Macbeth Performances- Josh Williams

Throughout our last unit in Honor English, our class read and analyzed the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.  The essay which we wrote for this unit analyzed whether or not Shakespeare's writing was still necessary in today’s classrooms.  I argued that it was not.  One of the reasons that I used to support my claim was that his works are no longer properly portrayed.  I wrote that “One of the most compelling arguments against the use of Shakespeare to educate students is that it is not properly taught.  Instead of being given a performance by experienced actors, like intended by Shakespeare, students are forced to read Shakespeare on their own or listen to their teachers and classmates give a tedious account of it.  As Mark Powell, an experienced modern Shakespeare performer, puts it ‘Shakespeare wrote to put money in his pocket, food on the table and fire in the bellies of his audiences, not strike modern teenagers with fear. Most of Shakespeare's audiences were illiterate. His words were chosen to be spoken or heard, not to be read and deadened behind a desk – they wither when performance is removed’ (Powell).  Therefore, it is no mystery why students choose to skim over Shakespeare's works or read summaries on them.”

At the end of the unit, Mr. Johnson had us do something abnormal from normal Shakespeare curriculums: perform sections of the play.  Our class split up into groups and each performed a scene from the play.  The group I was in chose to perform the fight scene from the end of the play in which Macbeth was killed by Macduff (Act V, Scene VII).  Some other notable performances included the witches first prophecy (Act I, Scene III), the killing of Duncan (Act II, Scene II),and the witches second prophecy (Act IV, Scene I).  It was a great experience being able to perform in front of the class.  Both performing a scene and watching other scenes being performed allowed many of us to better visualize and understand Macbeth.  Even though we were not able to see a professional rendition of Shakespeare's work (a movie or play), acting out the scenes was very beneficial, and was a step in the right direction in regards to properly portraying Macbeth as Shakespeare intended it to be.