MACBETH - W. Shakespeare

                Character: Malcolm

    

     Who is my character?

      Malcolm is the heir to the throne, the eldest son of King Duncan. He also has a younger brother, Donalbain which whom he has a good and close relationship. He is living in Scotland, in the king's castle. He is an intelligent and a noble person.

      
     How is he introduced in the play?

      He is making his appearance in the second scene, when walking with king Duncan, they find a wounded sergeant. His compassion and desire to help are shown starting with this very scene when he is helping the ''good and hardy soldier that fought against my captivity''. This piece of line highlights the fact that he is grateful and doesn't forget the people once helped him. Also, he is willing to return the favour, seeing him as a ''brave friend''.

     
     Synopsis

      During the play, he is in a constant evolution. He is starting as a good educated man, son of a king, but who hasn't many responsibilities, because his father is there to tell him what his next steps would be. Once the king is murdered, he is forced to step up and come with a strategy plan to defeat his father's murderer and be the new king.

     Evolution throughout the play

      Finding out Macbeth killed his father forces him and his brother to run away, thinking that there is no good in consorting with those that contributed to the murder; so he left to England and Donalbain to Scotland. Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife has observed and analysed what happened and decides to join Malcolm, leaving his castle, wife and child by themselves. When the lord goes to meet Malcolm, who was aware of what he has done to come to him, Malcolm is suspicious and decides to test him. Once Malcolm understands Macduff's reasons (Macduff considers Macbeth to be a terrible king and person who has brought only pain for the kingdom and the people around him, unworthy of trust or love, killing everything he touches), they will team up to get Macbeth defeated and regain the power; Malcolm is offering his resources and power to Macduff, who was going to be the one fighting Macbeth (''What I am truly is thine and my poor country's to command.'').

   At the end of the play, he will be the model of virtue and restraint, taking his father's place and becoming king of Scotland once Macduff kills Macbeth. He is thinking of ''calling home our exiled friends'' who were forced to leave the country to save their lives. Malcolm will follow a new way of ruling, which will be the opposite of Macbeth's: ''we will perform in measure, time and place''. His relationship with the people in the kingdom is another aspect that reveals his born qualities of a good king; when he is announcing his crowning, everyone is cheering and happy for the new era that's coming.

    

     Personal vision over the character

      I've decided to illustrate my character as a noble and disciplined person. His body posture will always be straight, his head up, but he will not step back when it comes helping a person in need (he is carrying the wounded sergeant that was down on the battle field). Even though the circumstances he's given make him run away and not fight, he is doing that because he has a better way of approaching the situation. He is keeping the same behaviour and attitude, but he doesn't want to end up like his dad, assassinated by Macbeth. That makes him go to England and be aware of the false people around him that could come with evil intentions for him or his brother.. Meeting Macduff is an important moment, because that is the point when he really starts to believe his purpose can be achieved: coming with a strategy plan to defeat ''the tyrant'' and save his country, which he has a lot of love for. I portray him like a very decided person once he is the king, willing to impose a new way of leading.

    

   
     The costume

     As we decided our costumes to be adapted to a modern time, I wore a smart suit, with a decorated shirt, to highlight my royal origins. In the day of performance my shoes were black and my hair was tied up in a bun, as I decided to embrace the character as a male person and not transform it into a female one.

     For the beginning scene, where all the characters were on the stage, having the ''Hamilton inspired'' moment, we all wore black hoodies over our costumes and our faces could not be seen as we were looking at the ground. The idea of this moment was to forget who our characters were, because our identities were not important then; the important thing was the moment itself.

     For the scenes where we found out king Duncan was murdered, our intention was our story to be as close as possible to reality and wore pyjamas, as it happens during the night, when everyone is sleeping or intending to. I had a dark-blue pyjama for men, I'd say a classic one, which I thought would be suitable for my character.

    

    
  Here above are the sheets Shenagh gave to us to complete in order to fix details that will make it possible for us to picture our character and stay truth to it, having all the context we need. I have to say, these sheets have been very useful to me, because if you think about it, you can't be you, you can't live your life without knowing everything about yourself, about the places you go to, about the people you meet, even about the piece of paper thrown in the corner of your room or why your fingernails are not cut (like, have I forgotten to cut them or I want to grow them?); well, you could if you had amnesia, but this is not the case. The same thing applies when you play a role; for an hour or two or as long as the play is on, you are not yourself anymore, you are someone else and you embrace him/her as you’ve embraced yourself during all your life, because now the character is you.

     So, completing these files had made me think about things that maybe weren’t clear enough for me at that point, like any special gesture or my general mood.