I believe the reason why looking at both the play and the book is important is because it allows us to make a comparison between two different mechanisms that express Shakespeare’s idea and understand the difference. To be specific, there were some scenes in the book that weren’t included in the play. For example, in the book, there is a scene where Macduff’s son asks why Macduff is considered a traitor. However, the director didn’t decide to include this scene in the play. Through this difference, I was able to realize that this scene was made to heighten Macbeth’s evilness of treating Macduff as a traitor. Moreover, this made me realize that certain changes are okay to be made if it doesn’t significantly impact the overall plot. Moreover, because the play has people acting for a specific scene, it became further support in understanding the context.
I think the play more than the book. The first reason is that I was able to understand the feelings and emotions of each character through play. This is because actors used different voices to convey certain character’s emotions in different scenes. Through this, the tone of each scene was heightened. The second reason is that it was easier to understand. Even though there were difficult old languages similar to the book, I was able to guess some meanings through the actor’s acting. Consequently, I was able to clearly understand the overall plot of the play.
Writer: Soyun Lee
(Picture is from movie "Macbeth".)