As an actress Rutan had a clear idea of how to get Macbeth to follow her plan, for example, her first