Representing Females from A Different Perspective: Justin Kurzel’s Film Appropriation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Abstract

The study explores the differences in the representation of females, specifically Lady Macbeth and the witches, in both Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth (1623) and in Justin Kurzel’s film appropriation, Macbeth (2015). The paper attempts to prove that Kurzel’s film appropriation of Shakespeare’s play represents the female characters, specifically Lady Macbeth and the witches, from a different perspective than Shakespeare’s original paly. The paper shows how Kurzel changes the old ideas about how the witches and Lady Macbeth are the motivation and inspiration behind Macbeth’s downfall, defeat, and death. Instead, the study shows that Kurzel’s film appropriation posits that Macbeth’s greed and lust for power and authority make Macbeth himself the impetus behind his downfall, defeat, and death. As a result, Macbeth’s evil is natural rather than nurtured by the play’s main female characters as shown in Shakespeare’s original text. For this reason, Kurzel’s witches and Lady Macbeth are analyzed in relation to how they are portrayed in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Very few studies tackle Kurzel’s film appropriation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which mainly focus on the lighting and visual effects of the movie. The contribution of the study is to fill the shortage of literature conducted on the current appropriation by Kurzel.