‘Throne of Blood’: Kurosawa’s adaptation of ‘Macbeth’

'Throne of Blood' is yet another adaptation of Shakespeare's ‘Macbeth’. And like, 'Maqbool', here also, we can see nativized adaptation of the play. It is a 1957 film directed by none other than maestro of Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa has also transposed the plot from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan. Apart from this, he has also made use of stylistic elements of Noh Drama. Noh is a major form of classical Japanese Musical drama and it is the oldest major theater art still regularly performed today.

As with setting, director has taken few liberties with the original play, yet the movie is considered to be one of the best film adaptations of Shakespearean play. The film's Japanese name is Kumonosu-jō, meaning "Spider Web Castle". Like the play, in this movie too, the wife Washizu Asaji (Lady Macbeth) appears to be more ambitious than the protagonist, Washizu Taketoki (Macbeth). 

The movie begins with the battle in which Samurai commanders, Washizu Taketoki and General Miki (Banquo), of Lord Suzuki (King) are fighting against the enemies of Spider Web forest. After the victory, on their way back through the forest, they encountered a spirit (three witches of the play) which made prophecies. It said that Washizu would be named Lord of the Northern Garrison and Miki would now be commander of the first fortress. She then foretold that Washizu would be Lord of the Spider Web Castle. And in the last prophecy, she said that Miki's son would also become Lord later. The last prophecy, in the movie Maqbool doesn't come from witches. It was actually predicted and told by Lady Macbeth. 

When they reached the Spider Web Castle, the first prophecy turned out to be true. Surprised Taketoki tells about the spirit and her prophecies to his wife - Asaji, and she manipulated him to kill the Lord and let the second prophecy to turn true. They killed the Lord when he came to visit them and blamed it on the drunken guards. Except Miki, everyone suspected Taketoki. 

Taketoki wanted to declare Miki's son as his successor so that they might not go against him and the last prophecy would be fulfilled. But, Asaji informed him that she was pregnant. At this juncture, it becomes unavoidable to remove Miki and his son, which he commands but the son escapes. One of the most wonderful scenes of the movie is when Taketoki hallucinates Miki in his court and tries to kill him saying that he can kill him second time as well. Asaji handles the matter and asks everyone to leave saying Taketoki is over-drunk.

Taketoki goes to forest yet again to find the spirit and know his future. Spirit, this time, tells him that he will not be conquered unless the very trees of the Spider Web forest rise against the castle. Taketoki finds it impossible and tells this to his troops and makes them ready to fight against all the enemies. Meanwhile, Asaji started hallucinating blood. The birds from the forest fly on his castle and then he was informed that the 'trees have actually risen to attack.' The enemy troop cut down the trees and used them as shield and marches, covered by bush, towards the castle. Thus, the foretelling is fulfilled and Taketoki's doom is certain. His troops stop obeying his commands partly to appease Miki's son and Noriyasu. And ultimately Taketoki’s troops attack him and kill him.

As mentioned earlier, Kurosawa uses Japanese stylistic features and turns the play into Japanese. He uses the noise from Asaji's kimono when she walks. The wooden floor's noise is also used very effectively. He has used these natural sounds to create the effect of agony and chaos in the movie. 

Let us see this movie in the comparison of the movie ‘Maqbool’. ‘Throne of Blood’ is all about the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Only these two characters are fully developed and portrayed. While in ‘Maqbool’, the character of Lord was portrayed very gracefully and it is one of the characters that audience takes home after the experience of the movie. The characters of witches were also prominent in ‘Maqbool’ and they were active, too. Here, in ‘Throne of Blood’, spirit appears only twice and does nothing more than proclaiming prophecy. ‘Throne of Blood’ is noteworthy for its use of stylistic features of Noh Drama, while ‘Maqbool’ doesn't base on any such classical tradition; instead it adhered to gang-war action genre of Hindi film industry.

Adaptation is essentially an interpretation of the work of art by the director of the movie. And hence, there will be loss and gain in the original work of art. We, as an audience, get a new work of art in the form of the movie, which is somehow related to the original work. ‘Throne of Blood’'s feudal Japan and ‘Maqbool’'s Mumbai underworld are just the examples of such a gain. If the directors of the movie didn't declare that it was based on ‘Macbeth’, we might not have seen Macbeth in Maqbool or Washizu Taketoki. ‘Maqbool’ concentrates on the overall scenario and the characters because of which the protagonist dooms into tragedy, while ‘Throne of Blood’ concentrates only on two major characters:  Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. And the entire movie revolves around the prophecies. This is how these two adaptations differ from the interpretative perspectives. 

In both these adaptations, Macbeth is stooped from his original image of a Hero. He becomes an individual instead. Major parts of both the films screen his struggle to gain the power and become the king, and do not portray him as the hero who fights valiantly for his king and kingdom. I believe the cultural baggage plays a role here. In both Indian and Japanese cultures, Hero remains a Hero. We don't see them act immorally. And hence, from the very beginning of the movies, they are not shown as Heroes, but as powerful characters, whose fall, whose immoral acts may not question the traditional notion of the Hero in respective cultures. For Shakespeare, demise of the Hero was paramount. He gives enough description of Macbeth's heroic actions, but his 'fatal-flaw' was more powerful to turn a hero into a monster.

In spite of all the cultural aspects in the movie Throne of Blood, it was considered too Western in Japan at its time of release. On the other hand, despite the change in setting and language and numerous creative liberties, in the West Throne of Blood is often considered one of the best film adaptations of the play. Harold Bloom, in his 1999 book, ‘Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human’, declares Throne of Blood as "the most successful film version of Macbeth."