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What it would feel like
 to be cast in the role
of Macbeth Essay Example
 

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Character Analysis Macbeth

 

       I am excited that I have been cast in the lead role in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. I have not had the lead role in a major play so I am very excited to show everybody what I am capable of. I hope I am believable as a big powerful soldier and warrior. My biggest worry is not being viewed as bigger than life, like Macbeth is. I plan to eat tons of lean protein and work out every day so I look fit enough to pull off the role.

       I have light brown hair and green eyes naturally. I am thinking about getting black contact lenses so I can look more regal and severe. I am a little undersized to play Macbeth so I am going to ask the costume seamstress to add some stuffing around my shoulders and my chest, so I look more like a warrior. In the first act my costume needs to be royal blue to portray my loyalty to the King that I fight for. For Act II when I kill the King I am going to ask to wear black, to match the blackness of my heart. Once I become King I believe I should wear purple, so the public knows that I am a royal.

       At the beginning of the play in the first Scene I am a soldier returning from battle. As far as the audience knows I am brave, honorable and loyal to my King. Once I meet the three witches my life begins to unravel. I am already thinking about being King but I am undecided whether I should allow myself to think this way or not. The witches seem so sure of my fate. I am suddenly unsure of myself and I feel an evil growing inside of me. I am filled with self doubt and inner turmoil. By Act 2 I am ambitious and greedy. Lady Macbeth pumps me up and lets me know that she will be disappointed in me if I am not King. I want to be King so badly it is all I think about and I am willing to betray my dear friend Duncan to do it. I do not care about the consequences and I am starting not to care about the morality of what I am thinking of doing. Once I murder King Duncan my life completely unravels and I start to lose my mind. I am in a constant state of fear and I have begun to hallucinate constantly. I feel guilty and have constant self-doubt. My ambitions to be King are rivaled only by my desire to get away with murder. Slowly I am driving myself mad.

       My behavior is all over the place during the play. In the beginning of the play when I meet the three witches I am with Banquo. When I am walking from the battlefield with my friend I feel confident and secure. I know I am a good soldier and a good friend. When I walk out on stage I plan to throw out my chest and act manly. When I meet the witches my acting will have to portray to the audience how ambitious and greedy I can be. When the witches tell me I will be Thane of Cawdor I instantly wonder if I do that by murder. I will radically have to change my facial expressions to show my turbulent thoughts. I think of myself as loyal and trustworthy and honorable before meeting the witches. Later in the play, when I am with Lady Macbeth, she makes me feel weak and like a coward if I do not kill the King. She tells me I am not living up to my full potential. I believe this will be my most difficult scene. Lady Macbeth is the love of my life and I have to portray that I want to make her happy but I fear I am not the murderer she wants me to be. I do not want Lady Macbeth to think me a coward. As her husband I will do everything I can to make my wife happy and proud of me. Thing goodness I get to kill the King offstage so I don't have to worry about that scene at least. When I come back on stage I am filled with hate, and my face will have to show this. I am remorseful and filled with rage. I show my rage pounding my hands and then brutally murdering the drunk guards. In this scene I need to look both scary and pitiful so the audience understands I feel bad about everything I have done so far, yet I am capable of murder.

       In Act one I am walking with my friend. I am proud walking with Banquo. My voice is clear and strong. My body language shows how proud I am of my bravery on the battlefield. My face is open, honest and loyal. I am the perfect masculine ideal and everything about me needs to seeing regal and above reproach. I walk with purpose knowing that I am a loyal servant to my King and a hero. My entire personality changes after hearing the witch’s prophecy for my future. I instantly feel conflicted and guilty. Proof that I am in ambitious petty man deep in my heart where nobody can see, I think instantly about committing murder against my King. My entire mood becomes darker and I am filled with self doubt. I am also starting to feel consuming ambition taking over my mind and making me think dark terrible thoughts. To pull this off in front of a large crowd my face will be contorted with the agony of self doubt. My eyes should be full of fear and rage.

       Macbeth is a fascinating character to portray onstage. My favorite quote in the play comes in scene two where I say “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” (2.2.32-33). Here Macbeth praises sleep as a release from all of your problems in a fantasy world he would like to go back and live in. Macbeth is also aware that an innocent man can enjoy his sleep in his dreams. But I am not an innocent man I am the murderous man filled with rage and hate and self-doubt and I do not deserve sleep and I will never sleep again. This quote is incredibly important to my character is the point where madness begins to set in my mind. I know exactly how I would say this line. The first few words would be in a loud rage filled scream. By the time I got to sleep no more it would be in a normal speaking voice. The last section of the quote would almost be in a loud whisper pitifully with tears in my eyes. I want the audience to be mad at me and feel sorry for me at the same time. I am SO getting a Tony award for best performance!!!!

 

 

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