Trauma and motivation in Justin Kurzel's Macbeth

Abstract

Film adaptations of Shakespeare’s works face the unique challenge of interpreting the texts in a manner that would propel the unique qualities of the medium that allows it to convey multiple layers of meaning through the cinematic language of editing. The wealth of available interpretations from the timelessness of Shakespeare’s works is especially applicable to the cinematic medium as the methods of conveying meaning and expression increase exponentially with the camera as a free- moving entity around time, spaces, and characters. With the exception of Kenneth Branagh’s full-text adaptation of Hamlet, most directors make additions and subtractions to the original plays in order to convey their specific interpretive vision. Australian film director Justin Kurzel’s 2015 adaptation of Macbeth is one that, while being set physically in the historical past of the original play, presents relatively modern psychological concepts with regard to war and its traumatic consequences, as well as the trauma of loss and melancholia. This study analyzes Kurzel’s additions and subtractions to the source material, as well as the cinematic language utilized to convey how the trauma of loss, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the death drive work as motivational narrative thrusts for the actions Macbeth and Lady Macbeth undertake.