Throne of Blood and Macbeth

"They say dreams manifest our basest desires."

-Throne of Blood (1957)

Throne of Blood and Macbeth

Throne of Blood, a novel written by Kurosawa, is a Japanese adaptation of Macbeth by Shakespeare, except that Macbeth is derived from historical events in the eleventh-century Scotland and Throne of Blood is derived from the civil war in medieval Japan. 

Many people consider Throne of Blood as an adaptation of Macbeth, others don't. However, both of them have a lot of similarities. For example, Shakespeare's play contains ideas of kingship, ambition, murder, evilness, among others. On the other hand, Kurosawa in Throne of Blood, also demonstrates how a human becomes from being a moderated person into a blinded one due to the hunger of power. Kurosawa dramatizes in Throne of Blood murder and evilness, which can be considered as themes. Other similarity between these two plays, is the encounter with the witch, however, we can infer from Kurosawa's movie, that when Washizu saw the witch for the first time his reaction towards her was serious and unrelenting, in contrast, in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth's first reaction towards the witches was of eagerly confrontation.  

                            

When Washizu met the witch, he wasn't the one that asked about the omens demonstrating that we wasn't anxious and/or ambitious about the outcome of his future. In contrast with Macbeth, Macbeth was the one that insisted the witches to tell him about his future and fame that was predicted by them. Washizu left the forest after his encounter with the witch but Macbeth didn't show an eager reaction, instead, he decided to stay and had a discussion with Banquo. 

Another difference between both is that Washizu became speechless after he hear the prediction of the witch but Macbeth asked Banquo if his sons would be kings, because he was wondering about how many impediments he had to eliminate for the fulfillment of his desire: becoming king. 

Another similarity between both, is the atrocities Washizu and Macbeth need to commit to achieve their purposes created due to the wicked prophecy. Washizu assassinated the Great Lord and Macbeth assassinated King Duncan. Both cracked under pressure when they decided to take away someone else's life, they also longed to have more power.

 There is a similarity between Lady Macbeth and Asaji-donno, both manipulated their husband and led them take the wrong way. It is important to say that as well as their husbands, they both were ambitious, they wanted to have power. However, there is also a difference between them, Asaji-donno was not the most word-expressive woman, instead she used a lot facial expressions to imply her  thoughts, this made Washizu feel vulnerable and weak. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth seemed to be  very word-expressive with his husband. Asaji-donno told his husband several times that the seeking  of power and crown was a conduct that shouldn't cause guilt nor pain. On the other hand, Lady  Macbeth did several wrong actions, she blamed herself for causing the irrevocable sin with remorse  and made his husband murder others. 

It is  possible that Kurosawa choose to emphasize certain aspects over other Shakespeare emphasizes because of his culture, he was Japanese and Shakespeare was English. Maybe Kurosawa adapted Macbeth in Throne of Blood, taking in consideration the interests of the Japanese society. One of his purposes was to show the world the most important values of the Japanese culture and how Japanese society decide to face situations according to their principles and values.