Throne of Blood

The theme of “Throne of Blood”, by Akira Kurosawa, was derived from Macbeth, written and played by William Shakespeare. Most, if not all of Kurosawa’s moral theme’s are pulled from American plays and put into Japanese milieu. Thus bringing the depth of the theme to a new level. When Kurosawa does this transformation from western civilization to Japanese culture, he emphasises on every single thought that passes through the actors mind during the shooting.
The theme of both play’s are the same, but the way they are presented are totally different. Both main character’s go through the same steps of emotion and struggles, however, the representation of them are different. Take the prophecy teller’s. Macbeth meets three witches after a huge truimphet battle. They tell him that he will become a general and then upgraded to king soon. Washizu meets only one witch who tells him of his prophecy. Now, the difference between these two scenes are major. Macbeth’s character takes it as untrue tellings and brushes it off. He keeps it in the back of his mind and hopes it is reality. Washizu, on the other hand, takes this woman very serious when he meets her and in a way treats her with respect and fear. Deeply rooting the meaning of this scene in the japanese culture.
The middle of both plays are close to being identical except in the way they are represented. The meaning behind each scene in “Throne of Blood “ is hidden behind facial expressions, body language, and reactions to certian things and events.Macbeth, however, is put out there for all to catch, there is no true depth in what each person is doing, its all in what they say and getting the point across verbally. The separation of the theme between each play lies within the depth that Kurosawa puts into every detail of emotion, movement, and environment.
Another wonderful example would be when the prophecy tellers inform both characters about not being defeated in battle until the trees move to attack. Both characters laugh this off becaase they know for a fact that trees cannot move, much less do battle. Yet, it is in there reactions to what happens that gives each one a different spin on the theme. For Macbeth, the rest of the prophecy tells that he will only die from a man “not born of a woman”. Therefore when Macbeth learns that the rising army of the enemy is using these trees has shield’s for protection, he doesn’t totally flip out. IT is when he learns that the rest of the prophecy is fulfilled that he realizes he is going to die no matter what.
For Washizu, he only knows that he will be defeated in battle when the trees move. He more than happily laughs this off and gains his confidence back. Yet when he sees the trees moving in around his castle his attiude changes and he realizes that he is going to be defeated. However, he still believes that he can win and survive. His men take the tress as defeat and realize that there is no way out and decide to take matters into their own hands. They decide to kill Washizu and give his head to his enemy.
The difference between these two wonderful works are not in the plot or script. Yet more along the lines of the depth and importants of emotion, imagery, facial expression, and movement.