Macbeth vs. Throne of Bloode

A detailed Summary of Macbeth vs. Throne of Bloode

The film Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1961, is based on Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The film is set in medieval Japan, while the play Macbeth is set in medieval Scotland. The location is not the only difference between the two productions. The portrayal of the characters is also very different; this is evident in Act 5, Scene 1. In this pivotal scene Lady Macbeth and Lady Asaji are seen cleansing their hands. While the two scenes share similarities, Shakespeare's depiction and Kurosawa's interpretation of the hand-washing scene are quite different: Lady Asaji appears to be without remorse while Lady Macbeth is filled with regret.

As Lady Macbeth attempts to wash the blood from her hands she bellows: "Out, damned spot! Out, I say" (5.1.28)! There are a few ways that we can view this. We may regard Lady Macbeth as an evil person suffering from a guilty conscience. Lady Macbeth's prior encouragement of her husband to kill and betray in order to gain power has come back to haunt her. The bloodstained hands that Lady Macbeth attempts to scrub are not stained with blood at all. The blood she thinks she sees is all in her head, and could very well symbolize guilt. Living with her guil

Another feature that separates Lady Macbeth and Lady Asaji is the portrayal of their aggressiveness. As Lady Macbeth tries washing her hands she addresses the notion that the stain will not come out and then moves on to other topics in her brain. However, Lady Asaji focuses all of her attention on her hands and the invisible bloodstains that will not go away. Her words and actions are all about the bloodstains; there is nothing else on her mind. Donald Ritchie reiterates this idea: "Lady Asaji is a good deal more evil than Lady Macbeth" (117). The suggestion of her being evil does not necessarily mean she is bad, but more that she has a plan and is driven. This idea can be better explained through another scene where she expresses her plans for Washizu to kill the Lordship: "We will offer drugged wine to the guards... As soon as they fall asleep, you must kill him." She comes up with a plan to kill in order for her husband to climb the latter of succession; she comes up with the plan all by herself.

Both Lady Macbeth and Lady Asaji have a fear of the blood on their hands; a possible explanation for this could be that during that time, blood was looked upon as a vital entity. The blood plays a very symbolic role in both Macbeth and Throne of Blood. At one point Lady Macbeth and Lady Asaji feel that "A little water clears us of this deed" (2.2.71) but after trying to wash their bloodstained hands they realize this is not so true. Even after the murder is over, the blood is not washed away by water, because they still embrace the guilt of their actions. Another explanation is that blood is a waste and unprofitable, at least for women. "Now, touching the menstruals: they are defined to be a monthly flux of excrementitious and unprofitable blood" (Sadler 357).

t all over her hands proves to be the best punishment because it is through this suffering that her once aggressive and bloodthirsty nature reveals the small, delicate woman she really is. Through this form of punishment, Lady Macbeth realizes that she is not a strong person and she then kills herself. William Carroll editor of Macbeth: Texts and Contexts recaps that: "When Lady Macbeth is strong, Macbeth is weak (as at the beginning of the murde

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Approximate Word count = 1499
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English