Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Roman Polanski Unanswered Questions - 1,141 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

The last moments of a production are important because they can greatly alter the audiences' interpretation of the entire play. This is especially true in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. A number of unanswered questions such as whom is responsible for Macbeth's fate and whether peace is restored to the kingdom, gather at the end of the play Macbeth. In each of the different productions, directors Orson Wells, Roman Polanski, and Trevor Nunn allude to these answers. Shakespeare's play ends with Malcolm saying to his kinsman: We shall not spend a large expense of time Before we reckon with your several loves And make us even with you. My Thanes and kinsmen, Henceforth be Earls, the first that ever Scotland In such an honor named.

What's more to do, Which would be planted newly with the time, As calling home our exiled friends abroad That fled the snares of watchful tyranny, Producing forth the cruel ministers Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands Took off her life; this, and what needful else That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace We will perform in measure, time, and place. So thanks to all at once and to each one, Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone (5. 9. 60 - 75) Because his speech merely recaps past events that the audience already knows and does not provide any revelation into the unanswered questions of the play, Malcolm's speech leaves the audience with ambiguities. Malcolm's speech contains no comments on where to place the blame of Macbeth's fate, thus the audience must decide for themselves as to whether Macbeth alone stands responsible for his fate or whether the witches participation holds them as the responsible ones. Director Roman Polanski attempts to answer to this ambiguity in the last scene of his production of Macbeth. The evening turns to dusk, and the air holds a hazy mystical feel.

The sound of the witches playing a flute-like musical instrument rises from behind two large rocks. Then Donalbain, leaving his horse behind, limps toward those rocks intently looking for those whom he believes reside there. He then disappears behind the rocks and the music stops, insinuating that they will now prophesied the future for Donalbain. In his last scene, Polanski leaves the viewer with the notion that the witches control fate like puppeteers with their dolls, and the kingdom and its inhabitants are mere pawns in their game. Donalbain stands to gain the throne after the death of his elder brother Malcolm; therefore he becomes the perfect toy for the witches. Polanski creates this notion that the witches control the kingdom and its inhabitants in order to prove that ultimately Macbeth does not control his own fate and therefore does not hold responsibility for his own actions.

Macbeth foreshadows the idea that fate holds ultimate power and people only act out their minor roles in the brief production of life, when he says, "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more" (5. 5. 24 - 26). Then Polanski reinforces the same idea stated in Macbeth's speech in the final moments of the production with the image of the witches controlling Donalbain just as they ultimately control Macbeth during his life. Similar to the Polanski production, the Orson Wells production also supports the idea that the witches control fate and that Macbeth stands powerless against the forces of the witches and the predestined outcome of his future. The last scene of this production contains a hazy mysterious feel due to the setting of the sun and the smoke-like clouds hovering low around the castle. The witches stare at the castle from a distance dressed in dark ominous costume. These burlap gowns are long, dark, and coarse, similar to that belonging to a wizard.

They hold in their hand long dark staffs. The staff denotes a sign of authority, in fact the Oxford English Dictionary defines a staff as "a stick or pole as a sign of office or authority" (Abate, 777). Wells ends his production with this image of authoritative witches. They position themselves thematically in the scene far away from the castle, amidst the smoky haze.

Wells ends his production with this image in order to leave an impression of powerful witches that look down upon the kingdom from their omniscient view and do as they will with the kingdom and its people, just as they toy with Donalbain in Polanski's production. A deep and dark sounding music plays in the background while the witches silently and motionlessly peer at the castle unbeknown to the others in the kingdom. After staring at the castle for a few moments, one witch says to no one in particular, "Peace! The charms wound up. " The witch's statement at the end of this scene answers Shakespeare's ambiguity by showing Macbeth as a victim of the witch's charm. Macbeth merely plays out his role in the "charm" or spell that the witches confess to placing on the kingdom, and now that Macbeth's life ends, so ends the charm. In order to make his argument more convincing, Wells repeats the line, "Peace the charms wound up", from earlier in the play.

Wells wants to show that the witches do have power over Macbeth through their charm and he does this by paralleling Macbeth with the sailor. The witches vindictively curse the sailor because his wife refuses to share her chestnuts with one of the witches after she demands the woman to do so. When the first witch returns to her sister, and she tells them of the event with the sailor's wife and then tells them that "like a rat without a tail, / I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do" (1. 3. 9 - 10). Her sisters offer their help, and then the first witch describes the curse she will place on the sailor when she says, "I will drain him as dry as hay/ Sleep shall neither night nor day/ Hang upon his penthouse lid" (1. 3. 18 - 20). Then she also says, "Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. / Though his bark cannot be lost/ Yet it shall be tempest-tossed" (1. 3. 24 - 26).

Then the sisters join hands and begin their nonsense chant that curses the sailor. They conclude this curse by saying, "Peace! The charm's wound up. " Just as the sailor holds no responsibility for the downfall of his ship and his unlucky fate, neither does Macbeth hold responsibility for his unlucky demise. Their actions hold no influence because they play mere subjects in the witches' curse and their futures lie predetermined by the will of the witches. Unlike the other two productions, director Trevor Nunn takes...


Free research essays on topics related to: unanswered questions, polanski, wells, first witch, roman polanski

Research essay sample on Roman Polanski Unanswered Questions

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com