The Tragedy “Throne of Blood” by Akira Kurosawa

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Macbeth and Noh Theatre
Communication between Men and Women
Lady Macbeth’s Empowerment
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, has been adapted into different films since its original publication in 1623. For example, in 1957, Akira Kurosawa adapted the tragedy of Macbeth as a Japanese character named Washizu into a film called Throne of Blood by making numerous changes perhaps to fit into the cinematic themes of the time. The director manages to show the change in the relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth through the use of colour, lighting, actors’ positions and movement of camera.

Macbeth and Noh Theatre

Shakespeare introduces Lady Macbeth for the first time in the play reading a letter. In this way, Shakespeare shows that Lady Macbeth is an educated woman as she can read and understand, unlike most women in that 16^th century who mainly cared about their homes. Shakespeare wanted to give the audience a sense that women were starting to change and could take power away from men, as shown in later scenes of the play.

In contrast, in Throne of Blood, the first appearance of Lady Macbeth (as named in the movie Asaji) occurred when she was sitting in a dark room with the lighting on her and the camera in a zoom-out position. Here, Kurosawa wanted to show her sitting on stage and to connect this view to Shakespeare’s play. Also the darkness is represents the world of a Japanese woman whose life was dominated by men. The light here shows that this is an area with borders. She cannot go outside this area.

The way she was sitting reflects the traditional Japanese culture dating back 600 years in the Noh theatre. Her unique way of sitting in the movie is derived from Noh. Following Noh theatre traditions, Kurosawa uses a Noh mask to show the female’s role in Japanese culture, as the woman can only change her expression by tilting her head and using a special kind of makeup. This style gives an artistic reflection of Japanese theatre. Kurosawa shows that, by sitting on floor, she does not have any power. If she stands up, then she would show some power as in the second scene when her husband kills the king.

Communication between Men and Women

In this scene, Shakespeare shows the communication between men and women. When Macbeth starts to talk to his wife he says, “My dearest love….” (Shakespeare 23). Shakespeare shows how men are really kind towards women by saying sensitive words in order to show that in that century women and men in Britain were close to each other. In his movie, however, Kurosawa shows there is a gap between the genders. For example, in first appearance of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth enters the room screaming and full of anger (Throne of Blood).

The man does not care about his wife’s feelings and it is expected that the woman has to comfort her husband and be submissive. Lady Macbeth in the film does not enter the room as an empowered and educated woman but she is sitting and tolerating her husband’s rage. In this scene, Kurosawa shows how men dominate women and the gap between them.

The wife does not try to express her feelings and emotions while her husband is free to behave in any way, for example, he can be furious. It is also suggestive that the man is walking freely while the woman is sitting still and looking in front of her. In this scene, the gap is shown through the picture of the way the man and the woman behave.

Importantly, the film is made in black and white. The director wants to focus on the central things without making them better, more beautiful or more colourful. The use of black and white helps the viewer to pay more attention to the relationship between the husband and the wife. The use of black and white in the scene mentioned above shows that there are strict rules and traditions which are followed throughout the film (for example, Lady Macbeth is submissive while Macbeth is totally free and dominating). When the rule is broken and Macbeth listens to his wife, the black and white scene makes the fact of the wrongdoing stand out.

Lady Macbeth’s Empowerment

In Act II, scene II, however, both Shakespeare’s play and Kurosawa’s movie show how if a man listens to a woman, he will end up in her power and she will control him. For example, in Shakespeare’s play, Lady Macbeth says, “But screw your courage to the sticking place, / And we’ll not fail” (Shakespeare 30). This is the turning point as he begins listening to her and she takes the leadership of him. This also occurs in Kurosawa’s movie, when the Lady Macbeth starts to change her position from sitting on the floor to standing up.

She shows power and he does not do anything about their situation, so she takes the leadership from him. Thus, in the scene where Lady Macbeth’s is convincing her husband to murder the king, the director stresses the position of the woman and her role in the family. First, she is sitting and she is hardly able to give any advice. However, soon the roles are changing and she is standing up. Finally, she occupies the equal position.

In other words, the wife is, at first, inferior to her husband and her place is at a low level of the shot. Nonetheless, she stands up and it seems the woman and the man become equal. Though, the final of the story shows that (according to Kurosawa and Shakespeare) women cannot be equal as their ideas are wrong and harmful.

It is also important to add that the use of lighting and movement of camera are very suggestive, especially in the scene mentioned above. Medium close-ups are mingled with long shots. Close-ups show the gap between the wife and the husband, domination of the man. It seems there are two worlds which are torn apart by conventions.

Long shots are used to show the change in the relationship between Lady Macbeth and her husband. The viewer can see that the woman is approaching the man and convincing him to do something which is very wrong. The use of lighting shows that there is darkness in the main character’s hearts and in their worlds. Lady Macbeth often appears from darkness. When the man and the woman are talking about the murder, it seems that darkness is about to swallow them.

Conclusion

To conclude, we can see how Shakespeare presents women in good standing, whereas Kurosawa shows women still under the domination of men. However, both Shakespeare and Kurosawa agree that if man starts listing to a woman and gives her his power, then he will end up doing bad things like killing the king, an action that occurs in both the movie and the play. It is also necessary to add that the two stories are told differently as Shakespeare has words at hand while Kurosawa has such tools as words, light, colour and camera. The director utilises these means to make the story more expressive.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth: With Contemporary Criticism. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2010. Print.

Throne of Blood. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Tokyo, Japan: Toho Studios. 1957. DVD.

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The Tragedy “Throne of Blood” by Akira Kurosawa – Film Analysis

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