Cranford Review 2020

# ENGLISH
Is this a dagger, which I see before me?
prophecy about him becoming King of
Scotland one day. Consumed by his ambition
and spurred to action by his wife leads him
to brutally and cold-bloodedly murder King
Duncan. This allows him to take the throne
but also kill more people out of paranoia and
to maintain his status. In the end, Macbeth
is wracked with guilt and paranoia and is
himself killed by Macduff. The real heir of
the throne, Malcolm (son of Duncan) can
now rule Scotland and make Scotland great
again.
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Macbeth is one of the most famous Shakespeare
plays. This play is about vaulting ambition,
guilt and murder and shows how fear takes
different forms – anxiety, paranoia, terror and panic – and
what it can make people do. I have always wondered how
it would have felt to watch this play where it was first
performed. Well, I was lucky along with some Year 11s
from other London secondary schools to get free tickets
to the Shakespeare Globe Theatre to watch Macbeth.
After an hour’s drive to the theatre, we entered this large,
open circular, globe like building, just like its name.
The building was filled with all the fortunate students
chattering and admiring the Globe. I used the first few
minutes to look around and see what was so special
about this ‘Globe’ that so many people come here to
watch a play. It is the history of the Globe that makes
it so special, the fact that the original Globe was build
hundreds of years ago and we can still experience how a
contemporary audience of Shakespeare’s felt when they
first watched this electric play.
The Globe had a sitting area and a standing area. Back in
Shakespeare’s days, the standing area was for the poor
and the sitting area was for the rich people. However,
I personally think the standing area is much better than
the sitting area, as it allowed us to stand near the stage
and interact with the actors. I was glad that I was one
of the many students who got to stand right next to the
stage and interact with the performers. In the middle
of the stage there was a pile of dead bodies, which was
alarming, but helped to set the mood for murder and
terror. As time went by and the closer we got to the start
of the play I was able to literally feel the anticipation and
excitement growing inside of me and the other students.
The play was about a brave soldier, Macbeth, and how
his ambition led to his downfall and his death. Macbeth’s
first downfall occurs when he believes the witches’
I personally liked the fact that Lady Macbeth
was presented as pregnant when in the play she
was not. This give emphasis to her dialogues
and more reasons for Macbeth to kill Duncan
and take the throne. One of the dialogues
that was emphasised by her appearance was
when she was trying to manipulate Macbeth:
‘I know how tender ’tis to love the babe that
milks me....’This shows that she loves her
husband so much that she would rather kill
her baby than break a promise to her husband.
I also liked the way Malcolm was presented
as childlike as it showed that the real heir
of the throne is not ready to rule and be a
king due to his immaturity. Also he flees the
country and leaves Macbeth to rule because
he is afraid that the murderer will kill him
too. This shows he is not only childlike but
a coward as Kings are supposed to brave. He
comes across as unfit to be King.
Lastly I liked the play overall and some of the
stage changes worked well and made the play
even more interesting, giving a whole new
meaning to it we would not have thought of.
Most of all I really loved the way actors were
engaging with the audience and made us seem
part of the play. For example, when King
Duncan entered the stage, he came through
the crowd of teenagers and shook hands with
them (I was one of them!). This was a very
good technique as it showed us how a good
King interacts with his people and made it
easier for us to compare him with Macbeth,
who was a bad King. The play ended with all
the actors on the stage dancing and singing. I
was grateful for this amazing opportunity to
experience a play in the place where it was
originally performed. I will never forget it.
Jasmin Kaur (year 11)