3 ms·
I can't agree with the description of Macbeth "dropping the ball with the porter scene". It's a darkly hilarious release of the tension in the previous scene. M
by OkayPhysicist 3y ago
I can't agree with the description of Macbeth "dropping the ball with the porter scene". It's a darkly hilarious release of the tension in the previous scene. Macbeth is losing his mind in guilt, and then suddenly you're in a comedic relief scene, with a hungover drunkard cracking jokes about whiskey dick.
His initial monologue has perhaps not aged as gracefully, but the humor in this hungover buffoon incorporating the knocking at the gate he's supposed to be tending can be funny enough in its own right.
- sandkoan 3y agoYou're absolutely right. The comedic relief scene is almost necessary to avoid us being stretched too taut after the previous. Thomas de Quincey has a great piece reflecting on the very same: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/knockingatgate.html http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/knockingatga...
- bombcar 3y agoHe was saying the scene is incredibly important and the version of Macbeth he liked best dropped the ball on the porter scene. Which, as you say, is a critical ball-drop because that scene is very important for the audience.