Adaptation and perseverance

The film adaptation of Macbeth featuring Patrick Stewart offers a modernized depiction of the Shakespearean classic. With properties present only in film, this adaptation serves to drastically alter the original work. Because of these alterations, this film offers a unique variation to the audience. Through these changes, varying from subtle to drastic, this film is able to expand upon points noted as negligible within the play. Similarly, this film is also able to touch on broader horizons, expanding past the original limitations of the film. Whether or not these changes improve the original work is heavily debated, likely never to find a definitive answer. However, we can acknowledge this new work offers its own unique experience, appreciating it as a separate entity, molded by the original masterpiece.
Elements such as lighting, audio, and varying shots elicit feelings once unobtainable in live theatre. The witches, mysterious and malevolent beings, were once limited to women (or even men) clad in garbs and prosthesis. In this film adaptation the witches are instead given their ominous traits through effects which were irreplicable or unnoticed by audiences of a play. Primarily, the witches are accompanied by drastic changes of lighting, creating a sense of uneasiness in the audience. Similarly, makeup effects such as much paler skin continue to act as a representation of the witches' otherworldliness. However, these elements are exemplified by the introduction of the closeup shot, featuring details once unseen by the masses attending a live performance such as the witches' 'dead' lips of an unnatural shade.
Through these elements, this rendition of Shakespeare's work is able to expand upon the original frame, offering an experience once out of reach. As a whole, we viewers can come to appreciate this adaptation, relishing elements unique to the medium of film. Similarly, we viewers can relive and cherish Shakespeare's original masterpiece as it perseveres through the ages.