Rampant Sexuality in Polanski’s and Cal Poly’s Macbeth

Which of Shakespeare’s plays is the most sexually-charged? You might say As You Like It, for its large love circle, or perhaps Twelfth Night, for its sexual ambiguity. You would likely not choose Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedies. However, watching Polanski’s and Cal Poly’s Macbeth might change your opinion[SM1] .

Shakespeare’s Macbeth includes few scenes with sexual undertones. The most blatant one involves a drunken porter who greets Macduff at Macbeth’s castle. In their conversation, the porter equates drunkenness to lechery, and states that drinking “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance” (2.3 31-33) and that it “makes him stand to and not stand to” (2.3 36-37). This is a reference both to the mental capacity required for sex and the negative effect of alcohol on maintaining an erection. The porter also mentions that “we were carousing till the second cock” (2.3 25-26). This could mean they caroused until 3 AM or until their second round of sexual activity. The next most sexually charged scenes are where Lady Macbeth and Macbeth question each other’s and their own manliness. When Lady Macbeth desires courage to slay the king, she asks to “unsex me here” (1.5 42). Later she goads Macbeth into murdering Duncan by insulting his manhood, describing him as a “poor cat i’ th’ adage” (1.7 44). When responding to Lady Macbeth’s relentless goading, Macbeth describes her as having “undaunted mettle should [SM2] compose nothing but males” (1.7 73-74). The exchanges between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth define gender through action rather than describing physical sexuality.

Polanski’s Macbeth depicts surprisingly blatant sexuality. When Macbeth visits the witches for the second time, the witches’ cave is filled with about twenty naked witches. Although the witches are not attractive, the ritualistic chanting and witchcraft makes this scene resemble a large lesbian cult orgy. When [SM3] Macbeth’s hired murderers assail Macduff’s castle, Lady Macduff tries to run but finds the murderers raping her female servants. Although raping fits in the play, the play does not mention any raping. Lastly, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks nude. Since both the doctor and her attendant observe her sleepwalking, this makes the scene very voyeuristic, and thus more sexual than described in the play. Similarly to the witch scene, by making the characters nude, it makes the sleepwalking scene much more mystical [SM4] .

In Cal Poly’s Macbeth, only scenes with the porter or the witches are highly sexual. By contrast, scenes with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are very asexual in that Macbeth often keeps distance from Lady Macbeth. He only touches her romantically when he spreads her arms after describing his plan to take the throne. A female plays the porter role, making it very sexual when she spreads her legs to stand up and when she describes carousing until the second cock. The witches are the most sexual characters. When they first tell Macbeth of his destiny, they force him to the ground and restrain him. After telling him, Macbeth writhes on the ground with his pelvis contracting and thrusting, as if after a powerful ejaculation. In this case, he has a mental orgasm caused by hearing the prophecy of becoming king. Later the witches bind Macbeth, restraining his arms by coiling him in a long cloth, in a very sadomasochistic fashion[SM5] .

In both Polanski’s and Cal Poly’s Macbeth, the witches play a prominent sexual role not originally described in Shakespeare’s Macbeth[SM6] .