Macbeth Assignment

Hi folks, i registered on here as i am having quite some difficulty with my Year 12 English assignment on Macbeth. :(

I am to take on the role of a character in the play Macbeth who presents a soliloquy or speech. I then have to select a soliloquy or speech and rewrite and present this script to reveal its resonance and relevance with the modern audience.

I should have an updated setting and modernise all dialogue and make it relevant. Any setup with a hierarcy will do. I can also write a soliloquy for a character who hasn't got one in the play if i wish..

I'm just stuck for ideas and a setting. :(. as i think i understand the play reasonably well as it deals with themes such as thirst for power, influences and backstabbing friends..

Hope you can help with a modern setting..

Thanks!

Hi rlm. :seeya:

Well, you do seem to understand what the play is about. So try this: Think about people who remind you of Macbeth, or of Lady Macbeth, or any other particular character. These could be real people, celebrities, people you know, or even fictional characters from books, TV or movies with a modern setting. Then think why they remind you of those people. This should give you some insight into how the things at play in Macbeth -- things like power struggles and personal insecutiries -- manifest in our modern world.

Good luck!

Thank you that helped a lot.. The heirarchy i have decided on is a Street Gang where Duncan is the highest ranked and respected withing the group (Head of Gang) and Macbeth is the second highest (General) and has been with them for quite some time.

The scene i have chosen to rewrite is Act 1 Scene 7 where Macbeth is pondering whether to kill Duncan or not. I've done about 550 words and I'm currently aiming for around 600..

It would be really great and appreciative if someone could proofread it.. Help me out with spelling, grammer, context and ideas.. Thanks.


To Shoot or not to Shoot

If only the action is all that is required to kill him and end’s all that I must go through. If I committed the deed and then afterwards, what’s done is done, if no one ever found out, everything went as planned and all was a success, then no doubt I’d have killed him by now, swiftly without hesitation…


Killing Duncan would most likely very well make everything point to me Macbeth, to become the Head of our Gang. It’d have to be me; as I’m probably the second most trusted and respected within the group. I’d be in charge as I’ve spent my time here and proved my loyalty to all, worked up into the ranks from back when I was a Foot Soldier to my time now as a General. The countless deed’s it has taken to get here would all just seem worth it at last. The death, drugs and the criminal record held against me wouldn’t seem to matter. I’d have all the power, authority and respect I’d ever want and need, these would be my men and heavily protected, there’d be no potential to dispute me ever again.

But what if it came back to haunt me? What if my brother’s and friends found out?… then who would be on the firing line and suffer immense consequences both in this life and “in the life to come”? And there is nothing could prepare a man for that. I’d have to flee somewhere else and hope never to be found. Where would I go? Surely this isn’t worth it? I’d be living in fear day-after-day and there’d be nothing worth living for. There would be the guilt that would have a permanent place within my soul and I’d have no job, no money and I’d just spend the hours of my life on the run – back where I started. But no, these men are smart – they’d find and kill me, like I’ve seen them hunt down other criminals and ganglords. They would be uncontrollable on their desperate hunt and they’d be all over me not forgetting the cops.


Yeah if you think about it the consequences and aftermath of murdering my boss don’t seem to stack up to my ambitions.

Besides, this is Duncan; he’s like a brother to me. He offered me protection, a place where I can call home, and took me under his wing when as a young kid I had nothing. All I was; was an easy target for crims and I’d get jumped walking to and from school. Duncan taught me his ways, ways to make money and earn a living the hard way. I can’t imagine what I would have done if I didn’t join these men as I was on the downslide – leaving home there was nowhere else to go. He’s never done anything wrong by me; he’s always been a generous man within our crew, stern but a man of his word. He has always protected every member in the gang including myself, and as his cousin, I’m trusted by him, I should be protecting the man, shutting the door to any potential murderers, not trying to kill him myself.

I can’t do it; surely Duncan doesn’t deserve to die not after everything’s he’s done for me.



EDIT: That goes for just under 3 minutes.. I need to carry it on a bit more as it has to go for 4-6mins :/