Something Wicked This Way Comes....

Made by Angelique

So history is wont to repeat itself. Even more so in higher levels - the more rank, the more likely they are to make the same mistakes.

Yes, I've a highly pragmatic or cynical view on life.

But really. Absolute power corrupts absolutely as the saying goes, does not then lesser amounts corrupt in lesser measures? If people in places of high power and authority can follow the same paths of rising and falling, can not then the same be said of those in lesser positions?

Enough to be said that history repeats itself. That's a ramble in and of itself.....  I lend myself better to characterisation......

But enough! Back to my loose point. Macbeth! The Scottish Play. What have you.

What other story do we know that features a king - or a powerful man at least - easily led by his much more evil wife, pressed to take before their time fruits that were not his to take? Whether it was the Lady Macbeth's wish that destroyed all that might gainsay her husband's right to the throne, there was still a sort of massacre.

And she is certainly wicked. Pledging herself to the murdering ministers that she can do what her husband is too weak to do, to take from the prince the crown that should have been his when MacDuff died. She sets false witnesses in the dead, bloodied bodies of the men to attend to the murdered king, and begins the track to murder all related.

Now, what other king and queen followed this lovely pattern?

Ahab and Jezebel.

I'm far from any great expert of Shakespeare - I am merely musing on parallels. Of course, as I said, history repeats and Jezebel would hardly have been either first or last to push her husband king to yet darker actions. He'd hardly have been the first or last to be led by a wicked wife or mistress.

It also fits with Sarah and Abraham - albeit on a much grander scale. Sarah only pushed Abraham to take Hagar - Lady Macbeth pushed her husband to kill instead of merely wait.

And on that note! Just think. If Banquo hadn't pressed the witches in the beginning for news such as they had given Macbeth, then he would likely have survived for his bloodline would have proven no threat! Well, actually, he still might have - but it might have taken Macbeth a bit longer to connect it....

And self-fulfilling prophecies! Seriously! Stop it! If you know a prophesy, WOULD YOU JUST FORGET IT EVER HAPPENED BECAUSE IF IT'S BAD AND YOU TRY TO STOP IT YOU'RE REALLY JUST GOING TO BRING IT TO PASS!!  Sorry, bit of a sore point..... Because, really?? At the very least one should stop once one sees it coming to pass: although, by that point, the thing has already begun.


And Banquo - poor Banquo....

So after rambling on about Hamlet earlier, I looked it up. While doing that, I was reminded of the other adaptation of a Shakespearean play also starring Patrick Stewart that had also looked fascination: that of Goold's Macbeth. So, I finally watched it.

It's an intruiging take. Incredibly violent and bloody, and the only production of the play I've ever seen so I can hardly judge it for keeping true to tradition - but fascinating indeed. Yes, I'm aware that sounds terrible.

But what else can one expect??




The witches alone!  Good gracious!  And they turn up everywhere.

It's always amusing to me to watch a production of the play after reading it. things become more clear, feelings and emotions.....  This play was just plain creepy at points. Namely: any points with the witch-nurses, and Banquo-!

They murder him in the train, shoot him twice in the back after poisoning him and slitting his throat (overkill a bit, but then in the play I think they stabbed him more than twenty times in the head....) and then all sort of just....goes quiet. A somber choir is beginning to sing in the background, and he stands up. And I know he comes back as a ghost later of course - but seeing him stand??  Others didn't like it I saw - but i don't care!!  It was superbe in my humble opinion.

And Banquo-! Fleance is only about eight or something in this, a bit younger than I thought he was in the play - but nonetheless: Banquo is a good father. He flees Macbeth to protect Fleance once Macbeth begins turning into Stalin; and then, when Banquo is poisoned, he pushes Fleance to 'fly' and fights to pull the emergency break on the train so his son can escape. It's just.... So sad.

I really wanted to make a wallpaper for Banquo as he has long been a dear character of mine in that play and this film....  It cemented that feeling and I really wish I'd been ably to find any pictures for it. Alack-a-day, that I could not....  I'll have to suffice with one of the Lady and Lord Macbeth....

And then! And then! The ghost scene! Let's not leave the real one out! No, never leave that out. Especially when it's Banquo.

It was creepy. Rather. And he is covered  in blood and that dining table is insanely strong and he just....stands there. He says nothing, terrifies Macbeth, and makes no sign, He just....stands there.

Lady Macbeth really is quite pretty - but that might have been the excellent Forties costuming and themes - although I could never say if it's completely accurate. *laughing* And goodness!!  Macbeth! If I hadn't already thought so, his acting like a terrified child hiding behind his wife from the ghost would only have further connected him with Ahab....

And then, they dance. For whatever reason. And for whatever other reason that dancing scene is rather unsettling and terrifying in its own right. No real idea why - there's just something about it.....

But then Banquo appears again! And he stand there. gory locks and all. And he makes no sign. And he just stands there. "Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!"

And Macbeth shouts at the ghost which only he can see, and his words....  His words accuse him as a whole even as the spectre's hand does. "Or be alive again." They don't know Banquo's dead....  It's not that hard to connect the dots when counted all together. Not that hard to figure out who else had motive.

And Banquo smiles. Macbeth confronts him, and he smiles.

And then he disappears.

He smiles, and he disappears. Fleance is safe, and Macbeth will fall.

Does any of that even make SENSE to another????

And then the entire World War II aesthetic!!!  I love the Forties. That and Shakespeare? A triumph my dear, a triumph.

When shall we three meet again?

It was....an excellent if quite gory adaptation and I fully enjoyed it although I mourn there are no more pictures that I can use.

But a gory, bloody, wounded ghost!!  *shudders* Still creepy.

This, by the way, is the result of nightmares: I don't sleep. Voila!

No lightning, thunder, or dread paths -

What remains save what men hath?

A changing road can still be followed,

Some mercy can still be allowed -

But at which point does madness cover

Guilt for a crime one would do over?

At what point do forces outside

Expunge the guilt for those who've died?

Someone must pay for all the sins -

He who does wrong can't always win.

But so often excuses linger;

And what point can we  point fingers

And say that traitors must be killed?

Each man with his treason is filled.