Are women generally lacking in power and control when it comes to making some of a married couple’s most important decisions? It’s certainly portrayed that way in the modern film Scotland, PA as shown by Lady Macbeth. Scotland, PA is a film which takes place in a restaurant named Duncan’s, in which the assistant manager (Macbeth) feels that he deserves better than his current employment position, only emphasized when Duncan announces his lazy and irresponsible son Malcolm will be the next owner. Not to be forgotten is the fact that the Macbeths feel the restaurant could be doing substantially better if they were the owners. Macbeth is a play that takes place in Scotland, where loyal warrior Macbeth learns that after all his hard work, King
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Billy Morissette minimizes the role of Lady Macbeth in “Scotland, PA” and portrays her to have less control of critical situations in order to convey the inferior level of power she possesses in regard to Macbeth. Unquestionably, the film portrays Lady Macbeth as being in less control of many situations, one such example being when Macbeth contemplates how to kill his next victim, Macduff. Macbeth almost completely prevents Lady Macbeth from having knowledge of the plan to eventually try and kill Macduff, evident from the moment the witches update his prophecy in his restaurant. More specifically, on the night of their death, Macbeth left his wife for the last time, acting drunk, leading him to make an abrupt decision to attempt to fulfill the witches’ prophecy one last time. He continually reassured her with phrases one could interpret as “relax, I got this”, and Macbeth even told his wife “I just want to make you happy,” (Morissette) when she tried to make an argument or raise her voice. He tried his best to appear compelling and in control of himself by using words like “relax” in his dialogue. This strategy leaves Lady Macbeth in a …show more content…
Lady Macbeth momentarily exits the stage leaving Macbeth alone with Duncan, allowing Macbeth to take the first major initiative towards murdering him. Lady Macbeth eventually returns to the scene to find that Macbeth has already done irreversible damage which Macbeth casually shrugs off and explains “He just hit his head on the (refrigerator) door,” (Morissette). Macbeth’s relaxed, casual behavior while responding to his wife emphasizes the control that he has over the murder at hand. Furthermore, the film proceeds to use Lady Macbeth as nothing more than an aid throughout the duration of the murder while Macbeth is always assuming the main control of the situation. Macbeth is doing most of the dirty work and planning here, clearing supporting the idea of a strong de-emphasis of Lady Macbeth’s role and power over the murder. Comparatively, in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears to be continuously involved and seemingly in control of the situation at hand, whether it is ringing bells to alert Macbeth or even returning the daggers to the site of the murder to cover up and potential evidence. As a matter of fact, Lady Macbeth was awfully close to being the one who murdered Duncan in the first place, as Macbeth was incredibly and uncharacteristically emotionally unstable for
Billy Morissette minimizes the role of Lady Macbeth in “Scotland, PA” and portrays her to have less control of critical situations in order to convey the inferior level of power she possesses in regard to Macbeth. Unquestionably, the film portrays Lady Macbeth as being in less control of many situations, one such example being when Macbeth contemplates how to kill his next victim, Macduff. Macbeth almost completely prevents Lady Macbeth from having knowledge of the plan to eventually try and kill Macduff, evident from the moment the witches update his prophecy in his restaurant. More specifically, on the night of their death, Macbeth left his wife for the last time, acting drunk, leading him to make an abrupt decision to attempt to fulfill the witches’ prophecy one last time. He continually reassured her with phrases one could interpret as “relax, I got this”, and Macbeth even told his wife “I just want to make you happy,” (Morissette) when she tried to make an argument or raise her voice. He tried his best to appear compelling and in control of himself by using words like “relax” in his dialogue. This strategy leaves Lady Macbeth in a …show more content…
Lady Macbeth momentarily exits the stage leaving Macbeth alone with Duncan, allowing Macbeth to take the first major initiative towards murdering him. Lady Macbeth eventually returns to the scene to find that Macbeth has already done irreversible damage which Macbeth casually shrugs off and explains “He just hit his head on the (refrigerator) door,” (Morissette). Macbeth’s relaxed, casual behavior while responding to his wife emphasizes the control that he has over the murder at hand. Furthermore, the film proceeds to use Lady Macbeth as nothing more than an aid throughout the duration of the murder while Macbeth is always assuming the main control of the situation. Macbeth is doing most of the dirty work and planning here, clearing supporting the idea of a strong de-emphasis of Lady Macbeth’s role and power over the murder. Comparatively, in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears to be continuously involved and seemingly in control of the situation at hand, whether it is ringing bells to alert Macbeth or even returning the daggers to the site of the murder to cover up and potential evidence. As a matter of fact, Lady Macbeth was awfully close to being the one who murdered Duncan in the first place, as Macbeth was incredibly and uncharacteristically emotionally unstable for