Macbeth: Honor And Loyalty

Mikayla Wouters investigates whether honor and loyalty is portrayed correctly or incorrectly in the 1971 version of Macbeth by Roman Polanski. (1971 Macbeth, characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)

“The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part is to receive our duties; and our duties are to your throne and state, children and servants; which do but what they should, by doing everything safe toward your love and honour."- Macbeth before corruption.

Roman Polanski’s interpretation of Macbeth fairly depicts the concept of honor and loyalty which is something that Geoffrey Wright’s version fails to do. Honor and loyalty is demonstrated through the characters Banquo and Macduff and cinematic devices such as

Banquo is a character that most represents honor and loyalty.

Before the three witches corrupted Macbeth, making him turn on Banquo they use to be good friends. Banquo had a suspicion that Macbeth murdered King Duncan, but because of his loyalty he did not want to tell anyone as he did not know if his suspicion was correct. By the end of the film Banquo’s loyalty does not benefit him as Macbeth sends two people to murder him as he know that Banquo has a feeling that Macbeth killed King Duncan. This shows that even though he shows loyalty for others he does not receive it back. Polanski represents Banquo as a man with morals and one who would never turn their back on a friend or family member.

Honor means having high respect for others. Throughout Polanski’s version of Macbeth Banquo demonstrates this as he highly respects King Duncan and would support him with all decisions that he makes.

Loyalty means giving or showing firm and constant support to a person. Banquo is a character that most represents this trait and supports all friends and family that are loyal back to

Malcolm then tests where his loyalty lies. He has a feeling that Macbeth has sent Macduff as a spy. He test him by saying that Macbeth will make a terrible King and wanted to see if Macduff would still support him even if he thought the worst of Macbeth. As Macduff was very loyal to King Duncan he wanted to find out who was behind his murder. As Macduff was a friend on King Duncan he also had a suspicion that Macbeth was the one that murdered him. Macduff felt as if he was the one that needed to take on the duty to murder Macbeth to end everything ones and for all. He was faithful to all other character and was known to be a loyal and honorable man.

Roman Polanski’s uses Cinematic Techniques to illustrate his interpretation of Macbeth. Even though it is the older version it can easily relate to modern audiences. Cinematic techniques are a way to help a modern audience better understand the story of Macbeth. Polanski’s camera angles are very traditional. When camera angles are used it helps the audience grasp a better understanding of a character and their