Macbeth: Macbeth and Therapists Essay example

Submitted By roarkmenezes
Words: 1226
Pages: 5

My play will be based on events that a likely to occur in US politics. This will be an adaptation of Act 1 Scene 2 of the original Macbeth play. It will feature Macbeth, who in this scene is going to meet the three witches, as the president of the United States.

The witches are his three "therapists" and they advise him of most everything that he needs and wants to know. In this scene Macbeth must feed his hunger for the knowledge of the future. He is entirely obsessed with this one thought. He is scared of his fate and has an idea stuck in his brain that demands knowledge of the future.

Act 4, Scene 1 in a modern adaptation would commence with the president, in a black limousine, approaching the white house, where the three advisers, each the three witches, are preparing the room so that his treatment will be successful. As much of the presidents’ life is in secrecy, it is safe to say that possible anything could be happening in his personal life.

As he arrives at the building he gets out of the car shuffles his suit and walks into the building. Then he takes the elevator to the top floor where the therapists are waiting for him. Prior to this scene however, we are shown what the "therapists" are doing. They are setting up the room so that it is the ideal situation to perform the task of hallucination on John.

They will show him the apparitions of what is to happen to him and what will change as new events occur in the future. All objects that may remind the president of anything other than disgust are taken away from the room. This is to ensure that the president feels that he is receiving the most unorthodox form of treatment.

Once John enters the room, he greets the three therapists and they seat him. They tell him to relax and think of nothing. Then they tell him to open his eyes and follow the pendulum that is moving side to side with continuous momentum. Soon he transfers into a state of trance where his mind is subject to whatever the therapists want.

They let him see the future. Each apparition offers a prediction to allay John’s fears of the future. The first apparition is that of the head of the senate, James Beeley. John is told that he must beware of James as he could be a fatal threat to John. The figure descends and a child with blood smeared all over its body appears. It tells John that he is invincible and that “none of woman born shall harm John”.

John found his own fear concerning John echoed by the first Apparition. But John is unable to read into the equivocation of the second apparition. He draws a simplistic conclusion that he is invincible, never to die in the hands of a man. They body of the child descends and a child wearing a crown, with a tree in its hand rises. It tells John that he is safe until the nearby Black Forest moves to Washington. He finds this hard to believe as it is not possible for an entire forest to animate and move.

The figure descends but John is still left with the question on whether Charles’ (Banquo) family may keep reappearing during his reign as President (his family has kept doubting him as the culprit for his death). The therapists’ say that they may answer no more questions and that they insist that they leave.

John demands the answer and states that denial will be met with an eternal curse. The therapists then show him the last apparition which is that of eight presidents before him and then followed by Banquo. John demands the meaning of this vision but the therapists have already left by then.

At this point his top adviser enters the room and informs him that the James has resigned from the parliament. John knows his plan and orders the death of his wife and son through secret services.

In this scene the key roles are played by John (Macbeths) and the three witches. However Charles (Banquo) and James (Macduff) make appearances in the form of apparitions and Lennox arrives at the end of the scene to inform John of Macduff’s